Temping....

[Fruitloop]

That is the one adavantage, if you prepared to do whatever they put your way then you can always be in work, more or less, and you do get put in a wide variety of positions, which is handy if you are just starting out as you know what to avoid.

Pay and conditions were invariably terrible though, in my experience.

 

[ethel]

In a lot of cases it is added onto your working pay - and I always suspected, factored into how much you were offered. Anyway, the upshot is that you don't get any holiday, and in plenty of jobs I worked in if you took too much time off they would just drop you and get someone else.

not allowed anymore!

from the TUC site:

Do agency workers get paid holiday?
You should receive four weeks’ paid annual leave.

In the past, some agencies have been getting round this by saying that your hourly pay rate includes holiday pay and that they therefore do not have to give extra pay if you take a break. However as a result of a decision by the European Court of Justice, this practice is now unlawful, and agency workers have a right to receive payment on days they take as holiday.

 

[baldrick]

Actually, another thing that used to cheese me off was the way that they got you to get dressed up and go in and hang around at the agency's offices just in case they needed you, and the heavy implication that if you weren't 'motivated' (i.e. to sit about at their offices for free) then they'd be less interested in finding you anything better.

Sorry for the torrent of vitriol!

I never had to do that either.

They would just give me a call at home and i'd attempt to get dressed and leave the house in 5 minutes flat

Got some really well paid jobs that way - £15/hr for reception

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Got some really well paid jobs that way - £15/hr for reception

blimey, I don't even get £15/hr for being a PS

 

[Fruitloop]

not allowed anymore!

from the TUC site:

Do agency workers get paid holiday?
You should receive four weeks’ paid annual leave.

In the past, some agencies have been getting round this by saying that your hourly pay rate includes holiday pay and that they therefore do not have to give extra pay if you take a break. However as a result of a decision by the European Court of Justice, this practice is now unlawful, and agency workers have a right to receive payment on days they take as holiday.

Good stuff! I did have an idea that it had got a bit better since I was doing it.

 

[Fruitloop]

Fifteen pounds an hour is shitloads! I think I peaked at around a tenner in London, then moved to the provinces and was back to getting a little bit above minimum wage.

 

[baldrick]

blimey, I don't even get £15/hr for being a PS

it was only a couple of jobs for a day or two at a time, i think they made the company pay loads extra for last-minute sick cover. I had to get there in half an hour, which was no mean feat when the bus alone takes 20 minutes.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

it was only a couple of jobs for a day or two at a time, i think they made the company pay loads extra for last-minute sick cover. I had to get there in half an hour, which was no mean feat when the bus alone takes 20 minutes.

I'd go to bed with my clothes on

 

[baldrick]

Don't you wake up all creased?