Temping - Pros & Cons?

[laptop]

Paid holiday? Forget it, unless you're on that agency's books for ages and clock up enough hours.

You ought to get paid time off as soon as you've been working in the same place for a week or so: for every £100 you are paid for working regular shifts, you should get an extra £12.10 in respect of paid time off.

(From 1 April your entitlement went up to 28 days per year, following a European Court of Justice ruling against the UK government yonks ago.)

Are agencies cheating people and breaking the law, then?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

You ought to get paid time off as soon as you've been working in the same place for a week or so: for every £100 you are paid for working regular shifts, you should get an extra £12.10 in respect of paid time off.

(From 1 April your entitlement went up to 28 days per year, following a European Court of Justice ruling against the UK government yonks ago.)

Are agencies cheating people and breaking the law, then?

They started introducing the 8 Bank Holidays a couple of years ago, but spread them out until we finally got the 8 days

 

[Voley]

You earn paid holiday with the one I'm registered with. I think he said up to 28 days.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

You earn paid holiday with the one I'm registered with. I think he said up to 28 days.

Yes, that is LAW, if he were offering you less, I'd be having words with him

 

[Voley]

Well, looks like I've got me first temping job. Local govt, highways section, information analyst. Nothing hugely thrilling, I know, but bloody hell do I need to get paid right now. Pretty chuffed, really - we're right in a recession, I've done no work at all for four years, and I've only really been looking for a month.

Got two other job interviews this week, too. Things might just be looking up.

 

[baldrick]

The other thing I found with local govt temping was that it never leads anywhere. Private firms, half of them would be interested in taking me on full time or at least offering me work under the counter so they didn't have to pay the agency cut. Or there'd be vacancies inside the company that I'd hear about, and know who to talk to. Not in the public sector.

the problem with local govt is that they can't take anyone on just like that. all recruitment inevitably has to go through a long and tortuous process of internal recruitment before they can even consider taking on external candidates and even that has to be a "fair" and "transparent" process. it's even worse now with the recession.

i've been a local govt temp in the same team for 5 years, 4 different jobs. If they like you they will make it possible for you to progress but it does mean that you remain a temp. the recruitment policy is a joke, it would be far better if they could just take good workers on permanently, but they are hamstrung by their own systems.

 

[fogbat]

You ought to get paid time off as soon as you've been working in the same place for a week or so: for every £100 you are paid for working regular shifts, you should get an extra £12.10 in respect of paid time off.

(From 1 April your entitlement went up to 28 days per year, following a European Court of Justice ruling against the UK government yonks ago.)

Are agencies cheating people and breaking the law, then?

I'm temping and I get 28 days paid holiday.

But the rate for that holiday pay is based on the average daily hours for the past 12 weeks.

So if I've worked less than a full week at any point, the amount I'm paid for a day off is reduced.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

the problem with local govt is that they can't take anyone on just like that. all recruitment inevitably has to go through a long and tortuous process of internal recruitment before they can even consider taking on external candidates and even that has to be a "fair" and "transparent" process. it's even worse now with the recession.

i've been a local govt temp in the same team for 5 years, 4 different jobs. If they like you they will make it possible for you to progress but it does mean that you remain a temp. the recruitment policy is a joke, it would be far better if they could just take good workers on permanently, but they are hamstrung by their own systems.

This is very true. I worked as a temp at a London Borough and some of the people I worked with are still temping there the best part of four years later.

 

[Voley]

Well, looks like I've got me first temping job. Local govt, highways section, information analyst.

Turned this down in the end. Got a Contract Managers job instead which is just about the UK average wage. I'm pleasantly shocked really - with the dearth of decent jobs in Cornwall, the recession and my CV-with-a-four-year-hole-in-it I was resigned to £6.50 / £7 an hour. Start Monday.