TEMPORARY AGENCIES IN DEMAND

*Some business publications put the overall number of businesses using temporary staffing at 90 percent.

Searching for ways to best achieve their goals, more and more employees and employers alike are seizing upon temporary help services.

Spokesmen from local temporary personnel companies name flexibility for both the client business and the temporary worker as a primary strength of the industry.

"Every company is operating in a lean sort of manner, and this allows them the flexibility they need in order to compete in the marketplace," said Barbara Larkins, branch manager of Manpower Temporary Services, 2909 Beaver Creek Drive.

"The trend is for companies to be viewing their work force in two ways: their permanent staff and their temporary staff," she said.

Employers may turn to temporary staffing for a variety of reasons, from periods when downsizing is necessary to periods of peak productivity, said Barbara Brown Norder, owner of Sincerely Yours Secretarial Services, 833 N. Kingshighway.

By implementing temporary staffing, employers can save on costs intrinsic to employment. Using temporary workers shifts some of these costs to the service agency.

"We are actually a labor contractor," said Mike Cochran, explaining the function of his business, Personnel Support Inc., 618 Bellevue St. "We do all the paperwork, the administration, and that takes a lot of the work off of our clients."

Client businesses may also like not having to spend time recruiting workers themselves.

"We bring our applicants in, interview them, test them, do all the reference checking ... and we get them in our computer system and at the time an employer calls us with an order, we go to our computer, pull up the people to meet the requirements, and call the applicant to see if they're interested in the position," explained Eleanor Dishong of Interim Personnel, 1021 Kingsway. "We call our field employees 'partners in business.'"

Temporary staffing companies typically view the temporary workers as their own employees, sending them on assignments to various client businesses. Assignments vary from a few hours to many months. Sometimes the assignments evolve into full-time employment.

Paychecks are most often issued by the temporary services company rather than the client business, though there are exceptions. Benefits vary, with some temporary agencies offering comprehensive insurance packages plus vacation allowances and other options.

But the business world isn't alone in viewing temporary staffing favorably. It may also appeal to workers for various reasons.

For workers, the flexibility is "the beautiful thing about it," Dishong said. "They can call in and say, 'I want to be inactive for a while.'"

Dishong and her husband, Richard, are franchise owners of the nationwide company Interim Personnel. Like some other agencies, Interim also offers temp-to-hire programs and permanent placement. "We're a full-service human resources company," Eleanor Dishong said.

The people going to work for temporary staffing agencies vary as much as do the jobs. Brown, whose company specializes in office staffing, said workers may range from high school graduates to retired people who want to continue working. "Some are mothers who perhaps don't want to work in summer, some may be college students in a transition stage, needing some experience," she said.

Temporary assignments are popular among both men and women. Some use the temporary work as a training platform while others prefer the temporary work assignments because it best suits their needs.

"You don't have to take every assignment that's offered," Larkins said. Some workers enjoy the challenge and the opportunity offered by shifting to new environments enough they make temporary work their permanent job.

"We have a large group of employees that have been with us since October of 1990," when the local branch opened, Larkins said.

While temporary staffing has been available in some form for many years, the industry has experienced dramatic growth in the last decade. Figures charted by the National Association of Temporary Services show the payroll of temporary help jumped 17.5 percent in 1993 compared to the previous year. Some business publications put the overall number of businesses using temporary staffing at 90 percent.

Some local temporary staffing companies specialize in offering workers with particular skills while other agencies employ workers covering a broad range of categories.

PSA Health Force, 217 N. West End Boulevard, specializes in the health care field, with workers in the categories of physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy, company vice president Jerry N. Keele said. In addition to its Cape Girardeau office, which has been in operation two years, the company maintains offices in Texas and Tennessee.

Sincerely Yours Secretarial Services, which opened in 1990, offers both temporary and permanent placement, specializing in office staffing. The bulk of Personnel Support's workers are trained in light industrial work, but the company also has temporary workers in other areas, including office and clerical staffing. Cochran founded Personnel Support in 1984.

Manpower Temporary Services, whose local arm recently moved to its new office off Mount Auburn Road, is the largest temporary staffing company in the world. The company's focus is broad, including industrial, office, marketing and technical personnel.

Interim Personnel, with some 800 offices across the United States, also seeks to fill a broad range of employer needs. Along with the Cape Girardeau office, the Dishongs have a Popular Bluff office and are planning offices at Dexter and Sikeston.

The number of temporary employment companies operating in the Cape Girardeau area reflects industry growth, and spokesmen agree the future of the industry is bright.

"It's in its infancy in Southeast Missouri," Eleanor Dishong said of the temporary staffing concept. That's a challenge her company and others are tackling head on.