Letters to the Editor: Penmac, CVB respond to recent SBJ articles

HR Solutions column

I am responding to a feature article titled "Employers can cope with today's staffing drought" by Lynne Haggerman. This article appeared in the April 16-22 Springfield Business Journal.

There are some misleading and inaccurate statements included in this article that I believe need to be clarified.

My business, Penmac Personnel Services, is a staffing service. We were formerly a temporary service. Historically agencies have charged fees for placement, either to the job seeker or the business client and they were never the "employer of record."

There are similarities between temporary or staffing services and search firms or placement agencies. However, some of the stated differences in the article are misleading.

First, for temporary positions, associates are sent to the client's business and work until the assignment ends. There is no sending of a resume or interview by the business client. The client depends on the service to send the quality person with the skills necessary to complete the assignment.

Secondly, the "temp-to-hire" or "temp-to-perm" positions may or may not require an interview by the business client it is at the client's discretion.

The associates sent for temp-to-hire positions have been thoroughly screened and evaluated by the staffing service. There are many tests for skills. We use a system called Qwiz for all clerical testing and software such as Word and Excel, accounting and customer service.

We always reference check. We also do all drug screens for the clients that request one. Additionally, any criminal background search can be completed for clients that require one. We must secure the documentation for both in-state and out-of-state searches.

Again, because we are the employer of record, we are liable for our associate. Negligent hiring is the liability of the staffing service whether it be the temp position or temp-to-hire. Once the associate is placed, the staffing service is also responsible for all payroll, taxes, unemployment and worker's compensation claims until the associate is hired by the client's business. This affords an excellent opportunity for both the associate and client to decide if the position is mutually satisfying.

The statement concerning fees is totally inaccurate for our temp-to-hire placement. Ms. Hag-german stated that employers can expect to pay the agency (should be "service") around 16 percent of the first-year salary. The average markup varies by the classification of labor placed and volume of the account.

Our policy is that after the associate works at the temp-to-hire position for 480 hours they can be hired by the client at no additional fee. This 480-hour time period equates to approximately 5 percent of the annual salary not 16 percent. (I wish.)

Thirdly, for all professional placements through our service where the recruit is not working under temp-to-hire, we currently charge 10 percent of the annual salary. Again, it is at the client's discretion of how they wish to hire. The overwhelming majority prefers temp-to-hire.

Sincerely,

Patti A. Penny

President, Penmac Personnel Services

GottogoSpringfield.com

The Convention and Visitors Bureau a not-for-profit organization applauds the efforts of college students Jonathan Daugherty and Caleb Bruner, featured in the April 16-22 edition of the Springfield Business Journal ("Young men's Web site lists Springfield attractions").

We were disappointed, however, to see comments in the article that indicated difficulty in finding information about Springfield on the Internet.

The bureau's Web site www.springfieldmo.org is apparently easy to find as we had 626,639 hits and 31,241 user sessions in March. Our Web site also ranks among the top five listings usually Number 1 on all major Internet search engines when using the search criteria "Springfield Missouri."

Our Web site features comprehensive information about Springfield, including attractions, shopping, events and more. Our site also includes a link to the Springfield Community Profile Web site, http://spring-field.missouri.org. This Web site is a comprehensive portal of information from the city of Springfield, Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Springfield City Utilities, Greene County, Springfield-Branson Regional Airport, Springfield Public Schools, Springfield-Greene County Library District and the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau. Internet users can easily find information about schools, employment, demographics, business development, taxes and much more.

Sincerely,

Tracy Kimberlin

Executive director, CVB