Just before 9 a.m., a key person in Wharton Reprographics' bindery called in sick. Sheaves of papers were piling up for a priority job, so Assistant Manager of Client Services Leroy Heartsfield called Todays Penn Temps. A worker showed up by 10:30 a.m.

"Their response is absolutely phenomenal," said Mr. Heartsfield. "We have used them a lot, especially during peak periods like at the beginning of a semester when we're putting out course packs for all 5,000 Wharton students over a two-week period. And Todays Penn Temps always sends us responsible people."

Calling in a temp on short notice used to be a bit of a gamble. But the Executive Vice President's Office, Human Resources and Purchasing inaugurated a new single-source arrangement in September that streamlines the process, improves worker quality and service, and saves the University money. An important additional benefit is that Todays Penn Temps offers job opportunities to Penn's neighbors in West Philadelphia, "which will support the University's goal of building stronger community ties," noted Executive Vice President John Fry when he informed the University about the arrangement in August.

"Until this past summer, we had used five vendors--temp companies that we'd made agreements with about rates and arrangements," explained Susan Curran, assistant manager of employment in Human Resources. "We were interested in establishing a partnership that would improve service and reduce costs at the same time. After a lot of research, we decided to go with one preferred vendor, Todays Temporary," a nationwide firm that had already been a provider of temps to Penn for six years.

In the "partner-on-premises" arrangement, Penn leased an office in the Funderburg Information Center, 3401 Walnut St., to Todays Temporary, and the on-campus service was renamed Todays Penn Temps.

The single-provider relationship means that the temp needs of University schools and departments can be filled quickly with qualified personnel. The service also is developing an extensive database on departmental temp employment needs and preferences.

Mr. Heartsfield isn't the only one who finds that Todays Penn Temps provides productive, skilled workers. Across the campus, administrators like Trudi Sippola are happy with the new system. The assistant director of Division Support in the School of Nursing, Ms. Sippola said, "We've really gotten good people. Todays Penn Temps is very quick in their response. I think that, because they are trying to serve the whole University, they are sending us better temps overall in their quality than we used to get [from a variety of agencies].

"In the past, you'd get uneven quality," Ms. Sippola continued. "You'd try to remember the names of the better temps and request them when you needed to fill a spot, and often you couldn't get them again. But now there's more consistency."

Through a concerted effort, Todays Penn Temps is developing a pool of workers who temp only at Penn. And 56 percent of them live in West Philadelphia. In the last quarter of this fiscal year, 170 temps who worked at Penn were West Philadelphians, according to Ms. Curran.

"They've been even more successful at recruiting from the community than we had hoped," she added. "They have very quick turnaround time. And if they cannot fill the position, they will subcontract and negotiate the best rates for Penn."

The sole-source arrangement has already brought about a projected annual cost savings of approximately $140,000.

Todays Penn Temps will also assist Human Resources in testing qualified applicants for full-time jobs. The agency will test and pool qualified applicants for regular staff positions and several different types of jobs without additional cost to the University.

The arrangement also will give an advantage to former Penn employees whose positions have been discontinued. By joining the temp pool, they can be in a better position to step into a permanent job slot when one opens. The arrangement allows Penn to hire temps into full-time or part-time positions without paying a placement fee. For support positions, this is seen as a valuable and cost-efficient recruitment device.

Becky Kilkenny, Todays Penn Temps operations manager, said that the new arrangement has been a substantial success. A survey of departments that have used the service was recently conducted, and 98 percent of those surveyed said that they thought the on-site, single-source provider has been beneficial, reported Ms. Kilkenny.

Temping is "one of the fastest-growing industries in the country," she added. "These are people who want to work and they are effective, productive workers. There's a lot of pride. Many have great skills." Temps also enjoy the flexibility of working when they need to work, as well as the benefits offered, she pointed out.

Todays Temporary provides temp workers with health benefits as soon as they sign on, and they accrue holiday pay after working 300 hours. They earn two-weeks' vacation pay after working a year, with a minimum of 1,500 hours within that year.

For added incentive, Todays Penn Temps holds giveaways--monthly prizes such as shopping sprees, CD players and restaurant meals. An annual sweepstakes in December features a grand prize of a Jeep Grand Cherokee. To enter the drawings, temps have productivity cards filled out by supervisors. If their productivity exceeds expectations, they are eligible for the drawings.

The partner-on-premises arrangement is working so successfully that Todays Penn Temps is about to add a second full-time staffer to assist Ms. Kilkenny.

Mr. Fry believes that the Todays Penn Temp arrangement demonstrates the value of partnering with commercial entities to help achieve the University's restructuring goals. "By offering vendors an exclusive relationship based on performance criteria, which we constantly monitor," he said, "we are able to guarantee the University better service, lower costs, and the flexibility to make special arrangements that serve other goals, such as providing job opportunities for West Philadelphians."

Return to Compass Features for March 12/19, 1996