May 6th 2021

How temp workers can help increase diversity in the workplace

Diversity in the workplace continues to be a key priority for companies. And as companies work on putting diversity initiatives in place, there is one that is not often thought about – hiring temporary workers. 

Temporary employment has become very prevalent in the post-pandemic world. In fact, a recent report shows that as of February this year, there are 1.54 million temp workers in the UK. This shows that whilst focusing strategies on hiring permanent employees is a good thing, there is a large part of the UK workforce that remains untapped. Hiring flexible workers like these not only has the potential to generate 43% more revenue but also has many benefits when it comes to increasing diversity in the workplace. 

Benefits of temp workers for diversity 

Meet changing goals 

Temporary positions offer businesses a great opportunity to meet changing diversity goals. When it comes to hiring temps, you more often than not work with staffing companies or online tools to reach out to different geographic areas, demographics, and physical abilities in order to source the most diverse set of candidates for the company. 

Using external resources such as these has the benefit of deep, far-reaching networks that allows you to find candidates more efficiently and effectively. 

The Tempo platform is a great example of this. As an online hiring tool, we not only have a wide variety of candidates that sign up to our platform, but our platform features ensure we are inclusive of candidates from all demographics, giving companies access to a diverse range of temporary candidates. You can check the platform out by clicking on the button below. 

Get a constant flow of feedback 

Due to a higher rate of turnover with temporary roles, businesses can gather a regular stream of feedback from their temporary workers.

This can happen in two ways: 

1. When the temporary worker is leaving the company, you can include specific questions about the diversity and inclusion program that you have in place, or any other diversity initiatives, in the exit interview. You can then look to improve these based on their feedback.
2. Ask your temporary employees for valuable insights from all the different companies they have worked at. Such as diversity strategies that have worked and those that haven’t. This feedback can help shape your program and therefore help create a more diverse workplace. 

Temp workers offer fresher perspectives, and the more temps you hire, the more unique perspectives on this topic you are going to get. 

Help you take those first steps 

A recent study showed that 76% of business leaders believe that diversity and inclusion programs are a priority. But building effective programs remains a challenge. It’s often a large project to take on with difficulty in knowing where to start. But by hiring temp workers you can source people from all demographics, taking those first steps in hiring a more diverse workforce.

A steady flow of diverse temp workers is a great way to learn as you go along with what works and doesn’t work but with less risk than having a set-in-stone hiring strategy. It gives you the flexibility and opportunity to find the right candidates with a more flexible management approach. Then if the temp workers prove successful on the job, you could even make them permanent – increasing the diversity of your workforce on a permanent basis as you do so. On Tempo, temp to perm hires are 20% more likely to pass probation. 

Attract diverse candidates 

Aiming to increase diversity by hiring temp workers is one side of the coin. On the flip side, the fact that you have flexible working options such as temp work will also attract diverse candidates at the same time. Certain demographics rely on temp work to be able to still take care of their families or manage multiple jobs at once to increase their source of income. By offering flexible working hours, you widen the pool of candidates that you are able to attract and therefore apply to work for your company. 

Not only this but people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds might require temp work as either a way to get their foot in the door through work experience or for extra cash while they continue their studies. Therefore, hiring on a temporary basis will help you to increase the diversity of candidates that you hire. 

There isn’t one correct way of increasing diversity in the workplace. But there is the correct mindset. And that is striving to make diversity and inclusion a priority in your business. You can read up on ways you can recruit a diverse workforce and how to create an inclusive workplace culture. But by also turning your attention to the power of hiring temp workers, you are thinking outside of the box to come up with a different approach that will give you that competitive advantage against other businesses.