Recruiting temporary employees is the groundwork for any scalable business. What most overlook is the necessity to retain them to assure cost-effectiveness. The time wasted training employees that turn over quickly will stack up if you don't go out of your way to consider some tactics to retain your first or next temporary hire through a staffing agency.– Offer a competitive benefits package that fits your employees’ needs. Offering health insurance is vital in retaining employees. Other small perks including overtime and the opportunity for telecommuting will demonstrate your willingness to work with your temporary staff beyond the baseline expectations initially set.– Give out small rewards. Donuts on Friday and office snacks may seem insignificant to you but will stand out to your employees if delivered randomly to rewards their mere participation in your business. The right gesture, no matter how insignificant to you, may encourage someone to stick around when they may be considering other options.– Conduct Quarterly 'Stay' Interviews. While exit interview should be a given, you may want to consider implementing more frequent opportunities for temp hires to reflect on their own performance and allow them to remember why they came to work for you. This information, coupled with any recommendation on changes/improvements, may incentivize the contractor to reconsider how they view their work and aim for higher personal standards.– Develop Open Communication Channels Especially if your temp or contract staff works in a rather isolated capacity, consider holding meetings to ensure they feel part of the organization that employs them. This may reduce the unpopular 'open door policy' that may encourage unfiltered feedback as opposed to scheduled, supplemental meetings where all parties feel at ease to open up about questions, comments, and concerns.– Promote your Business’s Values. Temporary staff is at a significant disadvantage to permanent employees and a sense of shared values is an effective method of bridging the performance of the company with the 'values' of its individual human resources.– (When Possible) Offer financial rewards. If there are key performance characteristics your temporary staff is working towards, consider giving out financial awards for those contract staff who exceed performance standards. This will also serve as a mechanism to retain temporary staff. Depending on your industry, another incentive appreciated by temporary staff is small, meaningful raises. When you can afford it, invest in your top performers. If that's not an option, utilize a bonus structure based on organizational performance. – Be Transparent With Performance Standards While this may seem trivial, small companies especially often lose sight of minor complexities in the face of larger, more substantive goals set for the temporary staff. When contract staff becomes overwhelmed or is forced to prioritize overlapping responsibilities, you ruin their chances of performing up to your desired standards, and this, in turn, can negatively impact morale. – Hire a Human Resources Professional. Often one of the first hires in a small company, human resources professional can be critical to review and identify gaps in your staffing model. By putting a dedicated resource - possibly even a contractor - in charge of managing benefits, perks, and reviews, you can extend your oversight to existing temporary staff. These tactics can lead to more substantive communication channels which provide small doses of relief from pressure to approach management with issues that will inevitably arise.

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