Permanent job positions are limited in the current American economy. Thus, not everyone can be employed permanently. This leaves many people seeking alternative ways of creating income and temporary employment or temporary work has proven to be very useful that far. In temporary employment, workers are hired on a short term basis to do work for a payment in accordance to the needs of the organization offering the job. When in need for temp services New Orleans offers a good place to visit.

Companies that find and retain temps are usually referred to as staffing firms, temp agencies, or temporary work agencies. If there is an individual or corporate client that is in need of workers on a temporary basis, they contract with the staffing firm. The staffing firm then sends workers on the agreed assignment to work for the client. The concept of temps is also useful in jobs that are cyclical in nature or jobs that need regular adjustments in the level of staffing.

Workers who hold such employment are referred by different names in different places. Some commonly used names are casual staff, freelance, interim, outsourcing, contractual, or temps. The aforementioned names mostly apply to people who do not have any specific skills. Therefore, they do any kind of work. However, workers who are specialized in a given field, especially white collar jobs, usually prefer calling themselves as consultants.

The staffing industry emerged in the United States after the end of the Second World War. It started in urban areas where housewives were contracted by small agencies to work as office workers. Over time, the concept of having workers who could be hired and fired within short notice without having to go through the paperwork proved to be beneficial. Therefore, the industry started to grow and by 2000, there were 3.5 million temps in the country.

Temp agencies serve as third parties between temps and client employers. They create a relationship between temps and employers and take the responsibility of handling complaints, remuneration, taxes, and work scheduling resulting from the relationship. Upon receiving a request from a potential employer for temporary workers, the agency makes effort to understand the nature of work, skill level, and terms of service.

The client is free to terminate the assignment any time they want. They can also reduce or increase the duration. Temps who behave inappropriately or fail to meet expectations are often reported to the agency by the client. Work schedule depends on nature of assignment. Since jobs are temporary, there are no incentives for benefits. High flexibility of labor often leads to low wages.

The duration of each assignment varies. If a temp is not comfortable with a job, they are free to reject it. However, they may run the risk of going for long without works. This is because agencies do not create jobs but only assign them. Having a reputation of refusing jobs is not good in this industry.

Temps are given instructions on what they need to accomplish, wages, work hours, and work attire among other aspects. Each temp is assigned to an agency representative. A temp is supposed to call their representative if there are discrepancies in job description or other aspects of the contract.