Temporary Employees

I've never worked at an institution that has hired temps before, and my current institution decided they're going to hire a temp for our front desk/customer service position for a couple of months. There are a couple of areas of concern for me, and I'm looking for some advice...

They want to give her access to customer information in order to help the people that call (we don't have an IVR system, so many customers call with account questions daily). We will talk to her about privacy/confidentiality, of course...but is there something that we should have her sign?

The temp agency does a background check, but it's not specified in our contract. How do we prove they did one on the girl we're going to have with us? Their legal counsel says they can't show us the physical results of the background check...

Thanks for any advice/experience/thoughts on this topic!

I would do my own background check if possible, you will probably need to get her/his permission. I would also have her/him sign a confidentiality agreement, read your company ethics policy and have her/him sign that they had read and received a copy. You have then basicly educated the temp as you would a new hire and have the evidence of that education.

Do you know where I would find an example of a confidentiality agreement?

(And thanks for your advice )!

If you would like me to send you the one that we use for our Vendors, send me a PM with your email address.

I would also have her fill out an application with your own institution and some of the other paperwork, such as an emergency notification form and forms with ways to get in contact with her or someone close to her. If something were to happen and she stole some money and then skipped out on you, at least you would have her information to press charges and file a SAR. I would almost treat it as a new employee through the bank, only no payroll.

Thanks for the input, tex.gal!

renniks...I just PM'd you. Thanks so much!

I would also make sure that she is trained on your Information Security Program - Safeguarding customer information.

We use temps all the time, in varying levels and responsibilities. My first question is do you really want a temporary employee handling sensitive customer inquiries? Other than answering the phone and transferring the call to a BANK employee, I'm not sure I would do much more with an entry level person. If this is a professional temp with experience, then after training there should be no degradation in service to your customers.

The temp agency has all the contact information that is needed for the employee, and should also have the temp bonded. There is no need to gather this additional information. Having her fill out an application could trigger a fee to the temp agency, so I wouldn't go that route.