Dr.

Latika Kumari Mishra Desh Vikas ISSN 2394 -1782

RNI: APENG/2014/57359
Impact Factor: 2.2376
Volume: 7 Issue: 2 July – September 2020

Role of Manpower Service Providers towards the

Functioning of Different Organizations:
Issues and Challenges
Dr. Latika Kumari Mishra
Assistant Regional Director, IGNOU Regional Centre, Koraput, Odisha,
India. Email: dr.latikamishra@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Every organization requires suitable and efficient manpower to manage the
institution. Without human resources an organization cannot move a single
step towards its goal. Human resources are the backbone in the organization
and enable the organisation with proper procedure and strategies to
proceed towards the achievable goals. Therefore the selection, appointment
and placement of different level of employees as per the requirement of the
organization is a complex task for all the organization. For this purpose an
organisation formulates plans to fill or eliminate future job openings based
on an analysis of future needs, the talent available within and outside of the
organisation, and the current and anticipated resources that can be
expended to attract and retain such talent. But selection of suitable person
for suitable position is not easy task on the part of the organization.
Therefore, now a day’s most of the organizations depend upon the external
recruitment agencies for the selection and appointment of different
personnel in the organization in order to avoid the administrative and legal
challenges. On the other hand the external agencies and professional man
power agencies have details mechanisms for the selection of available talents
with skilled manpower as per the requirements of different organizations.
In spite of all these advantages of man power agencies these agencies face
lots of challenges at their level in all the aspects of human resource
management, including selection, appointment, retention, and employee
development. Not only that the talented and skilled staff engaged through
man power agencies also face varieties of problems, including use of their
talents, salary patterns, job security etc. Similarly the organization hire the
human resources through man power agencies also experienced lots of
issues and challenges with regard to the accountability of temporary staffs,
retention of skilled staff etc. In this context this paper has been prepared to
study the issues and challenges with regard to the implementation of man
power agencies.

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Introduction
Human resource is the indicative of the worth of an organization. Human
resource is the most precious assets of an organisation, not infrastructure,
money or physical equipment. An organisation’s performance and
productivity are directly depends upon to the quality and quantity of human
resources. Therefore, proper selection and placement of human resources is
the key for the success of any organization. As it contributes not only to
achievement of objectives and smooth running of an organisation but also
offer significant potential for future development. Therefore building and
maintaining effective human resources is very important function of the
organization. Each and every organisation gives more emphasis on its
requirements plans for right number and skills of human force to suit its
present and future needs. But selection of right person for suitable position is
a challenging task for the organization, particularly while hiring temporary
staff for the organization. Therefore, now a day’s most of the organizations try
to get people through the external recruitment agencies in order to avoid the
administrative and legal challenges. Further these external agencies have
details mechanisms and expertise for the selection of available talents with
skilled manpower as per the requirements of different organizations.

Manpower Agency
Man Power Agency means any person engaged in providing any service,
directly or indirectly, in any manner for recruitment or supply of manpower,
temporarily or otherwise, to any other person. Manpower is a staffing agency.
A Manpower recruitment agency acts as an intermediary between
“organizations, i.e. looking forward to recruit staff “and the people who are
looking out for jobs”. This association between agencies and organizations
established through proper legal procedure and mutual agreements. Based on
the agreement conditions the agencies provide necessary services in terms of
engaging skilled, experienced and qualified persons at the organization and the
organizations also pay necessary charges as per terms and conditions.

After finalization of the recruitment agency/ consultancy, the team of

recruiters starts working on the particular requirements of the organizations.
Initially they start, with screening the profiles according to job description sent
to them. Based on the conversations, discussions and verification of
documents they short list the candidates. Then Manpower consultants forward
the profile of the interested candidates to the organization, and after that they

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schedule the interview. But the recruitment agency ensures the payroll,
benefits and employee development opportunities for the persons engaged by
them. At the same time they also try to satisfy the organizations with
experienced, talented and skilled manpower to meet their organization goals
without any hassle.

Significance of Manpower Services Agency

Man power agencies have been proved as very useful for selection of human
resources for temporary positions of the organizations. It will cost less. They
are here to offer with suite of innovative solutions, dedicated towards the best
workforce. Recruitment agents are experts in their field and can also offer
helpful guidance. They can give objective solutions to the companies and
institutions for the fulfilment of requirements pertaining to human resources.
Some of the benefits of man power agencies are as follows:
 Most of the time one needs experience to get a good job. Some
agencies deal exclusively with temporary positions. This can be helpful
for fresh students to build up their experiences through such agencies.
 Agencies often specialize in certain industries and types of jobs. They
can provide appropriate information and suggestions to the people who
need information on job market.
 An efficient man power agency can serve as the best human resource
unit for the orgnaisation without any barrier and complexities. As a
result the organization can speed up the process of selection of persons
for different units of the organization while concentrating on other
important aspects and activities.
 They may have excellent contacts in organizations that could be very
helpful in getting a job.
 They are helpful to the candidates as well the employers too.

