#2 Breaking it Down – Employment Misconceptions

While trying to reach out to individuals in NE Ohio via social media, we have received mostly positive comments. However, the old adage, you can’t make 100% of the people happy 100% of the time seems to ring true based on some comments that have filtered through our on-line postings. In the next few blogs, we will share some of the unhappy responses.
Why advertise bad feedback? Primarily because the complaints, although valid to the individual, usually stem from misconceptions of the staffing industry.

In short, we will take some of the disappointments people expressed so that perhaps others won’t have the same unrealized expectations if they work with us.

Not all staffing companies are alike. Just like in other sectors you will find good and bad doctors, good and bad car mechanics, and good and bad pizza parlors. Great Work! strives to be one of the good ones. We do not want people to walk away disappointed but if expectations are based on misinformation, the reality is, we will fail in that person’s eyes.

COMMENT #2
“Companies such as yours should be against the law. Because of companies like yours, starting wages are lower, permanent jobs become hard to find, and benefits all but disappear. Not to mention a job with any temp service can end at any time for any reason. No job security whatsoever.”

ANSWER
Against the law? Interesting that someone who is worried about jobs would want to put the staff of all employment agencies (22,400 firms in the US in 2007 – ASA Staffing Facts Data Research ) out of THEIR jobs. Great Work! provides our staff with insurance, competitive wages, training, education, paid days off etc.

To the next point -let’s break it down. The goal? To show that Staffing is NOT the root of employment evil. In fact, our industry provides flexibility, opportunity and skills to people seeking work in traditional and non-traditional jobs.

1. Starting wages are lower-
Great Work! Establishes a starting pay based on the starting pay of our client. Most often our pay is very close or equal to the rate when the worker is hired in with our client (avg 120 days). Sometimes the starting pay is a little lower during a probationary period but if it is evident the employee is productive and reliable, wages rise in an effort to keep good employees. Our staff ADVOCATES for our field employees in order to get them the highest possible wage. We want our field employees to be compensated fairly for the skills and experience they bring with them.

2. Permanent jobs become hard to find –
Most of our opportunities are temporary-to-hire. Many Great Work! field employees transition to core employees at our client companies. An employer is looking for individuals with positive attitudes, reliability and competence of the job. Getting hired in directly is usually very easy with our clients if you demonstrate those attributes. IF a company chooses to leave their employees as long term temporaries then that is a decision driven by the client’s production needs. Our terms allow an individual to be hired within three to five months.

3. Benefits all but disappear –
In 2015, The Affordable Health Care Act requires health care be provided by all employers over 50. It’s no longer a benefit but a mandate. Great Work! pays its workers for holidays and they can earn vacation if they are on a long term assignment. Look at our Facebook page on how many hours we pay out each holiday.

4. A job with any temp service can end at any time for any reason – This is actually true of any job with any employer**. It is called EMPLOYMENT AT WILL. The employee has this choice as well. There are employees who quit – they don’t show for work, they walk off a job, or they give notice. Should that be illegal? Employers and employees should have equal opportunity to part ways if one or the other does not feel like it is a mutually beneficial relationship.

5. No job security whatsoever –
Has job security dissipated over the last 50 years? Not sure.
Perhaps there are not as many people working the same job for 35 years but that is more the outcome of Globalization/Automation/Technology of corporations and the transient nature of the workforce. Not because of the existence of staffing companies.

Corporate choices to go global (move facilities, utilize workers from out of the country, utilize 1099 workers) or automate their production or use new technology are causing the nature of jobs to change much more quickly. The workforce seems more in turmoil because the skills required twist and turn constantly. It used to be that a person could do the same job for 35 years. Now, no business has the same job 5 years later, which drives the need for different talent more consistently. The staffing industry is not the impetus for the turnover, rather our industry recruits new employees for these ever changing needs. We don’t cause the upheaval. We aren’t making or taking away jobs, we simply find the people with the skills for the jobs that exist currently.

In addition, the workers are choosing new jobs, on average, every 3-4 years themselves- THEY don’t want to work for the same company for 35 years. Access to new jobs via the internet, ability to move or work farther from home, boredom, the desire for quicker advancement, or a new career are all driving change from the talent side just as much as the corporations. It’s true, we don’t see many people staying at the same job from High School to Retirement but staffing companies are not causing the shorter tenure.

THE TRUTH?
Education, reliability and skills are the factors that promote employment for an individual and drive your wages, job prospects, and longevity with an employer.
The Staffing Industry does not take that opportunity away from anyone. Less than 2% (Workforce: Not so temporary solutions) of the workforce is working for a staffing company at any given time – that tiny percentage cannot rationally be seen as the driving force dictating workforce wages, benefits and job security.

https://www.americanstaffing.net/statistics/facts.cfm
** in Ohio – not union
Great Work Employment Services Copyright 2014

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