Have a plan to explain how things work on your team. There is currently no formal onboarding process for temps, so temps may not know how to access pay stubs, timecards, Shared Services, how long they get for breaks, and how to book leave, if applicable. Introduce them to people who can explain how benefits and leave work in more detail. 

Create a show guide and explain the unique expectations/workflows of your show upfront - rather than waiting until a temp fails to meet those expectations. 

Assign a mentor. If it makes sense on your team, assign an experienced staffer to be your temp’s guide for the first week or two of their employment in a new role. This gives them a friendly person to go to for questions, guidance and advice.

Explain who they’re backfilling. “Here is who you’re backfilling, this is where they are, this is when they expect to return.” This helps the temp to understand their situation better and feel less alienated or surprised if their work “suddenly” dries up. 

Be honest with them about how much work you can offer. If you can’t guarantee them work next month, tell them up front. If you know you can’t keep them on, encourage them to seek work at other shows and suggest people to talk to.

Encourage Temps on your staff to apply for mentoring opportunities. There are mentoring programs established in various locations or departments. If you don’t have a mentoring program in your location or department, consider setting one up. You can get more information about how the mentoring program works here.

Give constructive feedback. Temps often don’t get it, which makes it harder for them to improve. If there are areas where a temp needs to improve (pitching, editing speed) before they would be a strong candidate for a permanent job, tell them what they need to work on. 

Encourage your temps to come to you when they have a problem like being short a couple of hours in order to maintain their status. Help them resolve it

Encourage them to take care of themselves. Temps often report being afraid to call in sick out of fear that it could jeopardise their employment. They’re also more likely to work unpaid OT to impress you, even when they’re burnt out. Make sure they know that their health comes first, and that taking a break won’t be held against them. 

Offer as much stability and predictability as you can. If you can string together two different kinds of shifts so someone has 3 months of stable work, they can direct their full energy to doing their best work - rather than worrying how to find shifts for next week. 

DO NOT “Ghost” your temps. Some temps come to the end of a contract without knowing if they’re going to be asked to return or not. If you can’t offer more work, tell them and explain why. Instead, offer them recommendations and/or put them in touch with other departments that may be hiring.

DO NOT guilt Temps looking for other work. Temps need to frequently communicate with other shows and departments to secure future work for themselves. Don’t make temps feel guilty for seeking work elsewhere if you can’t guarantee them shifts. 

AVOID “Trying people out.” We recommend against rotating multiple temps through the same role to “try them out.” This creates less stable work for everyone and lowers morale. Instead, advocate for creating a permanent position or a longer term contract that will give a Temp experience to develop their skills.

REFRAIN from treating your Temps as expendable. Many Temps feel lost with nobody looking out for them or their future. Remember, that Temps are essential to helping us do our work and giving permanent staff a break. They are also our future employees. So anything we can do to make them feel like they belong and have a future at CBC is something we can do to retain the Temps we have.