Who are Agency Employees?
An agency employee is an individual who is typically employed by a third-party staffing agency but works at the hiring organization’s location. In most cases, the staffing agency serves as the employer of record, meaning it is responsible for the employee’s payroll, taxes, and employment benefits. The hiring organization pays the agency for the employee’s services rather than paying the employee directly. This arrangement is common when filling temporary or short-term staffing needs, covering specialized roles, or addressing urgent workforce gaps.
In Empeon Workforce, agency employees are set up differently from regular employees since they are not on the organization’s payroll. This setup allows the agency employee to be scheduled, tracked, and managed for work purposes without processing wages through the payroll system.
Adding Agency Employees
Organizations with agency employees should have a separate option available on the People tab to add a New Agency Employee. If this option is unavailable, please contact Empeon Customer Support in order to inquire about activating our Staffing Agency Service.
Adding an agency employee in Empeon Workforce is a more straightforward process than manually adding a regular employee. Since agency employees are typically employed by a third-party staffing agency that serves as the employer of record, their initial setup requires only limited information.
When adding an agency employee, there are three employee profile categories available by default:
- Personal - Includes fields for the employee's name, ID number and hire date. These are the only required fields by default when adding an agency employee.
- Contact - Includes optional fields for the employees phone number and email address.
- Employment Status - Includes a field for Employment Type. It may be preferred to have an Employment Type previously added to the site that best reflects an agency employee so it can be assigned here.
When manually adding an agency employee, the Customize form button can be used to make additional fields required or to include more profile categories. Even with customization, the available additional categories and fields are limited compared to those offered when adding a regular employee. The categories that can be added are:
- Job Info - Agency employees can still be assigned to Job Info categories to have this information tracked on their profile. There is a specific Staffing Agency Job Info category that can be used to track the various staffing agencies from which employees originate.
- Licenses/Certificates - Some agency employees may require specific licenses or certificates to perform their role. These can be added to the form and recorded on the employee’s profile if needed.
- Personal - Additional fields for Social Security Number (SSN) and Clock ID number (Clock #) can be added to the existing Personal section if these details should be tracked.
After an agency employee is added, their profile contains all the same sections and fields as a regular employee. Workforce Users can enter additional information if desired, although this is rarely necessary given the nature of the arrangement with agency employees. In the system, agency employees will be tagged as "Agency" to indicate that they are an agency employee.
Switching Agency Employees to Regular Employees
In some situations, employees who start with an organization as agency employees may later be hired on as regular employees. This can happen when temporary or contract roles transition into permanent positions, when an employee demonstrates strong performance, or when organizational staffing needs change.
When making this change in Empeon Workforce, the process itself is straightforward: terminate the existing agency employee profile, then add the individual back into the system as a regular employee. However, there are some key considerations to keep in mind to ensure the transition is handled smoothly.
- Onboarding Templates - For organizations using the Onboarding feature, it is recommended to utilize an onboarding template when adding the employee. Each template automatically includes the W-4 and I-9 forms, ensuring these are completed as part of the process. If the employee is added manually without using an onboarding template, these forms must be distributed and collected separately.
- Hire Date - The hire date for the new regular employee profile should reflect the date they are being added as a regular employee. If the organization wishes to recognize the employee’s tenure when they were an agency employee, for purposes such as PTO accruals, rate increases, benefits eligibility, or other service-based considerations, enter the hire date from the terminated agency profile as the Adj Seniority Date on their Employee Profile.
- PBJ Employee ID - If the employee was assigned a PBJ Employee ID while classified as an agency employee, that same ID should be entered in the PBJ Employee ID field on their new profile. By using the same ID, it will not affect turnover rate.
- ESS Hub - While it is uncommon for agency employees to have an ESS account, some may if they use the ESS Hub to punch in and out. For any agency employees with an existing ESS account, a new ESS Hub will need to be created for their new regular employee profile. It is recommended to use the same email address associated with their agency profile so the employee can link accounts. This allows them to view timecards and other data from their agency employment while also maintaining a separate account for their regular profile going forward.
All other setup details for the new profile should be handled as they would for any regular employee. This includes assigning rates, Cost Centers, and completing all relevant HR and payroll information.