Temporary work from the employee's perspective

A temporary employment contract, due to the flexibility it gives to both employees and employers, is an increasingly popular form of employment in Poland. Currently, the percentage of temporary workers in our country is 1.30%. According to the Act of 9 July 2003 on the employment of temporary workers, employment agencies are the only entities that can employ on the basis of this type of contract. According to the National Register of Employment Agencies, there are 7,744 of them in Poland. Every month, throughout the country, they are looking for thousands of candidates to perform work, including temporary work. A LeasingTeam expert explains what temporary work is, what employment conditions it offers to candidates and how to become a temporary worker.

What is temporary work?

Temporary employment is a type of employment in which three parties are involved: a temporary worker, an employment agency and a user employer. Employment agencies operate on the basis of the Act on Temporary Work, which regulates the rules for employing temporary workers and the rules for directing them to perform temporary work for the user employer. An employment agency hires an employee and then delegates him or her to perform work for its client, i.e. the user’s employer. Under his management, the employee performs his duties. On the other hand, an employment agency, formally being an employer, deals with all HR and payroll services related to employment, i.e. calculating and paying remuneration, settling holidays, paying advance income tax, social security contributions, etc.

Employers often use temporary work services when they periodically need to increase employment, e.g. due to upcoming holidays or seasonal work, when they need people to replace or perform additional work that full-time employees would not be able to perform – comments Marta Zbądzka, Project Manager at LeasingTeam.

Conditions of employment

Employment agencies, in the case of temporary work, sign a temporary employment contract with employees, which guarantees them the same benefits as an employment contract. After working for 30 days, the employee is entitled to two days of leave, and his contributions are paid on the same terms as in the case of an employment contract. If he falls ill, he will receive sick pay for the period in which he was on L4, i.e. sick leave. It is also worth knowing that the time worked on the basis of this type of contract is included in the pension.

The exact duration of a temporary employment contract always depends on the needs of the user employer and can be from a week to several months. However, it cannot last more than 18 months in the next 3 years. This protects employees against indefinitely extending the period in which they are employed under a temporary employment contract – says Marta Zbądzka from LeasingTeam.

A temporary employment contract can be terminated with notice, which is 3 days if the contract was concluded for a period not longer than 2 weeks and 1 week (counting from the next Sunday) if the contract was concluded for a period longer than 2 weeks.

Available positions and salary

The range of positions on which employees are employed as part of temporary work is very wide. Very often, employees are sought for positions that do not require very high qualifications, e.g. production worker, cashier, salesman, machine operator or telemarketer. In the case of recruitment for specialist positions, employment agencies are looking for employees with the appropriate qualifications: electrician, welder, e-commerce analyst or programmer. Management assistants, business process specialists, freight forwarders or specialists in the HR and payroll department will also find work on a temporary contract.

The rates for individual positions are different and depend on the experience you have. In production positions, they range between PLN 13 and 16 gross per hour. A hostess during weekend promotional campaigns in a big city can earn from 14 to 18 PLN net per hour. There are also offers of one-day promotions or guest service during special events, e.g. conferences, during which the salary is PLN 20 net per hour, with a nine-hour working day. In the case of other positions, the amount of pay depends on the experience and skills held. For example, a welder with very little experience will earn from PLN 15 per hour gross per hour, and a highly qualified one can receive up to PLN 5 to 8 thousand net per month.

Candidates should pay attention to whether the rates offered by employers are in accordance with the applicable law. It is worth knowing that from 1 January 2017, the hourly rate on a contract of mandate cannot be lower than PLN 13 gross, and the minimum amount of remuneration both on the basis of an employment contract or a temporary employment contract, as well as a contract of mandate, is PLN 2000 gross per month – informs Marta Zbądzka.

Benefits for candidates

Temporary work gives you the opportunity to reconcile many activities at the same time. It often allows you to adjust the schedule, e.g. to classes at the university, in the case of full-time students, or to reconcile professional activity with childcare, in the case of young mothers. It is also a very good solution for people who need extra money and would like to earn after hours. Employment agencies are open to hiring people of all ages under a temporary employment contract. A large group of employees are people 50+.

With the opportunity to work on interesting projects in a variety of companies and industries, temporary work allows you to gain valuable work experience and new skills. Especially for young people, this is a big advantage, because they can work in different companies and in different positions. This allows them to plan their professional careers more consciously.

How to become a temporary worker

Employment agencies conduct extensive recruitment activities in order to attract candidates. They publish their offers on job portals such as infopraca.pl or on portals with small ads, e.g. olx.pl. They also try to reach candidates through local web portals or advertisements posted on notice boards in towns located closest to the user’s employer’s headquarters. The most popular form of contact with an employment agency is to send your CV to the e-mail address indicated in the job advertisement or call the phone number provided. It is also worth following social networking sites such as Facebook, where recruiters are increasingly posting job advertisements. All you have to do is express your interest in the job offer in response and wait for the recruiter to contact you. Another option is to fill in the form available on the employment agency’s website and register in the candidate database.

We are aware that not all candidates have CVs, so we have created a portal with job advertisements www.leasingteam.pl/praca, which allows you to join the database of candidates without having to attach your CV. All you need to do is fill in a short form. It is also worth agreeing to participate in other recruitment processes and to send marketing information to your e-mail address and mobile phone. Thanks to this, recruiters conducting new recruitments will be able to contact people registered in the database via SMS to present them with job offers- explains Marta Zbądzka – It is a very convenient and quick form of contact for both the candidate and the recruiter – adds the expert.

From temporary to permanent worker

Still few candidates know that by deciding to work through an employment agency, they have a chance to get a permanent job. Every month, employment agencies send thousands of employees to work for user employers. Thanks to cooperation with an employment agency, companies have the opportunity to check how the employee is doing in a given position, whether he is engaged and whether his cooperation with the team is going well. If user employers can afford to increase permanent employment, they very often prefer to offer jobs to already proven temporary workers rather than start an external recruitment process. In such a situation, employees sign employment contracts directly with the user employer, who formally becomes their employer.

Employment agencies publish thousands of job offers for people interested in temporary work, becoming a large group of potential employers. If the candidate cares about flexible working hours, gaining diverse experience in companies from many industries, nothing stands in the way of sending their application. This can be the beginning of a very successful, long-term cooperation.