Taking care of the headaches.

• Author: Gilbert, Jo
• Position: Temporary services companies

Four Indiana temporary services make Inc. magazine's 500 fastest-growing private companies.

Temporary-service companies have been around since World War II, but it wasn't until the early 1980s that the industry became the third-fastest growing industry in the nation.

Dennis Takayoshi of Manpower in Indianapolis cites technology as one reason the concept caught on quickly in the 1980s. "The big difference was the big change in office equipment," he says. "People were not trained in these areas at that time." Seeing the situation as an opportunity, temporary companies trained their employees in the new technology. "We had someone who was qualified to go out and operate that machinery."

Another reason temporary business boomed in the '80s was the recession in 1982, says Virginia Gunther of Indianapolis' Talent Tree Personnel Services. "Before 1982, companies would hire a permanent person to answer phones and lick envelopes," she says. "Companies realized they no longer had the luxury of keeping full-time staffs." With this realization came lay-offs." With this realization came lay-offs. Toward the end of that recession, companies made the commitment to hire temporaries until business stabilized. When business improved, the companies would have the option of hiring that pre-screened temp.

Today, temporary help is a $20 billion-plus industry with a bright future. In 1992, five million people were registered with temporary companies, working at least one job lasting an average of 4.04 weeks.

Although the temporary industry suffered a setback during the most recent economic downturn, companies once again looked to temps as the economy improved, before making permanent hires. Is the industry, then, a leading economic indicator? Possibly. Some Indiana companies have noticed increased business in the past year. Flexible Personnel in Fort Wayne, for one, grew 50 percent between early 1992 and early 1993. Action Temporary Services in Evansville has had a 300 percent increase in business in the past two years alone. In 1992, of the 12 Indiana companies included among Inc. magazine's 500 fastest-growing private companies in the nation, four were temporary-service companies.

"There are a lot more jobs available than qualified people," says Kathy Rogers, president of Fort Wayne's Time Temporary Services. And signing on qualified employees is no small effort. Out of about 1,000 resumes received by Time's offices weekly, only about 30 percent are qualified.

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