Temporary work - what is it? Definition, meaning, rights and obligations.
Temporary employment, agency work, temporary work, what is it? At first glance, these three terms sound like different things, but they are essentially the same thing. Behind all three words is the fact that a company hires itself out for a while. borrows labour from another company.
If we take a closer look at this act of borrowing, we will also understand why three different terms are used for this one process. There is a hiring company that has the workers. Then there is another company that needs workers. This company now borrows the required workers from the hiring company for the period for which it has an additional need for labour.
From the borrowing of labour comes the term "Temporary work". The hiring is limited in time, which leads to the term "temporary work". The hiring company hires out employees to the user company. This results in the Importance of temporary employment.
There are also other terms that describe this process of hiring out labour. These are "employee leasing", "Personnel leasing" and "temporary labour". Here, too, it is easy to guess how these terms were found.
Temporary work - the rights and obligations
Now, the process of hiring labour from a Temporary employment agency The idea of hiring is very direct and simple. Basically, two companies agree that the employees who are employed by one company will now work for the other company for a certain period of time.
Whilst this seems very simple as a real-life process, it is not quite so simple in legal terms. Questions quickly arise about pay, employment contracts, holidays and more. These questions are answered in the Temporary Employment ActAÜG for short.
At the same time, to ensure that the rights of employees are fully known and safeguarded, the lending company requires a temporary employment licence. This is primarily intended to prevent any misuse of the hiring out of workers.
What is the idea behind temporary work?
Whilst temporary work itself is much older, it has spread rapidly since 2003. The "Hartz laws" created incentives for people without employment to find a job. However, as permanent employment in particular is associated with many regulations that take away flexibility, temporary work was intended to offer a new way of responding to the market. If "work peaks" had to be dealt with in a company, temporary workers could be deployed. These workers were available on the market from rental companies for all companies that experienced corresponding fluctuations in demand.
For companies, this theoretically means that they have a permanent workforce and can supplement this with temporary workers whenever more production is required. For employees, this means that temporary work has created jobs that would otherwise not have existed. Without temporary work, companies would resort to overtime, for example, to cope with work peaks. Now, however, a jobseeker had the opportunity to move from company to company as a temporary worker and work there as part of their training.
In addition to the direct benefit that more jobs have now been created, there are also indirect benefits. Temporary workers can prove themselves in a temporary employment agency and then be taken on as permanent employees. This means that there are now several opportunities. The simplest is to continue earning an income as a temporary worker and also to obtain a permanent position through one of the companies to which the employee was seconded.
Temporary employment agencies, what are they?
Temporary employment agencies are companies that specialise in the supply of temporary workers. This means that they earn their income by recruiting workers and placing them with companies. We from Zeitarbeit International is a temporary employment agency that recruits Poland, CzechHungary and from Asia to the companies in Germany.
The reality of temporary work
Jobseekers often associate temporary work with the hope of leaving unemployment behind them permanently. This provides a certain motivation to work towards being taken on as a permanent employee in the hirer company.
However, this hope is not always realised. Some hirers are increasingly using temporary work as a substitute for permanent employment. The reasons for this are complex. It starts with the desire for a certain flexibility in the size of the workforce and the associated costs.
There are also sectors in which there are shortages of skilled labour. In this case, temporary work allows these skilled workers to be obtained precisely when they are needed. While this is an advantage for industry, as it means that fewer skilled workers are still available in sufficient numbers, it is an obstacle for individuals when it comes to finding a permanent position.
As if that were not enough, temporary workers also allow certain problems to be avoided. For example, instead of improving difficult working conditions within a sector, temporary workers can simply be deployed in this area. However, this only exacerbates the working conditions.
When is a supply of labour correct
It is not immediately obvious when a temporary employment relationship begins. For example, if a tradesman from a craft business repairs something in an office, has he been assigned to the other company as a temporary worker? The answer to this is a clear "no".
When a supply of labour exists is defined in the §Section 1 (1) AÜG Act precisely regulated. Two requirements must be met for this:
- A hiring company hires out labour to a third party, the hirer. These workers then perform work in the third company as part of their economic activity.
- The employee is integrated into the work organisation of the hiring company. This means that the employee is now subject to the instructions of the hiring company.
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