But the organization has to be very cautious in the choice of Manpower

Agency in India. Because only a right agency can provide right employment
options.

Significance of the Study

For the fulfilment of the mission and vision of the organization, it requires
suitable and efficient human resources. Without human resources an
organization cannot go ahead with its well planned strategies and procedures.
It is only human resources which organize everything in the organization and

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make possible the institution to proceed towards the achievable goals.

Therefore the selection, appointment and placement of different level of
employees as per the requirement of the organization are complex tasks for all
the organization. Therefore now a days most of the government organizations
and public sector units depend upon the external agencies for the selection of
suitable human resources in order to make their job simple, effortless and to
avoid legal complications. The external agencies served as the best way in
facilitating the entire process of selection and recruitment for the organization.
The agencies try to identify and select the best candidates as per the
requirement of the organizations.

However, it has been observed that in spite of all such advantages, man power
agencies face lots of challenges at their level in all the aspects of human
resource management, including selection, appointment, retention, and
employee development. Similarly the organization hire the human resources
through man power agencies also experienced lots of issues and challenges
with regard to the accountability of temporary staffs, retention of skilled staff
etc. In this context through this paper an attempt has been made to study the
issues and challenges with regard to the implementation of man power agencies.

Objectives of the study

The current study is undertaken with the following objectives:
1. To study the relevance of Manpower Service Provider for the
functioning of different Organisations
2. To study the issues and challenges face by the man power agency in
the process of engagement and placement of personnel in various
organisations.
3. To investigate the issues and problems face by the organisations
because of the engagement of the staff through man power agencies.

Methodology
Both descriptive as well as case study research methods were employed in
carrying out the study. More than simple case study techniques of data
collection, e.g. interview, observation, documentary analysis, use of
informants to study the issues and challenges pertaining to man power agency
were extensively used.

For this, two man power agencies engaged by two organizations of Koraput
district such as Central University, Odisha and IGNOU Regional Centre,

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Koraput were selected as the cases of the study. Out of two organizations 20
employees were selected purposively to explore the specific issues and
challenges pertaining to the implementation of man power agencies.

The author collected the necessary information from both the primary and
secondary sources. For primary data the author developed an information
schedule enquiring about details of the man power agencies as well as the
staffs engaged through man power agencies in both the organizations. She also
developed two questionnaires, one for the authorities of man power agencies
and the other for the authorities of two organizations enquiring mainly about
the functioning of the agencies and the issues and challenges face by them
during the process of selection, engagement and retention of the staffs as well
as the problems encountered by them with the hiring organizations in the
process of the implementation of the MoU signed them with the organizations.
But other information pertaining to the guideline and basic manuals and MoUs
of man power agencies collected from the available records and other
important information with regard to the functioning of man power agencies
from the secondary sources.

Findings and Discussions

This section presents the responses collected through interview schedule and
questionnaires on different aspects with regard to the functioning of man
power agencies. The responses of man power agencies and organizations are
presented separately in two sections. Section-1: Perception of authorities of
Man power agencies and Section-2 Perceptions of the authorities of
institutions regarding functioning of Man Power agencies.

1.1 Perception of Man Power Agencies

In this section the issues and problems associated with engagement and
management of daily wage staffs in various institutions by the man power
agencies have been discussed with special reference to selection of daily wage
staffs, process of engagement of staffs in various institutions and management
of staffs as per the requirements.
Both the agencies select the staffs based on the applications along with
certificates of educational qualifications and experiences submit by different
candidates to the agencies. They usually do not conduct any kind of written
tests or personal interviews for this purpose. Both the man power agencies
also agreed that they follow the norms with regard to the release of the

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remuneration to the employees. However 65% of them responded that they

follow the rule and increase the remuneration time to time as per the orders of
the ministry.

Figure-1
Provision of other facilities to the employees of Man Power Agencies

Figure-1 presents the information pertaining to other facilities provided to the

employees engaged through man power agencies. Both the agencies agreed
that they provide all kinds of medical facilities as per the scheme of ESI of
Govt of India to the employees engaged by them. They have also opined that
the medical facilities they extend to the family members of employees who are
completely dependent on the employee. With regard to the provision of leave
due to medical cases, both the organizations agreed that they don’t provide
such kinds of facilities as there are no such provisions under the MoU of both
the institutions. However in Central university of Odisha as per the decision of
the higher authorities’ employees availed medical leave for one day in a
month. With regard to the provision of other holiday facilities both the
organisations have the same opinion that they provide two days in each week,
but they are not giving payment on Sundays.

With regard to the timely disbursement of funds both the agencies have agreed
that they provide the remuneration in time to the employees engaged in
different institutions. Whereas on the statement “timely receipt of funds from

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the institutions“ only 70% of them opined that they receive it timely and 30%
of them opined that the institution don’t release the payments timely and keeps
on the bills with them. It is also opined by them that due to the late receipt of
the funds it is also very difficult on their part to disburse the payment timely to
the employees.

