A recent poll of 200 HR, procurement and finance executives revealed that 32 percent of the average company’s workforce is contingent or contract-based. Throughout the year, about 14 million people are employed as temporary or contract employees, 76 percent of whom work full-time, according to the American Staffing Association. That’s a large chunk of the workforce – thank goodness for temporary workers! They work in nearly every industry from healthcare to industrial to information technology and more. And now is a great time to recognize these workers.
5 Creative Ways to Celebrate National Staffing Employee Week:
This coming week (September 28 – October 4) is the American Staffing Association’s National Staffing Employee Week. It celebrates the contributions of the millions of temporary workers who help America’s companies run smoothly.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to recognize your temporary workers! Here are five creative ways to show your appreciation.
- Surprise them with gratitude. Give their paycheck envelops a little extra stuffing by adding a printed a message of gratitude from the company or even asking managers who supervise temporary workers to write a personal note of thanks. Bonus points if you can offer a small monetary addition, too!
- Sponsor a raffle contest. Give temporary workers and their managers an equal number of raffle tickets each day of National Staffing Employee Week and instruct them to give tickets to other workers throughout the day due to great attitudes, giving extra help, or even for witnessing a small act of kindness. During the last hour of the last day of National Staffing Employee Week, collect everyone’s tickets and hold a raffle with a few small prizes and one grand prize.
- Hold a team-building event. This could be anything: a field day of sorts with tug-of-war and a three-legged race, a community service event in place of a regular workday, a scavenger hunt, you name it. Just make sure it’s all in good fun and offers an opportunity for temporary workers and their managers to spend some time together outside their normal day-to-day.
- Host an appreciation lunch. Depending on the size of your workforce, this could be catered and held in-house, or you could take smaller teams out to a local restaurant. Nothing says, “We appreciate your work!” like a free lunch and some kind words. Short on budget? Plan a potluck in which managers provide the dishes to show their thanks.
- Grant workers a paid afternoon off. Who doesn’t love an afternoon off – especially a paid afternoon off? Temporary workers don’t often get to take time away from work without giving up a portion of their paycheck, so this is a great way to show them their contributions to your team mean a lot. You’ll stand out as a great employer that cares about the people who work for you, whether they’re full-time employees or not.
Getting by without temporary workers wouldn’t just be rough, it’d be nearly impossible. This week, make sure they realize that you appreciate them and their hard work. Don’t let this holiday slip by without a thank you to your temporary workers. And to the thousands of temporary workers who choose to work with Adecco, Happy National Staffing Employment Week! We appreciate all your hard work!
At Adecco, we have clients in every sector and every region of the country who have staff augmentation plans in place.