Employee onboarding for staffing agencies is more complex compared to companies onboarding new internal hires. For one thing, there are more stakeholders involved; the client company, the staffing agency and the employee. Then there’s the fact the role may only be temporary or may require specific training before the start date. 

Therefore, there are many mistakes that staffing agencies can make during the onboarding process that can lead to poor outcomes for both the client and the employee. And as we all know, dissatisfied clients and high employee turnover can spell disaster for any staffing agency.  

In order to prevent mistakes during the onboarding process, staffing agencies need to first be aware of the most common pitfalls, that’s why we’ll be discussing five of the most common mistakes in this article.   

1. Failure to Coordinate Effectively with the Client Company 

Clients contract staffing agencies to take the HR and recruitment workload off of their shoulders. They therefore expect the staffing agency to take the lead when it comes to coordinating everything that the agency staff require when starting work in the company.

This includes everything from workstations and IT access, to parking lot spaces. While it’ll be someone on the client side who will do the actual setting up of each of these tasks, the staffing agency should provide effective coordination and check everything is in place prior to the employee’s arrival.

2. Not Setting Goals & Objectives

There are many factors that can affect an employee’s performance at work. One of the key factors is whether or not a new hire has a clear understanding of what their role requires. Staffing agencies must therefore work with client companies to clarify an employee’s goals and objectives before they begin working. This is particularly important with staffing agency employees, who may feel less connected to the organization compared to internal hires.

If these goals aren’t appropriately set, the employee could feel lost and not know what they’re supposed to be doing or why they’re doing it. This, in turn, could lead to frustrated clients who feel the staff they are being provided with are not adequately equipped to handle the work effectively. 

3. Neglecting to Manage Client Expectations

As well as spending time and effort setting goals and objectives with employees, agencies must also put effort into setting appropriate expectations with clients. Staffing agency employees need just as much time as internal hires to get up to speed with processes and ways of doing things. However, client companies may expect that they need to put less time and effort into training staffing agency staff compared to internal hires.

This is where appropriate expectation management with clients is essential. Remind them that staffing agency employees need a similar level of support and oversight during the first few weeks as internal hires, as they need to learn the ropes just like everyone else.   

4. An Employee Management System Not Designed for the Job 

Staffing agencies have plenty of things to manage when it comes to placing employees into assignments. Time and attendance tracking, payroll integration and general HR management all need to be set up whenever a new hire starts working for a staffing agency. Managing all of these tasks across separate systems is often slow, inefficient and prone to errors. This can result in employees facing delays with their first paycheck, or even worse, being underpaid for the work they’ve completed.

Using an integrated system designed for staffing agencies, such as Timerack’s staffing agency software, enables agencies to automate time and attendance tracking into payroll, eliminating payroll errors and greatly speeding up the process. What’s more, integrated features such as an applicant tracking system (ATS) and onboarding tools provide a complete hire-to-retire solution.        

5. Failing to Follow-Up With Client and Employees

When an agency neglects to follow up after an employee is placed into an assignment, they miss out on the opportunity to engage with their employee and client, and gather valuable feedback. This can result in small issues in need of improvement being overlooked, which can fester into much bigger problems down the line. 

Obviously, after the first day there is a need for follow-up, but the job is not done there. For the first few weeks continue to follow-up and be that link between the client and the employee.

Bottom Line

Make sure you create a seamless staffing agency employee onboarding process that engages both your employees and your clients, by being mindful of the pitfalls and designing a process that minimizes these risks.