5 Things to Consider When Using a Temp Agency in Raleigh-Durham
There are dozens of temp agencies covering the Raleigh-Durham area. There are even specific staffing agencies that focus on the dental industry. These temp agencies employ dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants, and even dental front office staff members.
A quick scroll through many of these local agencies however, often shows a mix of reviews from employees who’ve worked with — or have attempted to work with — these agencies. Some employees had positive experiences. Others say they felt overlooked despite their qualifications and a need for work.
Temporary employment agencies can work for some companies, but don’t make for an end-all solution for many Raleigh-Durham dental practices.
If you’re considering using a temp agency, here’s five important things to consider:
You’re handing over control to the temp agency
When you work with a temporary employment agency, you’re putting the agency in complete control. Of course, this is part of the reason people look to staffing agencies, because they don’t have the time to do it themselves.
But this also means there’s no way to choose where you work. Practices have no say in who to hire. You also might go in not understanding the rates that will be charged, since those are often not published online. Using a staffing agency makes it impossible to communicate without the middleman. You’re often left in the dark until day one of work begins.
You can’t plan for the wait time
Often, staffing agencies will have a pool of current employees that need work. When a new job opportunity comes in, the agency will pull from those employees. However, there’s no telling if any of those employees are actually qualified for the jobs coming in.
This could result in one of two outcomes. The agency fills the position with a less-qualified employee. Or, they have to search in the wild for a qualified person. This means advertising the job posting, interviewing and performing background checks, etc. This could mean weeks of waiting. You might even need the position filled by the time thing come to fruition.
For the employees’ side of things, there’s no guarantee once you start working with a temp agency, you’ll get work in a certain amount of time. By the looks of the reviews in Raleigh-Durham, many employees waited months or sometimes more than one year for work.
You may not get a perfect match
As mentioned in point no. 1, part of giving up control means you may not get a perfect fit, no matter what side of the hiring process you’re on. If you’re looking for work and there’s a dental practice you want to avoid, there’s no way of communicating that to the agency. On the flip side, as a dental practice, you may get an employee placed on your staff that doesn’t have the personality, skills, or even the availability that you were looking for.
Yes, there are fees
Staffing agencies stay afloat because of the fees they charge. Every agency is different in choosing how much they charge, and they may not disclose that information until you’re already working with them. Often this fee comes out of the employees’ hourly rate.
For example, if an employee has an hourly rate of $30, the agency may take $7 out of each hour, so the employee only takes home $23 per hour. While this money isn’t necessarily being taken away from the practice or the provider, it certainly means that providers may not get paid what they are actually worth.
There’s less flexibility
Many in the dental industry turn to contract or freelance work because they’re looking for a more flexible schedule to better fit their lifestyle. But many employees looking for work have said that often, there’s not much advance notice when they have to work on a certain day. This type of last-minute scheduling doesn’t make it easy for people to plan their lives.
Boon is the solution to these issues — and more — for hiring temporary employees in the dental field, right here in Raleigh-Durham. Boon puts dental practices and providers in control over their careers. Choose where to work, your rate, and who you work with.
Our platform is easy-to-use, extremely safe, and you’ll be matched using our advanced artificial intelligence on-demand, whenever you need to be. Creating a profile only takes a few minutes — start using boon today!
June 3, 2019
