The benefits of temporary cover during the end of financial year

The financial years’ end is in clear sight, and for many businesses the year-end process starts in December, to ensure that deadlines are met and the books are in order for the auditors by April. It’s a busy time of year, and as the workload increases, businesses often look to recruiters to assist in finding them suitable candidates who can support their existing teams.

However, there is still some debate about whether it is worth taking on a temp during the lead up to the end of financial year or if it is best to make use of existing resources, potentially adding further stress on an already busy team. So, what is the best course of action?

Having spent over nine years specialising in interim finance recruitment, January to March has always been one of the busiest times of the year for Page Personnel, particularly placing temporary staff. Each business operates differently at year end, so by staying in close contact with our clients we have a good idea before the New Year begins, as to what their recruitment needs might be. This, in turn, allows us to start sourcing the best-suited candidates to support their business.

Page Personnel have high calibre candidates who have previously contracted during year end, with the experience and skills to step into your organisation and hit the ground running with minimal support and training. Having this additional set of hands in the workplace allows you to free up your permanent employees to focus on other important year-end tasks.

It is not uncommon for businesses to use the year-end as an opportunity to upskill certain members of their team. By providing junior staff with the opportunity to step up at year end and take on a more varied role with increased responsibility, your vacancies can be filled by a more junior temp. More often than not, this temporary hire will end up staying longer than originally anticipated and may ultimately join the business as a permanent member of staff. Throwing employees into ‘the deep end’ allows you to assess whether they ‘sink or swim’ and in my experience, the outcome is usually positive for all parties, including the temp.

From a candidate perspective, year-end positions are a great way to get their foot in the door and prove themselves to be a valuable asset to the business. Many professionals will see these positions as a great opportunity, particularly if they know that the person who previously worked in the role stepped up before them.

There are many businesses that tend to shy away from the idea of taking on a temp, but the positives massively outweigh the negatives. When it comes to supporting your team, placing someone new in the role to work under a suitable amount of pressure and thrive, rather than having existing staff struggle, is a huge benefit to the morale of the team and overall success of the year-end process.

Temporary staff bring new ideas and unique skill sets into the business, while also allowing current members of the team to progress into more challenging roles. This helps maintain positive working environments during a typically stressful period of time, as permanent employees are not overloaded with additional work or increased working hours.

Page Personnel have specialist consultants that recruit solely into the temporary and interim market. We listen to your needs and ensure that the process of onboarding a temp is not an unnecessarily time-consuming exercise. After all, we know that no extra stress is needed at this busy time of year.

If you are looking to explore your options as a temp or are a company interested in expanding your workforce over this busy period, please get in touch.

T: +44 113 2437760

E: [email protected]