Table-1
Issues and Problems Experienced by the Man Power Agencies
Issues and Problems Percentage of Responses of Employees
Very Difficult Manageable
Difficult
Engagement of Agencies in various 40% 60%
institutions through tender process
Manage the administrative affairs of the 60% 40%
agencies with less service charges
Table-1 presents the information pertaining to the issues and problems
experienced by the man power agencies. Around 40% of them opined that it is
very difficult to follow the process for the engagement of agencies in various
institution through formal and technical process where as 60% of them also
opined that it is difficult to follow the tender process during the engagement.
Further 60% of them opined that it is difficult to manage the administrative
affairs of the agencies with less service charges, however 40% of them viewed
that it is manageable on the same statement. The authorities of both the man
power agencies viewed that the institutions reserves the right to amend or
withdraw any of the terms and conditions contained in the tender document or
to accept or reject any or all the tender(s) without assigning any notice or
reason thereof. Sometimes such conditions hamper the process of engagement
and sometime they reject the agencies without mentioning any reason thereof.

1.2 Perceptions of the Authorities of Institutions

In this section the perceptions of the authorities have been presented with
special reference to the engagement of staffs in the institutions through man
power agencies. The strengths and weaknesses have been analysed pertaining
to the engagement of man power agencies and performing the tasks by
engaging the employees through man power agencies.

With regard to the issues and challenges experienced by the institutions for the
engagement of man power agencies around 60% of them responded that it is
very difficult for them to engage the man power agencies due to the lengthy

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process like giving advertisement, following tender process etc. However

100% of them responded that they face more problems because of the non-
availability of man power agencies in the local area. Further 40% of them
responded that it requires lots of time for finalization of man power agencies
because one institution, i.e. IGNOU, Regional Centre, Koraput requires the
approval of the entire process and documents from IGNOU headquarters for
the finalization of man power agencies.

Table-2
Issues related with the staffs engaged through man power agencies.
Issues and Challenges Responses of
stakeholders
Engagement of in-experienced staffs 100%
Engagement of less qualified and untrained staffs 60%
No control over the staffs engaged through man power agencies 40%
Administrative and legal problems create by the staffs engaged 40%
through man power agencies
Staffs cannot own the institutions/ work due to engagement through 100%
man power agencies

As per the data presented in table-2 both the organizations opined that the
staffs engaged through man power agencies have less experiences as per the
requirements of the job. Further 40% of them also stated that it is difficult to
control over them and also experienced administrative and legal problems
created by the staffs engaged through man power agencies. Almost all the
staffs opined that due to less motivation, staffs engaged through man power
agencies cannot own the institutions and works of the institutions.

However both the organizations have expressed their satisfaction regarding the
performance of the staffs engaged through man power agencies. Around 80%
of them responded that the people engaged through man power agencies are
good performers. They complete the assigned tasks as per the requirements.
But 60% of them viewed that insecurity of job leads frustration in their mind
and that affects their job performance. Again 40% of them viewed it in
opposite way that insecurity of job forces them to perform better because of
the fear of loosing their job. As there are some staffs engaged in both the
institutions who have crossed the age of employment that creates the fear of
unemployment in their mind. Therefore majority of the staffs try to work up to
the satisfaction of the authorities of the institutions.

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Table-3
Strengths and weaknesses Associated with the Staffs Engaged through
Man Power Agencies
Issues and Challenges Responses of
stakeholders
Institutions feel in secure while assigning confidential works and 80%
documents of the office
Institutions cannot make them responsible and accountable for the 40%
assigned tasks
As there is no liability over the institution with regard to the financial 100%
and administrative issues of these staffs
Institutions engage more than one daily wage staff with the financial 100%
allotment of one regular staff
Reduces Hiring Risks for the engagement of staffs in the institutions 100%

The data presented in table-3 presents that almost all of the respondents
viewed that engagement of staffs in the institutions through man power
agencies reduces the risks of hiring. They opined that setting appointments for
interviews, selecting the right employees with the required skill set and other
contractual issues for such employments are tedious tasks, but if they hire
a manpower outsourcing provider they will do the work for them. Further all
of them responded that institutions engage more than one daily wage staff with
the financial allotment of one regular staff through this process along with
they are free from the financial and administrative issues of these daily wage
staffs. However 80% of them responded that they feel insecure while
assigning confidential works and documents of the office to daily wage staffs.
Around 40 % of them also responded that they cannot make them responsible
and accountable for the assigned tasks.

Conclusions
Man power agency has been proved as useful institution in order to gain work
experience and thereby increases employability for the fresh unemployed
people. With the help of man power agency, different companies and
institutions work smoothly and very easily manage their work without any
direct burden and liability of the human resources. On the other hand the
manpower services agency also provides best services with less cost. But both
the organizations and man power agencies are required to work on the
weaknesses, to improve the efficiency of the system.

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