BusinessWeek this month took an in-depth look into the recent phenomenon in American business of hiring temporary workers. The piece, which ran with the headline "The Disposable Worker," touched on many themes familiar to us at Allonhill.
Our business model calls for a strong infrastructure that supports all of our business lines. But to support one of our core service offerings, mortgage due diligence, we depend heavily on contract workers. Because of the cyclical nature of the work, we employ a large number of skilled temporary workers across the country, trained by us, to analyze loans in residential mortgage-backed securities.
Many of the more poignant points in the article are all too familiar to me as an employer. It doesn't take much of an imagination to picture the stress of not knowing if you'll be working next week, or of having no benefits. It would be stressful to me not to know which desk I would sit at from one week to the next, or not to know the names of my co-workers. I am far too dependent on the security of knowing what to expect to ever lose sight of the raw discomfort that a temporary position brings.
I took issue with one theme touched on in the article: that management isn't motivated to build loyalty among temporary workers, because they have become a fungible good. "The idea of loyalty--'I will stick with you and you will reward me'--that is effectively gone," Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, says in the article.
I disagree with that, and I bet other CEOs who employ temporary staff do too. I believe strongly that loyalty among our temporary employees is critical to our success. These are the people who touch every loan we review. We need them to believe in what we are doing, and to approach their work with real commitment. To successfully utilize temporary workers, companies must work every day to show those workers their value to the organization and make them a part of the company culture.
The economics of our business dictate that we can't hire all the people we need on a permanent, full-time basis. If we did, we wouldn't be in business for long, and that would be bad for everyone. But we take pride, and pleasure, in cultivating the best possible work environment. I read long ago that uncertainty is one of the hardest things a person can face. But I believe that in this tough market, with stunning levels of joblessness, a temporary job can be a good job with the right management approach.
This post originally appeared on the Allonhill blog. For more posts like these, visit www.allonhill.com/blog.
Sue Allon is bringing the process back to us by creating a company with all the security in place so that we can choose to work from home or travel to temporary sites to continue our careers. The flexibility goes both ways. I don't have to go to a desk for a pre determined number of hours a day. I work the hours I want where I want. As Sue's company wins contracts, the work surge is accomodated by the temporary workers. She does not have to staff up then lay off with the ebb and flow that is the reality of this business.
I love the freedom of traveling and meeting new co-workers and seeing new places. I am in control of my career, my income and my future. It's not for everyone. It takes experience, confidence, self control, persistence and the ability to market myself successfully. Those looking for the security of punching a time clock do not belong in this industry. Never did.
Who are you trying to kid? Of course you could hire permanent employees and as you and I both know they would cost less on a an hourly basis than the temporary employees that you have chosen to go with. But permanent employees have a few rights to things like healthcare, social security, etc that although a tiny part of your cost structure are significantly not there with the temps. Temp workers are transitory and never achieve the levels of training and expertise that a group of permant workers would achieve after years of full time experience. What you have cynically done is lower the quality of the service you provide to your customers while charging them the same as before. You are taking your profits out of the food that your workers feed their children and you have no shame that your service is substandard because of it. Your self serving apology for your destructive business policy is fooling no one. You see yourself as a hard headed business person when in fact you are a vicious monster who has to hide your real motives from everyone, even yourself.
Permanency leads to confidence. Confidence leads to planning for the future and in most American lives, a home, a new car, an education are the goals that lead to a better life. Few citizens or workers ever purchase any of these things, if they do not have the confidence that a paycheck is in their future. No confidence in their own "economy", no major purchases and a less than stellar recovery.
As far as management is concern; I doubt most managers even care as long as the work is completed. You yourself may treat temporary workers with respect, but their is no respect like a regular paycheck and a benefit package. As long a business owners treat their workers as commodities to be used up and disposed of, then our society will suffer in the long run. Workers without hope in the future are not good consumers and in the long run, are not good employees.
Another part of the disposable worker phenomenon is the myth ofg the mobility of labor
turns out labor really isn't all that mobile afterall. Family and community ties make relocation dificult if not out of the question for un or underemployed middle age workers with kids in school and elderly parents to look after.
couple that with the fact that fewer and fewer employers offer relocation assistance as part of hiring packages. the number is less than 40% of major employers and that has been trending down for some time according to Industry week.
So even if you were able and willing to relocate for employment, try selling your home in a depressed real estate market, at least without taking a major loss on it.