Do Temp Agencies Handle All the Employment Paperwork?

One of the main advantages of hiring a temporary worker through a temporary staffing agency is that the agency, not your company, takes care of all the temps' employment paperwork.

When you use a temp for a day, a week or even a month, all you typically need to do is sign a slip of paper

Of course, you pay for this simplicity. Depending on the number of temps available to fill your job, your temp's services may be marked up -- up to 100 percent. Your company is essentially covering all the administrative costs of the temporary agency including:

• Skills testing
• Reference verification
• Payroll expenses and paperwork
• All withholding taxes
• Payroll taxes
• Unemployment insurance
• Workers' compensation insurance
• Benefits (if the temporary agency you use offers them to their workers)

If it seems like a temporary worker costs as much as a full-time employee, you're right. Remember: You're paying to outsource the recruiting and the paperwork of the temp to someone else.