Many manufacturing companies opt for an onsite coordinator when the number of temporary employees hired reaches a certain threshold. This onsite presence alleviates burdensome human resources and supervisory tasks so HR can concentrate on permanent employees. These tasks include orientations, counseling, and payroll duties. An onsite coordinator can lead both manufacturing personnel and temporary office or IT employees.

Getting to Know the Job

Onsite coordinators orientate temporary employees by walking them through the facility and explaining about lunches, breaks, and meetings with immediate supervisors. Orientations allow coordinators face time with new employees and a chance to get to know them and the jobs they will do. This facilitates more than workplace logistics; it facilitates trust and personal attention to the details that each new temporary employee must attend to. Onsite coordinators usually interact more with manufacturing temps than office or IT temps due to the nature of the work and the number of employees in each department.

Counseling When There's a Problem

When a temp employee doesn't shower, has missed too much work, or has a personal problem, the onsite coordinator often must counsel. This can feel awkward to new coordinators, but this is an essential part of the job. Onsite coordinators keep the influx of temporary workers running smoothly, even when the cool head and professional candor of counseling is needed,

Covering the Essentials

Part of the weekly or biweekly grind is gathering and calculating the payroll reports. Before temps slid cards through e-readers to clock in, they used to punch in and out using time cards and time clocks. Digital clocking in and out saves the onsite coordinator time and reduces calculation error. Other daily, weekly, or monthly duties are recording attendance, talking to supervisors, coordinating with human resources for those temporary employees who will go full-time with the company, and gathering miscellaneous reports to take to the staffing agency.

The onsite coordinator's relationship with the staffing agency is an important one. The onsite coordinator serves as a liaison between the client and the agency, so it is important to keep the lines of communication and the relationships with the office manager and service representatives fluid and productive. Wearing many hats is par for the course for an onsite coordinator.

Switching Between Manufacturing, Office, and IT Personnel

Is there any difference between office or IT temp agencies and manufacturing staffing agencies for the onsite coordinator? There are a few key differences. One is that manufacturing temp workers usually outnumber the more specialized IT temps. Often onsite coordinators change gears within one manufacturing plant when they must also facilitate office or IT personnel needs as well as those of manufacturing-floor employees. When you take an onsite coordinator position, it is important to understand that the scope of the position is subject to change. The job can be challenging, but it offers diverse roles that many temp-agency staff members relish.