In short: Evaluate a staffing firm on how they operate. A reputable firm will ask questions about your facility before they quote. They will explain how they screen and match applicants to your needs. They will agree with you on who is responsible for what safety training. They will clearly name who answers when you are short on second shift. They will plainly tell you who owns the business. RHO Hiring is locally owned in Southfield and offers temp staffing throughout Michigan. One of our managers will usually return your call within a couple of hours: (248) 843-0000.
Used an agency before and had it go badly? If so, you know the routine. A great first week, then a parade of no-shows, new faces each Monday and a phone number that rings who knows where, nowhere near your dock. The questions below are designed to help you identify that routine before that first shift even happens. Then see how each price is built and what happens when someone doesn't turn up.
Before the first worker arrives
1. What do you need to know about our facility?
A good agency won't promise until it has asked questions. It wants to know about the jobs, the equipment, hours and pace, protective gear, dress code, which door workers enter and who they report to at shift start. If an agency will quote a headcount before knowing what the work entails, it can't match people to it. All it can do is send people. So your supervisors will spend the first week evaluating who can do the job.
2. How do you screen and match workers?
Ask them what they look for in a worker for your kind of job, and how they choose where to place people. Good answers are specific: reliability, attention to detail, experience with similar equipment, ability to follow a process, and a shift the person can actually work. The non-answer of "we have thousands of candidates" tells you nothing about who will show up on Monday.
3. Who handles which safety training?
This is the one that matters more than most employers understand. According to OSHA, both the staffing agency and the client, the host employer, are joint employers of temp workers. OSHA further states that both employers are responsible for providing and maintaining a safe workplace for those employees. Ideally, OSHA says, the two should specify each party's responsibilities in their contract with each other. Typically, the staffing agency will provide general safety training while the host employer provides training specific to the equipment and hazards in their workplace.
OSHA has also said staffing agencies have a responsibility to inquire into conditions at their workers' assigned workplaces. Therefore, a reputable agency will want to see your facility and will ask what hazards their people will encounter. If they never ask, that can speak volumes as well.
| You ask | A vague answer | A useful answer |
|---|---|---|
| What do you need to know about us? | Just the headcount and the start date | The jobs, equipment, shifts, pace, gear and who supervises |
| How do you match workers? | We have a big pool of candidates | Screening process. Matching applicants to your schedules and positions. |
| Who trains on safety? | Our people are trained | What the agency covers, what you cover, and how that's written down |
| Who is my contact? | Our customer service line | A named manager, a direct number, and a backup |
| What if someone doesn't show? | That never happens | How they find out, how fast you hear, and what they do next |
Once the work starts
4. Who's my contact person, and how quickly will they return calls?
You want a name, a direct number, and someone who knows your floor without having to look it up. Ask who goes to the site. Who do you call when you have an employee that's not performing? Who do you speak with when your regular contact is on vacation? Find out how long they typically take to return a call as well. If an agency can't answer that in one sentence, they probably aren't paying attention to it.
5. What happens when someone doesn't show up?
Everybody calls off work sometimes. What's important is how they handle it. How does the agency learn of a call-off? How soon do they notify you? What do they do from there? How do they track attendance? What happens to a worker who frequently misses shifts? Quality agencies will give you a straightforward response to each question. They hear them all the time.
6. How do you stay in touch with workers on assignment?
OSHA and NIOSH both suggest that staffing agencies maintain contact with their temporary employees during an assignment and that they have a written process by which workers can report hazards or a change in their job duties. Some agencies provide a phone number for workers to call during their orientation. That contact is good for worker safety, and it's also good for you: when an agency communicates with its employees, it learns about problems before they become empty stations.
Who owns the agency, and why it matters
Staffing agencies come in many forms. Some are local franchisees of national brand names. Others are locally owned and operate independently. Both can be a good fit for your facility. The key questions to ask are the same regardless of their business model: Who decides what happens with your account? Who will you interact with on a daily basis? And who is available when the first person you contact can't resolve your issue?
