How a Phoenix food production company cut payroll and HR overhead by 30% using TPM's temp-to-hire model—while improving the quality of every hire.
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Case Study
The company handled all hiring internally—recruiting, screening, onboarding, payroll, benefits, and compliance. With a growing workforce, the back-office burden was scaling faster than the business. Bad hires were costly: each one meant wasted training, payroll processing, benefits enrollment, and ultimately a termination and restart. The HR team was overwhelmed, and overhead was eating into margins.
Approach
TPM shifted the employer from a direct-hire model to a temp-to-hire structure backed by Employer of Record (EOR) payroll services—offloading back-office risk while creating a built-in evaluation period for every hire.
TPM mapped the employer's hiring volume, role types, turnover patterns, and back-office costs. The analysis showed that payroll administration and bad-hire costs were the two biggest overhead drivers—both addressable with a temp-to-hire model.
Workers were placed through TPM on a temporary basis with a defined evaluation window. During this period, the employer assessed performance, attendance, and cultural fit before committing to a permanent hire. Bad fits were identified early, saving the cost of formal onboarding and benefits enrollment.
During the temp period, TPM served as the Employer of Record—handling payroll, tax withholding, workers' comp, and compliance. The client's HR team was freed from processing payroll for workers who might not stay, and the administrative burden dropped immediately.
When workers passed the evaluation period, TPM facilitated a clean conversion to the employer's payroll. By this point, only proven performers were being added to the permanent roster—reducing future turnover and the costs that come with it.
Outcomes
The temp-to-hire model reduced overhead and improved the quality of every permanent hire.
Takeaways
Processing payroll for workers who don't last is expensive. Offloading temp-period payroll to an EOR eliminates waste before it happens.
Temp-to-hire gives you a real-world evaluation period. You see attendance, attitude, and performance before making a permanent offer.
Growing your workforce doesn't have to mean growing your HR department. EOR support lets you scale headcount without scaling back-office costs.
Employer Feedback
"Total Presence Management made the employee conversion process seamless and handled payroll-related requests quickly and professionally. Their attention to detail and willingness to support both our team and our employees has been greatly appreciated."
"Total Presence Management was flexible, responsive, and understanding of our evolving needs. Their willingness to move quickly and provide support made them a trusted partner we would confidently work with again."
"Working with Total Presence Management has been a great experience. Their process and tools have been extremely helpful in understanding candidate availability and ensuring a smooth hiring process."
The approach used in this case study draws from several TPM service areas.
Employer-side payroll and compliance support to reduce back-office risk and overhead.
Explore EOR & PayrollScreening, placement, and retention-focused support including temp-to-hire models.
Explore StaffingSee how TPM has helped other Arizona employers solve workforce challenges.
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