Do Temp Agencies Handle All the Employment Paperwork?

One of the main advantages of hiring a temporary worker through

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 verifying that the temporary worker did work for you on this date and for how many hours. The temporary worker then turns this slip into the temporary agency to get paid.

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.