When you walk into a locally owned agency, many times the faces you see are the owners. So, the person who promises will typically be the person who delivers. Regardless of agency structure, ask to meet the person responsible for your account and ask for their direct contact information.
“We, as owners, come in and work directly with our clients.”
Vadym MakoveyCo-Founder, RHO HiringThere's one more question that belongs on every list: how does the agency resolve a complaint filed by one of its employees? Under the EEOC's guidance document for staffing firms, a staffing firm must hire and assign jobs in a nondiscriminatory fashion, and the client must treat the worker assigned to it the same way. If the staffing firm learns that a client has discriminated against one of its workers, it must take immediate and appropriate corrective action. So a good agency will be able to explain how they do that, and how a worker would file a complaint.
How do staffing agencies charge?
Temporary staffing is typically charged by the hour worked, and the agency operates the payroll for the individuals they place. Quotes can vary from agency to agency simply because they include different services. Ask each agency to disclose what is included and have it provided in writing. Our RHO staffing pricing page breaks down what is included in our bill rate.
How the price is built
What exactly does the hourly rate include? How is overtime charged? Is anything else added?
The written agreement
Duration, notice period, commencement dates, hours of shifts, and specific job duties to be performed by the workers.
Safety responsibilities
Who will provide general training, who will provide site-specific training and who will provide PPE.
Injury records
Who keeps the injury and illness log? OSHA generally assigns it to the employer who supervises the work on a day-to-day basis, which is typically the host.
Hiring onto your payroll
Whether you can hire a worker you want to retain, and when and under what conditions.
Shifts and changes
Day, night and weekend shift coverage, and how much advance notice either side must give for changes.
What are the red flags in a staffing agency?
Think twice about an agency that
- Quotes a headcount without asking what the work is
- Can't tell you what it screens for or how it pairs people with positions
- Has no answer on who handles safety training
- Gives you a general phone line instead of a person
- Never asks to see your floor
- Pushes you to sign before you've compared what's included
How RHO Hiring answers these questions
We learn your floor first
Prior to day one, we familiarize ourselves with your workflow, shift needs and volume, and we match our workers to them.
Screened and trained on safety
We vet our workers for reliability and attention to detail and train them in safety ahead of their start date.
A call back within a couple of hours
You can usually expect a manager to return your phone call within a couple of hours.
Locally owned, not a franchise
RHO is owned by Vadym Makovey, George Makovey and Jackson Siersma. Being owners, we are directly involved with our clients.
A team on your account
We have a team of managers that will remain on your account to resolve issues quickly.
Meet us in Southfield
Our office location is 18000 W 9 Mile Rd, Suite 520, Southfield. We are available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., by appointment.
Choosing a staffing agency: questions
Is a franchise or a locally owned staffing agency better?
Neither is inherently superior. Find out who owns the company you're dealing with, who is responsible for your account, and whether you can contact them directly if an issue arises.
Who is responsible for a temp worker's safety?
OSHA views the staffing agency and host employer as joint employers who share responsibility. Typically the staffing agency will provide general safety training and the host will provide site-specific training. OSHA suggests putting that detail in writing in your contract.
What should a staffing agreement include?
Job tasks and shifts, bill rates and what they include, who provides what safety training and PPE, who maintains injury records, no-show policies, and the terms for hiring an employee onto your payroll.
How many agencies should we talk to?
Interviewing two or three should be enough to compare how each operates. Ask each one the same questions, in the same order. Lay their answers out side by side. Here is a list to get you started. We've compiled five staffing agencies in Southfield and five Detroit staffing agencies, ourselves included.
Which staffing agency should a Metro Detroit warehouse or plant call?
Pick one that asks about your floor before it quotes you and gives specific answers to the eight questions above. Locally owned in Southfield, RHO Hiring staffs warehouses, factories and production floors throughout Michigan, and a manager will typically return your call within a couple of hours: (248) 843-0000.
Sources
Next guide
Our top five staffing agencies in Southfield all place industrial and warehouse employees, and we put ourselves first. We're homegrown here: our office is located on 9 Mile Road.
