Temporary work or temporary employment (also called gigs) refers to an employment situation where the working arrangement is limited to a certain period of time, based on the needs of the employing organization. Temporary employees are sometimes called "contractual", "seasonal", "interim", "casual staff", "outsourcing", and "freelance"; the terms may also be shortened to "temps". In some instances, temporary, highly skilled professionals (particularly in the white-collar worker fields, such as human resources, research and development, engineering, and accounting) refer to themselves as consultants. Increasingly, executive-level positions (e.g., CEO, CIO, CFO, CMO, CSO) are also filled with interim executives or fractional executives.
Temporary work is different from secondment, which involves temporarily assigning a member of one organization to another. In this case, the employee typically retains their salary and other employment rights from their primary organization. Still, they work closely with other organizations to provide training and share experiences.
Temporary workers may work full-time or part-time depending on the individual situation. In some instances, temporary workers receive benefits (such as health insurance), but usually benefits are only given to permanent employees as a cost-cutting measure by the employer to save money. Not all temporary employees find jobs through a temporary employment agency. With the rise of the Internet and gig economy (a labor market characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs), many workers are now finding short-term jobs through freelance marketplaces: a situation that brings into being a global market for work.
A temporary work agency, temp agency or temporary staffing firm finds and retains workers. Other companies in need of short-term workers contract with the temporary work agency to send temporary workers, or temps, on assignments to work at the other companies. Temporary employees are also used in cyclical work, requiring frequent staffing adjustments.
History The staffing industry in the United States began after World War II with small agencies in urban areas employing housewives for part-time work as office workers. Over the years, the advantages of having workers who could be hired and laid off on short notice and were exempt from paperwork and regulatory requirements led to a gradual but substantial increase in the number of temporary workers, with over 3.5 million employed in the United States by 2000.
There has been a paradigm shift since the 1940s in how firms utilize temporary workers. Throughout the Fordist era, temporary workers constituted a relatively small share of the total labor force in North America. Typically, temporary workers were white women in pink-collar, clerical positions who provided companies with a stopgap solution for permanent workers needing a leave of absence for vacation or illness. In contrast, in the Post-Fordist period, characterized by neoliberalism, deindustrialization and the dismantling of the welfare state, these understandings of temporary labor began to shift. In this paradigm, the idea of the temporary worker as a stopgap solution to permanent labor became an entirely normative employment alternative to permanent work.
Therefore, temporary workers no longer represented a substitute for permanent workers on leave but instead occupied semi-permanent, precarious positions, routinely subject to elimination due to fluctuations in the company's product. In today's temporary labor force, both people and positions have become temporary, and temporary agencies use temporary workers systematically and plan rather than on an impromptu basis.
Temporary employment has become more prevalent in America due to the rise of the Internet and the gig economy. The "gig economy" is a labor market characterized by short-term contracts and freelance work rather than permanent jobs. It is a common misconception that participation in the gig economy is a relatively new method of employment. However, finding work in the gig economy is similar to the employment style before the Industrial Revolution. It is the "one-person, one-career model" that society is accustomed to, and the gig economy is disrupting a relatively recent phenomenon. Before the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, it was common for one person to take on multiple temporary jobs to piece together livable earnings.
Post-Fordism As the market began to transform from Fordism to a post-order regime of capital accumulation, the social regulation of labor markets and the very nature of work began to shift. This transformation has been characterized by an economic restructuring that emphasized flexibility within spaces of work, labor markets, employment relationships, wages and benefits. Indeed, global processes of neoliberalism and market rule contributed greatly to this increasing pressure on local labor markets towards flexibility. This greater flexibility within labor markets is important at the global level, particularly within OECD countries and liberal market economies (see liberal market economy).
The temporary labor industry is worth over €157 billion per year, and the most prominent agencies are spread across over 60 nations. The biggest temporary work agencies are most profitable in emerging economies of the Global North and those that have undergone market liberalization, deregulation, and (re)regulation.
