[widebody911]

Originally posted by rcecale
I've been checking out the help wanted ads lately and have noticed what seems to be a trend.

... a trend that started in the early 90's, not that anyone's saying you're asleep at the wheel...

Aside from the money the company is paying the staffing company to pay the employee, they also have to pay the staffing company for their costs as well. And from what I've heard, this is often times equal to or even more than what they pay the employee!

This depends. Pimping agencies have sprung up like wildflowers in the past decade, and some are literally just a guy working out of his spare bedroom in his PJ's. The "spread" - the difference between what the client pays and the contractor (the guy who actually does the work) gets - varies widely, but anectdotal evidence seems to indicate that it is shrinking in general due to competition. One factor is the level of 'street smarts' of the contractor. People who are new to this type of gig almost as a rule get taken to the cleaners, and since it's usually easier to get a CD with AutoCad drawings of the latest stealth fighter off of ebay than it is to get the info on the spread... I'm on a board like this one for pimps, and it's interesting to see them brag about the spreads they get. I've also dated a couple of pimpettes, and was able to get deeper into the inner workings, if you know what I mean

What are the benefits to using a staffing company over doing a direct hire of an employee for long-term positions?

While they actually pay more in "wages," there are 'benefits' to the employer; I have to qualify benefits because I think it's a matter of perspective.

As a contract employee:

• you're not a headcount, you're an expense
• the employer doesn't have to pay any med or retirement or SS, UI etc
• because you're an expense, there's probably accounting tricks they can use to their advantage. I'm not an accountant and I don't play one when I dress up in rubber and leather and slather myself in canola oil.
• they can kick you to the kerb much easier than a normal employee, even in 'at-will' states like CA. It's also been alleged that companies use this to get around anti-discriminatory hiring rules that they don't like.
• (allegedly) the pimp does the heavy pre-screening, taking the load off the HR dept
• reduce HR overhead because the pimp does the basic grunt work (ie paychecks, etc)
• you don't affect their health insurance premiums or anyt of that kind of stuff
• there are pimps that specialize in H1's, which make it easier for companies to get indentured servants

I've been doing this type of gig for almost 10 years now. For the past 1.5 years, I've been doing 1099 contracts, which is a whole 'nuther ball of earwax.