Response Analysis Survey (RAS) for the Temporary Help Industry

JOLTS TEMPORARY HELP INDUSTRY RAS¹

DRAFT 6/24/2008

Contact Information and Recruitment

Hello. My name is ______________ from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. I'm calling in reference to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover report submitted by your firm. May I please speak to CONTACT NAME?

C1. Our records show that you are the contact person for the monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover report. Are you the person who prepares this report?

 YES è GO TO rEcruitment script

 NO

C2. Who is the person who prepares the monthly report on Job Openings and Labor Turnover report for your company? What is (CONTACT NAME’S) telephone and fax number?

CONTACT NAME:___________________________________________

contact phone number:__________________________________

contact fax number:_____________________________________

RECRUITMENT SCRIPT

We routinely ask businesses to help us assure that we collect the best data possible for the temporary help industry, so we are contacting our respondents to discuss the report.

It would be very valuable to us if we could talk to you about the report definitions and data items and how easy or difficult it is for you to provide the information. I realize you are very busy, but would you have a little time to answer some questions over the telephone? The questions usually take about 15 minutes, and I can ask them right now or schedule an appointment at your convenience.

IF RESPONDENT AGREES AND WANTS TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT, ASK:

R1. Which day between [date] and [date] would be best for me to call you back? And what time of day?

APPT DAY: __________________________________

TIME OF DAY: _______________________________

R2. I called [PHONE NUMBER]. Is this the best phone number to use to reach you?

□ Yes

□ No → Correct the information here: _________________

Confidentiality Statement

 The purpose of this call is for statistical purposes only and quality control. Your participation is voluntary, and you can decline to answer any questions.

 The information you provide will be held in confidence to the full extent permitted by law. Your firm will not be identified in any way.

In accordance with the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (Title 5 of Public Law 107-347) and other applicable Federal laws, your responses will not be disclosed in identifiable form without your informed consent. The OMB control number for this interview is: 1220-0170 with an expiration date of 3/31/2009.

Respondent Checkpoint (complete prior to interview)

 Respondent (R) provides job openings number

 R Provides hires and recall number

 R Provides separations numbers

RAS QUESTIONS

I have a number of questions about the JOLTS form. Do you have it available? (CAN FAX IF NECESSARY)

TOTAL EMPLOYMENT

1. First, I have a question on total employment number that you provide us with. On the form, this is column A. When you give us the total number of employees for the pay period including the 12th, do you take the number directly off of a standard report, or do you have to work with your data to give us what we ask for?

 DIRECTLY OFF STANDARD REPORT

 WORK WITH THE DATA: What do you have to do? ______________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

2. Does the total employment number that you provide us with include any of the following employee types?

 Company management

 Other permanent company staff, such as recruitment and clerical staff

 Temporary help associates on assignments

 Temporary help candidates not on assignments

JOB OPENINGS

3. Now I'd like to discuss job openings. This is column B on the form. Does your organization either prepare a list or report of job openings, or have the capability of getting a count of job openings from an automated system?

 YES

 NO  GO TO Q5 OR Q6

4. IF R PROVIDES JOB OPENINGS: Do you take the number of job openings directly (off a list or report/from an automated system), or do you have to work with your data in order to give us what we ask for?

 DIRECTLY

 WORK WITH THE NUMBERS: What do you have to do? _________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

GO TO Q7

5. IF R PROVIDES JOB OPENINGS BUT NO LIST/REPORT/AUTOMATED SYSTEM IN Q3: How do you compile information on job openings?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

GO TO Q7

6. IF R DOES NOT PROVIDE JOB OPENINGS: It doesn’t look like you are able to provide us with job openings data. Can you tell me why that is?

 Data not available

 Too difficult to compile data

 Too busy

 Other __________________________________________________________

7. (Would/Do) you include any of the following types of job openings in your job opening numbers?

 Jobs open to new candidates that have not yet received an assignment

• Jobs open to current associates

• Jobs or job orders that start within 30 days

 Jobs or job orders that start more than 30 days in the future

 Jobs that have been filled, but the work has not yet started

8. The JOLTS report requests the number of job openings where recruiting is from outside your current pool of associates. Do you do any recruiting from outside your current pool of associates in order to fill job orders?

 YES  GO TO Q9

• NO GO TO Q10

8. Can you compile or separate out job openings by whether (job are open only to outside candidates/recruiting is from outside your current associates)?

 YES

• NO

10. IF R REPORTS JOB OPENINGS: When you report job openings, what time period does your count of job openings cover? Is it the last business day of the month, the entire month of [MONTH], the last pay period of the month, or something else?

 LAST BUSINESS DAY

 LAST PAY PERIOD

 ENTIRE MONTH

 OTHER (Describe) ______________________________________________

HIRES AND RECALLS

11. Now I have some questions on Hires and Recalls (column C on the form). For the JOLTS report, would you consider any of the following a hire or recall?

 A job candidate that has not received an assignment/placement

 A job candidate that has received a first assignment

 An associate who is hired for a permanent staff job with your company

 An associate that has completed worked for one client and receives a new assignment with a different client Would you consider them a  Hire or  Recall?

 An associate that returns to work after several months off and receives an assignment Would you consider them a  Hire or  Recall?

 Other (Describe)__________________________________________________

12. Does your company prepare a list or report of hires/recalls, or have the capability of getting a count of hires and recalls from an automated system?

 YES

 NO  GO TO Q14 OR Q15

13. IF R PROVIDES HIRES: Do you take the number of hires/recalls directly (off a list or report/from an automated system), or do you have to work with your data in order to give us what we ask for?

