Employing the Temporary Office Worker

 A temporary worker is someone who fills in to work for a business or other establishment for an agreed period of time. Temp workers can work anywhere from one day to six months, depending upon the company’s need. A company may seek to hire a temp worker due to any number of reasons. Some reasons are employee illness, employee termination, vacation, FMLA, newly created position, or shortage of workers. Some staffing agencies also place applicants for permanent positions at the company’s request.

Interested applicants can apply directly with an employment agency of their choice. If you wish to apply to work temporary via an agency, you will need to apply with the agency per their employment procedure. Potential applicants can more than likely apply online and certainly you can go into the agency to inquire about applying for temporary work. In this case, if hired by the agency, you would be an employee of the agency. This means you would be on the agency’s payroll. Applicants can also apply directly at the company seeking to hire a temp worker. Some companies don’t bother going through an agency, but instead hire its temps via their own human resources department. Some companies even advertise temp to hire positions on their job boards.

Opting to work temp does have its advantages. That’s right, choosing to apply for temporary work can open the door for a permanent job opportunity. For example, if an employer is pleased with the temp’s productivity, they can move forward to hire the temp permanently. The worker would then be entitled to the same benefits as the other workers of the company. You could also gain some valuable experience as you learn new skills while temping.

The downside of working for a temporary agency could be lack of medical and retiree benefits, low wages in some cases, unstable work, unpleasant working environment, very short job assignments or no work available.