Temporary Employment

Temporary employment or temporary work refers to a situation where the employee is expected to leave the employer within a certain period of time. Temporary employees are sometimes called "contractual", "seasonal", "interim", or "freelance"; or the word may be shortened to "temps." Agricultural workers are often temporarily employed for harvesting. In some instances, temporary professional employees (particularly in the white collar fields, such as law, engineering, and accounting) even refer to themselves as "consultants." This is not to be confused with consultants (as in management consulting). Temporary workers may work full-time or part-time, depending on the individual case. In some instances, they are given benefits (such as health insurance), but usually the best treatment is reserved for the permanent employees. Not all temporary employees find jobs through a temporary Employment agency. For example, a person can simply apply at a local park for seasonal jobs. A temporary work agency, or temp agency or temporary staffing firm finds and retains workers. Other companies, in need of short-term workers, contract with the temp agency to send temporary workers, or temps, on assignment to work at the other companies. Temporary employees are also used in work that has a cyclical nature that requires frequent adjustment of staffing levels.

Temporary Employment Agencies

A temporary employment agency may be distinct from a recruitment firm, which seeks to place permanent employees, but there is often a large overlap: a permanent employee may start out as a "try-before-you-buy" trial temporary worker. Many temporary agencies specialize in a particular profession or field of business, such as general industrial labor, accounting, and health care, technical or secretarial. Some even "specialize" in odd-jobs. Because of the added level of communication between the employer (worksite) and the temporary agency and then finally to the agency's employee these short-term roles can be miscommunicated and cancelled on a whim. The employer (worksite) is paying for a service and can decide to stop that service (labor/skills) at any time. A temporary employment agency may have a standard set of tests to judge the competence of the secretarial or clerical skills of an applicant. An applicant is hired based on their scores on these tests, and is placed into a database. Companies or individuals looking to hire someone temporarily contact the agency and describe the skill set they are seeking. A temporary employee is then found in the database and is contacted to see if they would be interested in taking the assignment.

Temporary Employees
When a temporary employee agrees to an assignment, they receive instructions pertaining to the job. Information is provided on correct work attire, work hours, wages, and who to report to. If a temporary employee arrives at a job assignment and is asked to perform duties not described when they accepted the job, they may call an agency representative for clarification. If they choose not to continue on the assignment based on these discrepancies, they will most likely lose pay and may undermine chances at other job opportunities. However, some agencies guarantee an employee a certain number of hours pay if, once the temporary employee arrives, there is no work or the work isn't as described. Most agencies do not require an employee to continue work if the discrepancies are enough to make it difficult for the employee to actually do the work. Temporary employees are in a constant state of employment flux because they are never guaranteed consistent employment, nor are they assured of a solid start or finish date for their assignment. A temporary employee's assignment can be ended at any time, even in the middle of its projected time frame, without explanation. This causes potential turbulence in cases of discrimination, which is usually handled internally between the employee and the agency.

Permatemp
The classic permatemp situation results when a worker classified as "temporary" works alongside regular employees doing similar work for a long period. By claiming that the employee is only temporary, the worksite company avoids paying for benefits and employer taxes. Benefits and taxes, such as social security, typically are 33% of the employee's pay. For example, if you made 30k per year as a permanent employee (aka with benefits), approximately 10k would be paid for your health insurance, retirement, employer payroll taxes, etc. (in some states sales tax is even paid by the worksite, as the temporary employee's "labor" is considered a sold good). Typically at least that 10k is paid to the temporary agency, who provides little to no benefits to their employee. The worksite company also tangentially benefits because it has no responsibility to the employee permatemp employees can be fired or laid off at any time, as they have no career service protection or seniority. Temporary employees are often ineligible to apply for jobs open to regular employees.

Advantages of Temporary Employment

Advantages to those seeking employment from a temporary employment agency are as follows:

Easy hire: Those meeting technical requirements for the type of work are often virtually guaranteed a job without a selection process.

Flexible hours; a choice of which shifts to work; the ability to take off for weekends, holidays, vacations, personal appointments, or for any other reason of choice, or to work on such days for additional pay Pay rates are sometimes higher than the customary wages in a comparable permanent position. The likelihood of getting fired is lower than in a permanent position, though a client of the agency can make a request for the temporary worker not to return, even for a minor infraction

Disadvantages of Temporary Employment

Drawbacks to temporary employment are as follows:

Many temporary agencies do not offer any type of benefits, such as health insurance. Benefits package is usually 30 to 40 percent of a permanent's employee base income. Temp to hire positions have been known to have high turn over rates.

In some temp agencies, workers are considered self-employed independent contractors, who have a status similar to those running their own businesses.

Reduced liability protection: With independent contractor status, contractors are required to carry liability insurance or else can be held accountable in a negligence lawsuit when an error results in damage. This practice is highly suspect and is likely evidence of a scam. Lack of reference: Many employers of experienced job positions do not consider work done for a temporary agency as sufficient on a resume.

Controversies
Temporary employment agencies have been involved in some legal controversies, often pertaining to the trust of workers who have been screened little if at all for a position requiring high security clearance.