On a recovery from two consecutive quarters of negative growth, South Africa may be out of recession. The economy is characterised with features of both developed and developing nations and has a productive, industrialised economy and standard infrastructure, with strong financial, legal, energy and transport sectors.

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey (MEOS) of local hiring trends for the first quarter of 2010 reveals that South African employers anticipate considerably improved hiring activity for the first quarter of 2010.

Due to the recession, many organisations across the various sectors were and still are under strain to cut jobs. More often than not, vigorous decisions to downsize were taken in panic and without having been fully thought through, with the result that employers later urgently need staff on an ad hoc project and often budget basis. Most organisations are therefore following the trend of flexible staffing solutions.

Working on a temporary basis could cause some distress to employees as they have the perception that they are “outsiders” to the organisation, required for their “unskilled” labour, doing menial tasks with no responsibility and being unemployed again, just as they have become accustomed to the work environment. On the employer’s side, the perception exists that temporary staff means high staff turnover and constant training.

However research indicates that there are great benefits when employing temporary staff, both for the employee and employer.

“It is a valuable career tool to employees as it exposes them to various businesses and industries resulting in broad experience, acquiring new skills, versatility and extending your resume,” says Lars. “A temporary job allows you freedom to manage your time as you can and to decide when and for how long to work according to your monetary needs,” he continues.

Most often, temporary staff are given first option when a permanent position becomes available as the employer already knows the potential and ability of the individual.

Temporary employment also makes it easier for the individual to change the direction of their career as most of the time people only realise that they might be in the wrong industry or company, once they have started a particular job. Employing temporary staff is often a means of screening candidates for full time positions.

According to Manpower, the benefits of temporary employment to employees are:

• Support with finding temporary employment through established relations with clients, therefore there is no need for continuous self-marketing
• Management of the administration documents, thus easing the responsibilities of the employee, also relieving the employee from the tasks of requesting and collecting compensation
• An employee with the technical requirements and experience can get immediate employment without going through a selection process
• Flexibility to choose working hours and to take off on holidays with the choice to work on such days for additional pay
• The probability of termination of employment is lower than in a permanent position

Benefits for employers who employ temporary staff as identified by Manpower:

• On the employer’s side the benefits are that employers can turn over new staff if temporary staff is not performing as needed and they can hire staff on a project basis to accommodate the fluctuating workloads that is caused by the country and global economic situation.
• Another major determining factor in using temporary staff is that the employer would save on costs imposed by governing regulations, such pension benefit, that have to be offered to full-time staff. With the rising cost of health insurance, it is difficult for most small businesses to keep up with larger companies´ benefits and these employers can maintain a competitive edge by employing temporary staff.