Are Your Top Employees Who You Think They Are?

When you look around the company, how do you identify your top employees? Chances are you look first to the ones who have:

But consider this – that within your observation exercise, you might just stumble across a hidden secret, which is that your most productive employees might actually not be your employees.

I am referring to on-hire employees; contractors and temporary staff who have a reputation for often outperforming permanent employees.

Not convinced? Read on for some compelling facts.

On-hire workers are often praised for higher output for one simple reason; they’ve got something to prove.

They don’t have a permanent job where they can grow comfortable or possibly complacent over time; instead, they’re out to prove that they can accomplish something big or complete with utter proficiency.

Whether it’s the addition of another achievement description on their resume, a deep desire to stand out as a high performer, or perhaps to be considered for a permanent position within your company – these people are out to prove something and are often able to tap into higher levels of motivation, particularly over the duration of a contract or assignment.

Typically, permanent employees face various distractions in the workplace every day. Catching up on conversations being carried on with one another, long cups of coffee, ‘just stopping to chat’ and juggling a range of projects that pop up at any given moment – it all leads to higher levels of distraction.

By contrast, your on-hire workers have fewer relationships within the workplace. In many instances you will have engaged a contractor to work on a specific project which means their focus is tight and narrow. They are less likely to become distracted as they work towards completing the specifics of the contract to deadline which in turn, leads to higher levels of workplace productivity.

As outsiders, the on-hire contingent bring the added benefit of ‘a fresh pair of eyes’ which has enabled many companies to solve problems in innovative new ways.

This fresh perspective can be enough to shake you out of a rut or offer an alternative solution to a problem that has been nagging at your business for a long time. They are less likely to get bogged down in office politics or internal debate and whilst significantly improving overall performance within the workplace environment, this outside-in perspective has even been known to transform organisations.

Contract and temporary employees offer a great deal of flexibility for an organisation. From hiring the exact number of people, you need for a specific project and then finishing them up the moment the job is done, to removing the need to offer overtime or overworking existing employees, it’s about hiring specifically for the skills needed.

As well, less training is required to get up to speed with the latest software, hardware, or product information; temporary workers can be employed to help fill in space while employees are on leave which helps increase productivity throughout the organization.

As you continue to employ on-hire employees in your organisation, don’t be surprised if you discover a wealth of expertise sitting right under your nose; a highly motivated, proud and completion-orientated group of professionals whose sole aim is to efficiently and effectively ‘do the job at hand.’

Interested in exploring options? Contact Frog today to investigate the range of on-hire talent we have for long and short-term contracts.