If you’ve looked for labor on a short-term basis before, you’ve probably used temp staffing. So when you heard of Veryable, we’re guessing your first thought might have been something like, “How is this different from temp staffing?”
At Veryable, we hear this question all the time, and we see businesses use our solution like it’s temp staffing.
However, Veryable is not a temp staffing solution. And we’re not just saying this as a point of clarification; we want to be sure that our clients and other businesses understand all the solutions available to them so they can make informed decisions.
Anyone using our solution the same way they’d use temp staffing is not going to reach the full potential our on-demand labor marketplace enables for their business. That’s why we’ll do our best to set our bias aside for this article to give you an honest comparison between Veryable and temp staffing.
In this article, you’ll learn the differences between Veryable and temp staffing, what these differences mean for your business, and how to know if you should choose Veryable if you’re used to temp staffing.
We’ll compare Veryable’s on-demand labor solution to temp staffing in four categories. This head to head comparison will allow you to identify the right solution for your business. We’ll compare the two based on:
Goals: Match capacity to demand in real time with on-demand labor
Control over worker selection: Full control
Administrative Work Required: Posting Ops, accepting workers, making adjustments, and giving ratings/reviews
Costs: Hourly wage + $45 (Tiered subscription plans create opportunity for lower fee per op)
Goals: Fill FTE gaps to maintain average headcount
Control over worker selection: Limited to none
Administrative Work Required: Ranging from none to attendance and performance tracking
Costs: Wage + 45%
The purpose of these two solutions is different. Temp staffing solutions aim to fill a relatively constant number of positions in a company throughout the term of a contract. Veryable aims to equip companies to scale their headcount up and down with demand and invite the workers they want on their own terms, without a usage requirement.
Temp staffing exists to replace full time employees for a defined time period. It could be replacing an employee out on paternity leave or vacation, or when you need temporary help during a busy season. Temp staffing provides a great trial run to determine if a worker could join your company in a full-time capacity. Companies typically use temp staffing to maintain the same headcount at all times. Because temp staffing is not an on-demand solution, it takes longer for them to find workers to fill roles. So aiming for an expected number of workers that rarely changes is the most effective way temp staffing firms can operate. On-demand staffing companies take an approach similar to temp staffing, but with the aim of doing it faster. Companies using on-demand staffing aim to fill the same amount of spots with temp workers all the time, often with the goal of hiring them so they can maintain that set number of employees.
The big difference between temp staffing and Veryable is that Veryable exists to help manufacturing and logistics businesses match their labor capacity to demand in real time. The on-demand labor marketplace is meant to be used as an operational tool for building a labor pool of workers trained for your operation. With Veryable’s on-demand labor platform, you can add workers you’ve worked with to your labor pool. A labor pool is like a favorites list that lets you quickly invite workers whose work you like to all your work opportunities. With this asset, you’ll be able to avoid overstaffing and instead flex your headcount in real time to meet whatever demands your company has.
Veryable differs from temp staffing agencies in worker selection because it puts the choice in your hands. Unlike temp staffing, you can choose which workers to invite to work opportunities, and you won’t lose contact with them forever once they leave your facility.
Temp staffing agencies typically select the workers for you. Most of the time, what you get is what you get. Many businesses are okay with this, because it means that the temp agency is doing all the hunting and combing through resumes for you. The downside is that you don’t have much transparency into this process, so you’re giving up some control in exchange for not having to think about it.
Veryable has a rating and review system so that businesses can see a worker’s performance and history on the platform to decide for themselves who to invite to work in their facility. This gives you full transparency into who you’re inviting to work with you, so that over time you can build up a roster of workers you can invite again and again when you need them.
Veryable will always require some administrative work because it is an operational tool administered by each business using it. Temp staffing might or might not require you to perform some administrative work, depending on which agency you work with and what package you agree on.
Temp staffing agencies provide varying levels of administrative support. It’s standard for the agency to handle all the work of screening candidates and payroll. Attendance and performance tracking will often fall on your plate if you don’t elect to pay for on-site management from your temp agency.
If you use Veryable, you will have some administrative responsibilities. Because Veryable gives you the ability to choose workers and doesn’t interfere with that, you will be responsible for posting your work opportunities, approving bids, making any needed adjustments, and rating workers.
These responsibilities are the tradeoff you make to gain full control over building your own labor pool and creating flexibility for your business.
There are significant differences in how these two solutions are priced. The main difference is that with Veryable you will only ever pay for the work done by workers, since there are no usage requirements or commitments.
Staffing agency rates are typically 45% on wages paid. This is because you as the client would be paying for the staffing agency’s full-time employee, plus associated costs of payroll taxes and worker’s compensation. Usually staffing agencies will ask that you sign a contract that commits your business to using a certain number of people for a defined period of time. This effectively locks you into a payment for workers whom you may or may not need as demand for your product or service changes. And if you want to hire the worker for yourself, many temp staff agencies charge a conversion fee to do so.
Veryable charges a $45 flat fee for each performed by a single operator when work has been performed ("Per Op Fee"). Additionally, you can enroll in a monthly or annual plan to get the benefit of discounted unit costs for Ops. The annual plan comes with several advantages. You can read more about those here. We keep it simple and only charge you for what you use, which gives your business the flexibility to scale up or down as your demand requires.
Temp staffing is good for getting your headcount up to a baseline operational level. If you need help finding and keeping a consistent number of baseline staff, this might be the solution for you. Veryable would be a good fit for you if you’re looking to gain the ability to flex your headcount up and down to match your demand. Imagine Veryable as adding workers above the baseline operational level that you were aiming for with temp staffing, but only when you need them and never out of compulsion to fulfill usage requirements.
If you’re used to temp staffing and looking for another solution, the key difference you need to be aware of with Veryable is that it is a tool for matching capacity to demand, not a service that finds a set amount of workers for you. You won’t get to shout into the void and have workers materialize from unknown realms any more. With Veryable, you’ll be selecting workers yourself and building a bench of workers who are ready to work on demand when you need them.
If you’re ready to only pay for the work you need and quickly scale your headcount up and down, read more about what a labor pool is and how it can help your business reach its goals by matching capacity to demand.
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