We may earn a commission if you click on a product link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.
Last updated: December 6, 2025
Key Takeaways
- Hiring Impact: Strong
hiring decisions shapeproductivity and long-term business success by ensuring employees align with organizational expectations and performance standards. - Role Dynamics: Permanent employees offer stability and cultural continuity, while temporary staff provide flexibility for seasonal needs, project demands, or rapid growth cycles.
- Loyalty Factors: Commitment develops through trust, communication, and shared goals, and both permanent and temporary employees can become deeply engaged when supported effectively.
- Cost Considerations: Employers must evaluate the financial implications of payroll, benefits, and administrative requirements when comparing permanent versus temporary workforce models.
- Strategic Balance: A blended workforce approach allows companies to meet changing workloads while maintaining a strong core
team that supports long term organizational stability.
No matter how diligently you strive to make your company successful and profitable, it is ultimately the people you employ and the work they perform that truly make a difference. Even if you are the most organized and fair employer, it won’t matter if your staff doesn’t meet your standards. That’s why investing significant time and energy in your
However, another decision you must consider is whether to employ temporary staff. This arrangement carries several important pros and cons. If this issue is troubling you as well, here are a few facts that might help you make your decision.
How work should work. Forget the old rules. You can have the best people.
Right now. Right here. Upwork makes it affordable to up your work and take advantage of low transaction rates.
Up your work game, it’s easy. No cost to join, Post a job and hire top talent, Work with the best—without breaking the bank
Loyalty
It doesn’t matter how big your company is or what you do; the employees who are with you from day one are the most crucial parts of your company. These people have helped you build your brand and continue to help you boost your company every single day. That’s why your permanent employees are loyal and trustworthy, and those are the things that all entrepreneurs value the most. You always need to keep them motivated and allow them to express their opinion.
Of course, that doesn’t mean your temp staff won’t be loyal to you – on the contrary, these people can sometimes express a sense of loyalty in a stronger way than you can anticipate. Building loyalty with these people is the same as with your permanent staff, but you’ll have less time, so you’ll need to be more effective and direct. But, if you manage to turn them into loyal and trustworthy employees, it doesn’t matter how long they’ll stay with you because they’ll be worthy of your time, energy, and patience.
Responsiveness
Again, this is something most people take for granted and therefore reach a generalized conclusion that isn’t always true: permanent employees are responsive and approachable, while those you hire temporarily aren’t. Of course, this isn’t always the case, and your temp staff can turn out to be more responsive than you’ve imagined, simply because they know that they’ll be working for a limited time and therefore want to make an impression on you.
On the other hand, your permanent staff might not be as responsive and approachable as you’d like them to be, especially if they’ve been with you for a while and don’t have any fears when it comes to being fired. That’s why you should stick to people who suit you and your corporate needs, no matter how long they’ve been working for you and how long they’re going to continue doing that in the future.
Give yourself a real advantage in your job search with Resume.io — the best online resume maker: created by experts, improved by data, and trusted by millions of professionals. Easy to use and complete within minutes. Try it now for free!
Costs
This is one of the most crucial things you’ll have to consider when choosing who to hire and where to find your staff – your employees’ income and other costs tend to vary quite a lot depending on whether they’re permanent members of your staff or only temporary. For those who are there to stay for good, you’ll often have to pay more money as an employer simply because of all those issuing forms, tax records, and other documents you’re obliged to provide if you wish to maintain a steady workforce.
For those who come and go without staying with you for too long, you’ll spend less money and be able to save some in the long run, which is why so many employers love temp staff. However, doing all those things over and over again could end up being costly as well, so don’t be afraid to think about finding someone who’ll do all those things for you. Choose a reliable employer of record who will manage these responsibilities in your stead. You’ll be able to focus on the performance of your staff without thinking about the cost of
Easy-to-Use Accounting & Bookkeeping Features. Invoicing and Accounting Tools Built for Any Sized Business
Understanding Workforce Composition Choices
Deciding whether to prioritize permanent or temporary employees affects
A thoughtful approach considers workload predictability,
Evaluating Permanent And Temporary Hiring Options
When comparing permanent and temporary roles, it helps to break the decision down into specific criteria rather than relying on assumptions or past habits. Looking at responsibilities, risk, and career paths for each position allows you to decide which roles truly require long-term commitment and which can be filled flexibly. This structured thinking helps prevent overstaffing, prevents burnout on your core
- Role Stability: Identify positions that must remain consistent over time, such as client ownership or regulatory compliance, and favor permanent employees to preserve continuity and accountability.
- Workload Variability: Map peak periods, seasonal surges, or project-driven spikes so you can use temporary staff strategically instead of stretching full-time employees too thin.
- Cost Visibility: Compare
salary , benefits, onboarding, andtraining for permanent staff against hourly or contractexpenses to understand the actual long-term cost of each model. - Practical Testing: Use recruiting tools to post both temporary and permanent versions of similar roles and see which structure attracts stronger candidates for your needs.
Explore Career.io, the only Al and human-powered platform where you can find everything you need. For any step of your job search or career growth. All in one place.
