As budgets shrink and the demands on workers increase, managers at Citibank turn to company recruiter Christina Sheldon for solutions.
More than ever, she says, temporary workers are playing an important role in saving money at the Chicago units of the financial-services company.
“Our budgets only allow for so many permanent employees,” Sheldon said. “So temps truly solve the problem of head count.”
At Citibank, temporary workers, or temps, account for 2 to 3 percent of the company’s work force and fill administrative, customer service and accounting positions as well as a smaller number of managerial and special-projects roles.
Other companies are turning to executive temps-including former company presidents and chief executives-to fill higher-level positions, which helped to push the annual temporary-help payroll up 19.9 percent in 1992 to $16.7 billion from $13.9 billion the previous year, according to the National Association of Temporary Services.
Indeed, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 1992, 1.4 million Americans were employed in help-supply services, an increase of 12.5 percent over the previous year for this sector, which includes temporary-help positions.
The U.S. temp industry is experiencing a boom as the nation pulls out of recession and companies that had reduced their staffs begin to grow again, said Bruce Steinberg, spokesman for the temporary services association, based in Alexandria, Va.
“In the early stages of a recovery, temporary workers are needed most because companies are suddenly dealing with work overloads,” he said.
Temps filled 1.18 percent of the jobs in the United States in 1992, up from 1.01 percent in 1991 and 0.42 percent 1982, according to the temp association.
Statistics from the first nine months of 1993 indicate another year of strong growth in the temporary sector. In September, for example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 1.8 million workers in help-supply services, up 18.3 percent from the year-earlier period.
The demand for more professional and technical temps has helped the industry grow, Steinberg said.
“The application for temporary help has broadened,” he said. “It’s not just secretaries any longer.”
While the clerical sector still accounts for nearly half of all temp positions, the number of professional temps-accountants, lawyers, advertising executives and others-is on the rise. In 1992, they filled 4.1 percent of all temporary positions compared with 2.4 percent in 1991, according to the national temp association.
Even highly specialized industries are turning to temporary workers.
On Assignment, a Canoga Park, Calif.-based temp agency with 30 offices around the U.S., sends chemists, microbiologists and lab assistants to more than 450 companies, such as Johnson & Johnson and Frito-Lay. The agency’s revenues climbed 25 percent in 1992 from a year earlier to more than $32 million, while net income soared 60 percent, to $1.8 million.
Brian Brandt, director of business development at Paladin, a Chicago temp agency that works with advertising, marketing and public relations professionals, says companies are learning to use temporary workers more effectively.
“These companies that have gone through downsizing have increased their understanding of how important it is to have someone come in running-someone who can be very productive with little training,” said Brandt, whose company requires its temps to have a minimum of five to seven years experience in a communications field.
For the employee, temp work offers variety and flexibility-and sometimes a transition to a permanent job.
Karen Joyner-White, who has worked for Kelly Temporary Services in Chicago off and on for the last four years, says she is torn between the security of a permanent position and the flexibility of temping.
After 10 years as a buyer in California, she returned to Chicago and is providing administrative support as a temp at Amoco Corp. Her assignment involves exploring new avenues for downsizing at the company.
“It was a good chance to pull back and explore the market here in the Midwest,” Joyner-White said. “I can afford at this point to be selective.”
About two years ago she accepted a permanent job with a health-care consultant, but decided soon afterward to return to temping. She has since worked about six assignments through Kelly and considers the arrangement a good way to develop new skills and establish career contacts.
“I’m able to develop relationships that could help when the (job) market does open up,” Joyner-White said, adding that temping allows her to avoid office politics. “People understand that you are an outsider, so you don’t get caught up in a lot of that.”
At 44, she says health benefits and job security are not crucial issues in her career choice.
For many it is, however, and temping is not for everyone, cautions Paladin’s Brandt. “There’s a lot of anxiety going into a new environment. Some people do this out of necessity, and some elect to do it, but we are running across many people committed to functioning as interim workers.”
Jeanne Rice, a compensation executive with 12 years of corporate experience in Chicago, opted for temporary work after the birth of her third child in 1989.
After eight years with Continental Bank, Rice was reluctant at first about leaving her permanent job.
“I really thought I would dry up and die, but I love it and I can’t imagine going back now,” she said.
Flexibility was the draw for Rice, 38. With her children now 9, 6 and 4 years old, she says she wouldn’t want to be downtown for 10 hours a day.
“If I need to be here for someone to come home from school, I am,” said Rice, who does a large part of her temp work from a home office. “If I need to be at school for something, I can.”
Rice, who says she gets 25 percent of her temporary assignments through Executive Options in Northbrook, typically juggles about five projects at a time. Her other assignments come through referrals, she said.
“The work has been almost too steady. I’ve been very fortunate.”
The only disadvantage Rice sees with her situation is that she is more inclined to overcommit to projects because she can work at home.
“It’s very difficult for me to stop working,” she said.
David Lord, editor of New Hampshire-based Executive Recruiter News, has noticed more former heads of companies turning to temporary assignments in the last five years.
“It’s not a very big slice of the job market, but it’s an exciting market and it’s growing,” Lord said.
His monthly newsletter suggests that the use of executive temps reflects a permanent change in the job market. The need for special expertise, the desire to “try out” candidates, the lack of succession planning and a recent tendency to keep payrolls lean by understaffing all contribute to the demand for high-level temps.
Tony Zahn, regional vice president of Kelly Temporary Services in Downers Grove, agrees.
“Companies are looking for ways to get better utilization of their staffs,” he said. “They don’t want the added expense of overtime, and they don’t want to be overstaffed.”
Zahn, who has worked with the temp industry for 25 years, including 12 in the Chicago area, recalls having about 100 competitors when he arrived in the early ’80s. Now, he says, there are closer to 500 in the region.
As long as companies stay lean and workers look for ways to take control of their careers, the temporary industry will grow, industry observers say.
“I think if you are perceived as unemployed there is a stigma,” Lord said. “But if you can show a history of steady temporary projects, you’ll be a desirable employee.”
