Sometimes referred to as fixed-term employees, temporary staff can be hired on either a full or part-time basis, and often for a fixed period. They’re entitled to exactly the same rights as permanent employees under employment laws here in New Zealand, including minimum working wage, training for the job they’re hired for, and holiday and leave entitlements.
Available to hire from temporary work agencies, here’s a closer look at what this entails:
What are employment agencies?
While a lot of businesses choose to recruit and hire their own staff, others use employment agencies to find them suitable employees for specific, often short-term roles.
Agencies who make temporary work their speciality typically have a number of workers and contractors that they can hire out at short notice, as per their clients demands.
Because recruiting staff is often a time and resource-consuming process, it can be useful for companies to use employment agencies when they’re seeking a temporary workforce, or individual employees. This way they don’t have to arrange interviews, skill tests and reference checks. What’s even more useful for employers seeking people qualified for certain roles, is that they can hire directly from the agency without the added cost and time involved with training.
Why might a company want to hire temporary staff?
There are generally 3 reasons why a company might want to hire temporary staff, and these are:
- To finish a project within a certain timeframe
- To help them cope better during holiday events and peak seasons
- To replace an employee who may be on leave
From retail stores to fruit farms, there are many industries who regularly experience periods where demand is high, and having access to trained temporary employees can help them cope better.
But whenever a company does choose to hire temporary workers, they must be able to demonstrate a genuine reason for doing so that is based on reasonable grounds. The employee must also be told clearly the reason why they are being hired on a temporary contract.
What are fixed-term employment agreements?
Setting out the terms and conditions under which the temporary employee will be employed, a written fixed-term agreement should include the following:
- When or how the contract will end
- The main reason behind the fixed term contract
In the eyes of the law, if there is no specific reason given for the temporary role in the agreement, the employee in question may be considered a permanent employee.
Training for temporary employees
Employers must provide temporary employees with as safe a working environment as they provide for their permanent workforce, and if an employee hasn’t been trained to fulfil the necessary roles or tasks assigned to them, supervised training must be given, along with ready access to learning materials.
Dismissal of temporary employees
In some instances, it may be that an employer who hired agency workers for part time jobs in Auckland, needs to dismiss them before they reach the specified end of their fixed-term agreement. This may be due to a breach of contract, serious misconduct or if their behavior puts the company and its employees at risk.
To dismiss them, the reason for doing so must be sound and the process must be fair and reasonable, just as it should be for a permanent employee; a notice period may be required. Temporary staff are vital for certain businesses in certain industries, and as demonstrated in this article, working with a local recruitment agency can be a much more convenient way to hire them.