 DIRECTLY

 WORK WITH THE NUMBERS: What do you have to do? _________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

GO TO Q16

14. IF R PROVIDES HIRES/RECALLS BUT NO LIST/REPORT/AUTOMATED SYSTEM: How do you compile information on hires/recalls?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

GO TO Q16

15. IF R DOES NOT PROVIDE HIRES/RECALLS: It doesn’t look like you are able to provide us with hire/recall numbers. Can you tell me why that is?

 Data not available

 Too difficult to compile data

 Too busy

 Other _________________________________________________________

16. Are you able to provide a distinct count of associates that are sent on their first assignment during a specific month?

 YES How would you refer to this count? Is there a good term/title to use to describe it? Would it help if we used the term “new hires”?

_______________________________________________________________

 NO

17. IF R PROVIDES HIRES: When you report hires and recalls, what time period did your counts cover? Is it the entire month of [MONTH], some portion of the month, one pay period of the month, the last business day of the month, or something else?

 ENTIRE MONTH

 ONE PAY PERIOD

 LAST BUSINESS DAY

 OTHER (Describe)_____________________________________

18. IF R PROVIDES HIRES: When you report hires and recalls, are hires people who actually started working for your business during the month, or are they people you offered jobs to who might not start for a while, or both, or something else?

 STARTED WORKING DURING MONTH

 OFFERED JOBS TO DURING MONTH

 BOTH

 OTHER _______________ ___________________________________________

SEPARATIONS

19. My next questions are on separations (Column E on the form). Does your organization either prepare a list or report of separations from the company, or have the capability of getting a count of separations from an automated system?

 YES

 NO  GO TO Q21 OR Q23

20. IF R PROVIDES SEPARATIONS: Do you take the number of quits, layoffs and discharges and other separations directly (off a list or report/from an automated system), or do you have to work with your data in order to give us what we ask for?

 DIRECTLY

 WORK WITH THE NUMBERS: What do you have to do? _________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

GO TO Q22

21. IF R PROVIDES SEPARATIONS BUT NO LIST/REPORT/AUTOMATED SYSTEM IN Q18: How do you compile information on quits, layoffs and discharges and other separations?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

22. IF R PROVIDES SEPARATIONS: When you report separations, what time period did your counts cover? Is it the entire month of [MONTH], some portion of the month, one pay period of the month, the last business day of the month, or something else?

 ENTIRE MONTH

 ONE PAY PERIOD

 LAST BUSINESS DAY

 OTHER (Describe)_____________________________________

23. IF R DOES NOT PROVIDE SEPARATIONS: It doesn’t look like you are able to provide us with separations data. Can you tell me why that is for each type of separation?

Reason	Quits	Layoffs & Discharges	Other Separations
Data not available
Too difficult to compile data
Too busy
Other (Describe)

24. IF R PROVIDES SEPARATIONS: Do you have any difficulty reporting quits, which are employees who leave voluntarily?

 YES Why is that?_______________________________________________________

 NO Why is that?_______________________________________________________

25. When associates find permanent work with a company client, would you find out about it?

 YES A. Do you report that as a “quit”?  YES  NO?

B. Does your company keep track of associates who find

 SOMETIMES permanent jobs with clients?  YES  NO

3. IF YES IN B, is that information accessible monthly?

 YES  NO

 NO

26. When associates find other work independently, would you find out about it?

 YES A. Do you report that as a “quit”?  YES  NO?

B. Does your company keep track of associates who find

 SOMETIMES other employment?  YES  NO

3. IF YES IN B, is that information accessible monthly?

 YES  NO

 NO

27. Do you usually find out about “quits” within a month, or is it sometimes later than that?

 USUALLY WITHIN THE MONTH

 SOMETIMES LATER

 OTHER (Describe)_____________________________________

28. IF R PROVIDES SEPARATIONS: Do you have any difficulty reporting layoffs and discharges, which are separations initiated by the employer?

 YES Why is that?_______________________________________________________

 NO Why is that?_______________________________________________________

29. IF R PROVIDES SEPARATIONS: Do you have any difficulty reporting other separations, which are retirements, transfers to other locations, deaths and separations due to employee disability?

 YES Why is that?_______________________________________________________

 NO Why is that?_______________________________________________________

30. Since this is a data quality study, it's important for us to know where you go to get the data for the JOLTS report. After each of the next few questions I will ask you where you got the number. For example, where did you get the job openings number? Was it from [CHECK ALL THAT APPLY]:

	Job Openings	Hires	Quits	Layoffs & Discharges	Other Separations
Human Resources
Payroll
Recruiting
Some other department or group (specify)
Memory
Somewhere else (specify)
DON’T KNOW

31. Does your company use a software package to track candidates, assignments, clients, etc.?

 YES

 NO

32. IF YES, is it any of the following?

 Proprietary software provided by the larger company

 In-house package

 TempWorks

 EMPACT

 People soft

 Other commerical package (Specify)________________________

 In-house package

 Something else (Specify)________________________

33. Before we end, is there anything that you want to tell us about JOLTS data collection? Any item that is especially hard or easy for you to get? Anything that you wish we would ask for in a different way, or for a different time period?

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

Thank you very much for speaking with me. We appreciate your time and your participation in the JOLTS report.

1 Standard paper and pencil interviewing procedures are used in that text in caps is not read by interviewers, but lower case is to be ready. Parentheses are used when an interviewer needs to insert information or make a decision about what to read.