Temporary work opportunities and restrictions vary around the world. Chile, Colombia, and Poland have the highest percentage of temporary dependent employment at 28.7%, 28.3%, and 27.5%, respectively. Romania, Lithuania, and Estonia have the lowest percentages of temporary dependent employment, ranging from 1% to 4%. The United Kingdom has 6% temporary employment, Germany has 13%, and France has 16%. In many countries, there are no restrictions on the type of temporary work that is legal, including the United Kingdom, Canada, China, Sweden, and Denmark. The United Kingdom has the Temporary Agency Work Directive 2008 in place, which ensures equal pay and treatment for temporary workers. Similarly, Brazil enforces full-time employment regulations against part-time employment and outsourcing. In some countries, including Brazil, there is a wage gap between temporary and permanent workers, but this is due to violations of legislation that specify equal wage determination. In other countries, prohibitions are placed on temporary employment in fields such as agriculture, construction, and non-core employment. In Mexico, a temporary employee is "prohibited to perform the same work as a regular employee", making temporary work illegal.
Gig-economy-based temporary work is prevalent worldwide. Uber, for example, operates in North, Central, and South America; Europe; the Middle East; Africa; East, South, and Southeast Asia; Australia; and New Zealand. Airbnb advertises listings in 191 countries around the world, with the most in Europe.
The temporary work industry focuses on marketing flexible and adaptable temporary workers. Individual agencies have adopted competitive practices, including "try before you buy" options, to recruit and position temporary workers. Through this process, temporary agencies define and market the characteristics of the ideal temporary worker.
Agencies The role of a temp agency is as a third party between the client employer and the client employee. This third party handles remuneration, work scheduling, complaints, taxes, etc., created by the relationship between a client employer and a client employee. Client firms request the type of work to be done and the skills required to do it. Client firms can also terminate an assignment and file a complaint about the temp. Work schedules are determined by assignment, which is determined by the agency and can last for an indeterminate period, extended to any point, and cut short. Because the assignments are temporary, there is little incentive to provide benefits, and the pay is low in situations with a lot of labor flexibility (Nurses are an exception to this since there is currently a shortage). Workers can refuse assignment but risk going through an indeterminate period of downtime since work is based on the availability of assignments, which the agency cannot "create", only fill.
Whether the work comes through an independent gig economy source or a temp agency, when a temporary employee agrees to an assignment, they receive instructions about the job. The agency also provides information 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 with the assignment due to these discrepancies, they will most likely lose pay and may undermine their chances of other job opportunities. However, some agencies guarantee an employee a certain number of hours of pay if, upon the temporary employee's arrival, there is no work or the work is not as described. Most agencies do not require an employee to continue work if the discrepancies make it difficult for the employee to do the work.
A temporary work 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.
It is up to the temporary employee to keep in constant contact with the agency when not currently working on an assignment; by letting the agency know that they are available to work, they are given priority over those who may be in the agency database who have not made it clear that they are ready and willing to take an assignment. A temp agency employee is the agency's exclusive employee, not the company where they are placed (though this may be subject to legal dispute). The temporary employee is bound by the rules and regulations of the temp agency, even if they conflict with those of the company where they are placed.
Benefits for client firms There are several reasons why a firm utilizes temp agencies. They provide employers with a way to add more workers for a short-term increase in the workforce. Using temps allows firms to replace a regular employee who is absent. A temp worker's competence and value can be determined without the inflexibility of hiring a new person and waiting to see how they work out. Using temp workers can also help avoid paying benefits and increase regular employees' salaries. A firm can also use temp workers to vary compensation in ways that would normally be illegal or impossible. The role of temp workers in the workplace can also coerce regular employees into taking on more work for less pay. Additionally, temp workers are less likely to sue for mistreatment, which allows firms to reduce employment costs in high-stress, regulated jobs.
Growth of temporary staffing