Temp workers: Suckers or successes?

It's National Temporary Workers' Week, a time to celebrate one of the fastest-growing - and most often overlooked - sectors of the workforce. But while the temping business is booming, it has its fair share of troubles, as Sharon Adams, a seasoned London-based temp, explains.

The temp is often a second-class citizen in the office

Coming back from lunch on a Friday afternoon, I find a post-it note on my computer screen.

"Thanks Sharon, but we won't be needing you next week. Best of luck!"

All in a day's work for the battle-hardened temp, perhaps. Except this was an "ongoing" booking' - by definition a temporary role with more responsibilities and obligations on both sides.

Worse, the rent was due, and I had just turned down another booking that morning.

Million and more

Such, however, is the daily grind for Britain's fast-growing army of temporary workers.

Currently, it is estimated that there are over a million temporary workers in Britain.

The sector is growing fast: rules forcing companies to make room for flexible working has raised the potential demand for temps to fill the inevitable gaps. According to the CBI, more than four-fifths of big companies have received requests for flexitime.

Temping clearly benefits the employer - minimal paperwork, no training requirements and best of all, no notice period.

But workers can benefit, too. Don't like your boss? Leave without looking behind you. Hate the job? Try a new field next week.

Pay is not too bad, particularly in the South-East with hourly rates of over £10 per hour.

Open a paper such as London's Evening Standard, and the would-be temp looks spoiled for choice.

Pages of gushing advertisements for temp agencies trumpet unlikely-sounding opportunities. Personal assistants - £14 per hour! Temp-to-perm opportunities in media! Legal secretaries; joining fast-growing law firm wishing to invest in people!

Sick pay

It all sounds too good to be true, and usually is.

Even the nastiest employers have an educational value... temping after A-levels taught me lessons about the world of work that I still treasure Send us your views

Many agencies do not pay for days lost to illness, so temp workers must struggle into work or risk losing income; even time taken off for medical appointments is not covered.

Family friendly legislation is also often inapplicable to temporary workers; EU plans to advance full-time-style benefits to temps are being stoutly resisted by the CBI and others.

There are exceptions. Some agencies - Reed Employment, for example - offer a generous benefits package including sick and holiday pay, a pension scheme and travel allowances for workers who use public transport.

The unknown worker

But even the most generous agencies can do little about the alienation of temping.

There are few opportunities for skill-development so workers often find themselves stuck in a rut of the same pay rates, with little progression in terms of wages.

Being the temp is often isolating, with no-one bothering to learn your name; after all, you'll be gone in a couple of weeks.

Managers will often take advantage of the temp's presence to offload terrible jobs that have been ignored for months, so filing non-stop in a basement for three weeks is not unheard of.

I spent one memorable December filing in a windowless office with a fellow temp; a philosophy graduate from London University.

Dinosaurs and headhunters

Under such circumstances, office politics can be a particularly deadly minefield.

My first temping role, the summer after finishing school, cast me as the unwitting third party in a power struggle between two rival managers; I spent the afternoon crying and left, never to return.

Or the week I spent at a recruitment company where the dinosaur boss only hired men for the consultant roles. On my arrival he directed me to the switchboard and informed me that women should be in the workplace only to answer the phone.

Nor are recruitment agencies always entirely scrupulous. Ads often make promises that they do not keep. Pay rates somehow drop after one has accepted the placement; files are lost and phone calls not returned.

Skimming on average about 30% of the rate paid by the company, some agencies only care about their commission and wilfully ignore an unhappy temp for weeks on end.

Temps become permanent

Still, it's a free market, and the business would not be flourishing if temps were being completely ripped off.

Even the nastiest employers have an educational value: temping that summer after A-levels taught me lessons about the world of work that I still treasure now.

For me, temping as a career just has too many disadvantages to wish to continue it further. I am heading back to graduate school to study for a Masters.

However, I seem to be the exception: the temporary boom is fast becoming permanent.

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Who's the winner in the temping game - the footloose worker or the uncommitted employer? Send us your experiences from the insecure frontline of modern employment using the postform below.

Terms & Conditions

I have temped on and off for around 18 years and found agencies vary greatly, as do the organisations that use them. I have learned much from all my experiences: firstly, if you are professional in your conduct and approach you are more likely to be treated well. Secondly, it is a two-way street and if you are being treated cruelly (it does happen) you can walk out. And thirdly, it's a wonderful way to find out about an area/potential permanent employer/new industry without any commitment. I'd recommend it as a great means of gaining experience and giving yourself breathing space between permanent roles.
Sally, Harrogate, North Yorks

Not all temping is doom-and-gloom. It isn't uncommon to find temps becoming completely invaluable, by learning the jobs that everyone else ignores or doesn't have time for. Before long, you can be the only person in the organisation who knows how to do some of the more important (but often overlooked) administrative tasks. That puts you in charge of them and with an excellent chance of going permanent.
Guy, Edinburgh, UK

I started with this, temping is good but only for a short time, use this to gain experience.
Paul, U.K

It gets a bit wearing after a while knowing that a third of all you earn goes to an agency, the lack of a pension or sick pay is also unpleasant. The sector will grow because businesses can still get away with throwing away older workers every time they do the 10% redundancy thing. Older workers can only find work as agency workers. The whole scene is pretty grim.
Jeremy, Plymouth UK

After completing several "assignments", I believe temping has its good and bad sides. I'm currently working for a company that has temps on assignment for as long as they wish. We are treated as regular employees getting the perks and sharing in rewards but alas can afford no time off sick as we aren't covered. I earn more money and more responsibility and am more recognised were I work now than anywhere else. I'd say in my case both the temps and the company have it good
Dominic Jones, Ellesmere Port Cheshire

As a former temp I would say that the real winners are the temp agencies themselves, but I do not regret any of the months I spent temping. It's not for everyone and I certainly wouldn't have made it my career but I'd recommend it to anyone looking to give their CV an office skills boost.
Darla, SE London

There can be benefits on both sides as the employee gains experience and the employer has the flexibility of keeping a good worker or getting rid at short notice. However the one down side for the temp worker, personally speaking, is the insecurity. Planning a budget is hard - you don't know how long a job will last and rates vary from one job to the next. It is better than being unemployed but gives little in the form of job satisfaction as you form no ties with your work mates or employer and very often get the worst job tasks to carry out.
Janet White, West Bromwich, England

I couldn't get a graduate job so I temped for six months and ended up getting taken on permanently with near graduate wages. It is an easy way to get the dreaded 'experience' that employers always ask for with none of the hassle of committing yourself to one job.
David Adam, Edinburgh

I gave up a full time job in PR to go freelance, and a year into it I feel I've done the right thing. The flexibility and variation in role is more stimulating than being stuck in one office working for the same people all the time. There is definitely an element that as a freelance I'm given the jobs no-one else wants to do, but on the whole I'm getting far more experience (of both new clients and different ways companies are run) than I would have done staying full-time in my old job. I'd recommend it!
Nick Parker, Tunbridge Wells, UK

Agencies take 30% odd of the employee's wages - for doing no more that interceding between the employer and the employee. No wonder they are nick-named "Slave Traders". As to who benefits between the two parties that do the work and pay for it, consider that unions have never strove for the worker's rights to become temporary employers - you work it out.
Stuart , UK