Designing A Long-Term Staffing Strategy
A resilient staffing strategy looks beyond the following vacancy and considers how your mix of permanent and temporary employees will evolve as the business changes. You can start by grouping roles into core, support, and project-based categories, then deciding which category should rely on long-term hires and which can be filled with flexible arrangements. As you refine this structure, document the reasoning so future managers follow the same logic, and use resources such as small-business planning guides to align staffing decisions with financial forecasts and growth plans.
Further Guidance & Tools
- Workforce Tradeoffs: Review Michael Page’s guide to compare permanent and temporary employees across stability, cost, and flexibility before committing to a staffing model.
- Temp Role Insights: Use Indeed’s overview to understand how temporary roles affect engagement, experience building, and long-term
hiring decisions for both employers and candidates. - Flexible Work Models: Explore SHRM’s toolkit for practical guidance on structuring and managing flexible work arrangements as part of a strategic staffing approach.
- Total Employee Cost: Apply Connecteam’s cost guide to estimate the actual financial impact of each hire, including benefits, taxes, onboarding, and recurring overhead.
- Employer Of Record: Read BambooHR’s EOR guide to see how third-party employers can simplify compliance when scaling permanent or temporary teams across regions.
AI-Based Recruitment Assistant. Hire Better Candidates Faster with AI Recruitment Software
Hire 80% faster
Access 100% of both active and passive candidates
The only model developed and backed by an award-winning,
Next Steps
- Map your essential roles, support functions, and project-based work so you can clearly distinguish positions suited for permanent versus temporary
hiring . - Review recent workload patterns to identify peak seasons, growth periods, and one-off projects where flexible staffing can protect your core
team from burnout. - Estimate the full cost of both permanent and temporary roles, including benefits, onboarding, and
training , to inform more innovative staffing and budgeting decisions. - Define how you will develop loyalty and engagement for every worker, using consistent communication, feedback, and recognition regardless of contract length or status.
- Document simple internal guidelines for when to choose permanent or temporary
hiring so future managers can follow a consistent, strategic decision process.
Final Words
Balancing permanent and temporary employees begins with understanding costs, workload needs, and long-term goals, allowing you to build a resilient workforce that adapts as your business grows. Moving forward requires the right mix of long-term staff and new hires, and temporary roles can even lead to a full-time contract, giving people opportunities to prove themselves beyond a job interview.
As you refine your staffing approach, remember that both
Every manager and human resources department has seen it time and time again--candidates whom they viewed from across the table as promising individuals loaded with potential turning out to be disappointing and underwhelming employees.
Additional Resources
-
Get your Office supplies and moreOffice Supplies. Art & Crafting, Bags & Luggage, Basic Supplies, Binders & Accessories, Business Forms, Tax Forms & Recordkeeping, Calendars & Planners and more
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
-
$9.99Learn MoreIn this book, you will discover:
- The top digital business trends to watch – these will completely change the world of online marketing within the next decade
- A simple method for finding profitable niche markets for free
- The most effective pricing strategies for online businesses
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
12/22/2025 02:00 pm GMT -
See If You QualifyThe Smart Way to Fund Your Business
- Find your best loan offer from competing lenders
- Loans up to $5M.
- Checking rates won't affect your credit score.
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
-
Compare OptionsDiscover the Power of Knowing What’s in Your Business Credit Profile.
D&B Credit Insights is for any small business owner who wants to know their business’s credit like the back of their hand. See real-time alerts when there are changes to your business scores and ratings, so you can quickly spot potential issues and act fast.
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
-
$14.99Learn MoreNine out of every ten startups will fail. Want to avoid their mistakes and become part of the 10% that succeed? THE NEXT STEP is the first series to take entrepreneurs step-by-step through the process from raw idea to operational startup
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
12/22/2025 02:01 am GMT -
$14.99Learn More at Amazon.comThe book Supercharge Your Business with Technology takes you on a journey of understanding of the true benefits of viewing technology as a strategic asset of your business
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
12/22/2025 02:03 pm GMT -
$11.99Learn MoreUnleash your potential with this companion that goes beyond ordinary notebooks. The Brainstorming Journal and Workbook is not just basic pages bound together.
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
12/21/2025 03:02 pm GMT -
Get started for freeAdd to your bottom line, not your to-do list.
Email, social media, and more to help your business get the attention it deserves.
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
-
Learn MoreTime to be your own boss. Join the millions who launched their businesses with LegalZoom. LLC plans start at $0 + filing fees.
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
-
Learn MoreXero gives you real-time cash-flow visibility, seamless bank integration, and automated workflows—all in one cloud platform designed for small business growth. Start your free trial today and see how smart accounting frees your focus.
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
-
$13.60Learn MoreHave you ever dreamt of starting your own business and living life on your terms?
This book shows you EXACTLY what you need to know to stand out from the crowd!
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
12/22/2025 10:05 am GMT -
$9.95Learn MoreThe Small Business Owner's Guide for Getting Loans, Credit & High Limit Funding Love
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
12/21/2025 03:05 pm GMT -
$19.99Learn MoreIn this book, Julie Barber shares her proven six-step process to showcase your company at its best and wow your potential investors.
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
12/21/2025 03:05 pm GMT -
Learn More
Easy-to-Use Accounting & Bookkeeping Features. Invoicing and Accounting Tools Built for Any Sized Business
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
Mark Fiebert is a former finance executive who hired and managed dozens of professionals during his 30-plus-year career. He now shares expert job search, resume, and career advice on CareerAlley.com.
