Boston, MA – AUGUST 30, 2005 – PrintStaff, the leading placement firm for temporary help in the graphic arts and printing industry, and the Printing and Imaging Association of MidAmerica (PIA-MidAmerica), a not-for-profit trade association dedicated to providing a variety of benefits to the graphic communications industry in Kansas, Western Missouri, Oklahoma and most of Texas, announce that they have completed an agreement to offer PrintStaff’s flexible staffing and ‘to hire’ services at a discount to PIA-MidAmerica member companies. PIA-MidAmerica joins PINE, PINC, PIAG, PIASC and PII in this growing program. This new member benefit is particularly valuable now with increased activity toward the use of flexible hiring practices. As the market is still unsteady, using qualified, temporary production personnel meets delivery needs and preserves lower fixed expenses. The new services encompass a number of areas: • For PIA-MidAmerica members, PrintStaff provides fully qualified flexible labor to augment member companies’ core staff at a 5% discount on the hourly bill rate. For example, a normal charge of $25 per hour for skilled flexible staff is reduced 5% to $23.75 per hour. Used in conjunction with the ‘flex to hire’ discount, member companies can enjoy a sizably reduced per hire expense. • With its ‘Flexible to Hire’ service, PrintStaff offers clients the option of testing candidates before hiring them as direct employees. The candidate remains a PrintStaff employee while working for an employer on a trial basis. The fee is 25% of the employee's starting salary, less 0.5% for every full week the employee works prior to being permanently hired (with a floor fee of 20%.) • PrintStaff’s ‘Direct Hire Placement’ option provides an invaluable service for employers in search of new direct hire staff. PrintStaff conducts the search, interview, referencing and testing at a fee equal to 25% of the employee's starting salary. “Every company has a group of dedicated employees that are protected at all costs. These workers each have common attributes: a rare skill set, a great work ethic, and/or excellent knowledge of the company’s client base and internal processes. The success of any company depends on these people,” comments David Regan, PrintStaff CEO. Letting one of them go or losing one to a competitor can be a disaster—particularly because the only thing that most differentiates one company from another is its people. By offering PrintStaff’s flexible staffing services to its members, PIA-MidAmerica provides a competitive edge in core staff retention augmented by skilled flexible staff personnel.” The new service will be available to PIA-MidAmerica members on September 1. For further information please visit www.piamidam.org.