Temp vs temp-to-hire vs direct hire: which one fits your job?

Temporary staffing

With temporary staffing, the worker is employed by the staffing company. You tell us the role, the headcount, the date and the site. We send the crew, you approve their hours, and we invoice you an hourly bill rate. When the job ends, the assignment ends.

Best for

• One-off events, rushes and seasonal peaks
• Covering call-outs, vacations and leave
• Projects with a clear end date, like a move, a build-out or an inventory count
• Testing a new shift or location before committing headcount

What it costs

An hourly bill rate that includes pay, payroll taxes, workers' comp and service. No recruiting fee. You pay only for hours worked. Our guide to bill rates vs pay rates breaks down what sits inside that number.

Temp-to-hire

Temp-to-hire starts exactly like a temporary assignment. The difference is that both sides agree up front that if it works out, you can bring the worker onto your own payroll.

It is the lowest-risk way to hire hourly staff. A resume and a 20-minute interview tell you very little about whether someone shows up on time, keeps pace on a line or stays calm during a Saturday rush. Watching them work for a few weeks tells you almost everything.

How the conversion fee works

When you hire a temp directly, the agency usually charges a conversion fee to recover the cost of recruiting that worker. At Crew Staffing Pros the conversion fee goes down the more hours the worker has already worked with you, so the longer you have been paying the hourly rate, the less it costs to convert. Ask any agency for its conversion schedule in writing before the first shift.

Best for

• Hourly roles you plan to fill permanently: cooks, forklift operators, maintenance helpers, crew leads
• Businesses that have been burned by new hires who quit after a week
• Growing teams that want to hire the best of a seasonal crew

Direct hire

In a direct hire search, the agency recruits and screens candidates, and you employ the person you pick from their first day. There is no hourly bill rate. Instead you pay a one-time placement fee, often quoted as a percentage of the hire's first-year pay, with a replacement or refund period if the hire does not work out.

Best for

• Supervisors, managers and skilled roles that need a longer interview process
• Roles where the candidate pool is thin and you want a recruiter searching full time
• Positions where you do not want the worker to start as a temp

Side by side

How to choose

Ask yourself three questions:

1. 1Will I still need this person in six months? If no, stay with temporary staffing.
2. 2Is the hardest part finding someone, or knowing if they are any good? If it is knowing, use temp-to-hire. If it is finding, a direct hire search may be worth the fee.
3. 3Can I carry the payroll and compliance work? If you do not want to run onboarding, payroll taxes and workers' comp for a short-term role, keep the worker on the agency's payroll.

Many of our clients mix all three: a temporary crew for the rush, two or three of the best workers converted to permanent staff afterwards, and a direct hire search for the supervisor who will run them.

Next steps

Not sure which model fits? Tell a dispatcher what you are trying to solve and we will recommend the simplest option, even if that means a smaller order. See all of our staffing solutions or request workers to get an estimate.