Put the conversion discussion on the calendar while the employee still has time to consider an offer. Bring the supervisor and the person authorized to approve the permanent role. The meeting needs to settle the job, the evidence, and the terms the employee will receive.
OPA People's Direct Hire vs. Temp-to-Perm in Healthcare guide compares the hiring arrangements. Once an assignment is underway, the employer must decide whether the work supports a permanent offer and what will change when the person joins its payroll.
Compare the offer with the actual assignment
Read the proposed duties, schedule, location, and reporting line together. Ask which responsibilities the employee has already carried. Identify any work that will be added after conversion. Review that change alongside pay, authority, and available time.
Ask the employee what remains unclear. Benefits, a different supervisor, or a changed schedule may affect their decision. Answer those questions before asking them to accept. Familiarity with the workplace can hide a meaningful change in the job.
If a required task never arose during the assignment, name the missing evidence. Decide whether the person needs to demonstrate it before conversion or learn it with planned support afterward. Choose a suitable task and a decision date if further evidence is necessary.
Examine completed work
Ask what was requested, what the employee delivered, and whether the receiving colleague could use it. Include both independent work and work that still needed review. Attendance matters to the stated schedule, alongside quality, communication, and the full scope of the role.
Find out what colleagues quietly completed for the employee. Planned training, missing access, and a continuing skill need call for different responses. Separate them before judging readiness. Use the expectations the employee was given during the assignment.
When departments disagree, ask each to identify the requirement and the work they observed. The hiring decision maker must resolve conflicting expectations in the company's interest. Give the employee one clear account of the permanent job afterward.
Keep supervision in the plan
Conversion changes the employment arrangement. Supervision remains a duty of the supervisory seat. Someone must set priorities, correct problems, approve exceptions, and check that work meets the standard.
Decide what support will continue. Include demonstrations, review, and help with unfamiliar tasks. Make room for that work in the supervisor's schedule. If another colleague teaches, determine which assignment takes priority when their time is already committed.
Trace the cost to the company. Review uses paid capacity. Rework delays other assignments. A missing decision can leave a receiving team waiting. The employer should consider those effects when choosing the support needed after conversion.
Requests for approval can be part of doing the job well. Check whether the employee recognizes the role's authority limits and brings the right question to the person who can decide.
If the employee already carries duties beyond the original assignment, decide whether those duties belong in the permanent position. A wider job may need different pay or authority. Make that decision before presenting the offer, and explain which responsibilities the employee is accepting.
Set the terms and the handover
Check the conversion provisions in the staffing agreement before promising an effective date. Confirm compensation, benefits, schedule, and any conditions of the offer. Tell the employee when the offer will arrive and who can answer questions while they consider it.
If the supervisor changes, arrange a direct handover of current priorities and unfinished decisions. Explain who can assign work from the effective date. The employee and receiving departments need the same answer about which instructions remain in force.
If further observation is needed, specify the work to be demonstrated and the support available. Confirm any extension with the staffing partner. If the decision is against conversion, arrange clear work-related feedback and a direct communication to the employee.
Use the OPA Staffing contact form to raise an unresolved conversion term before setting the effective date. Ask who can authorize the answer and when the employee will receive the final offer.