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Research shows that the risk of work-related disorders is higher among temporary agency workers than among other employees. The purpose of this paper is to describe the working conditions of temporary agency workers and explains which factors contribute towards work-related disorders for this group.

This paper is based on a survey responded to by 482 agency workers in Sweden. The dependent variable is the prevalence of work-related disorders. Independent variables include personal characteristics, job characteristics, employment characteristics and temporary agency work characteristics.

The study indicates several risk factors: holding a position as a blue-collar worker; being assigned to more physically demanding work tasks and having fewer opportunities to learn new things than client organization employees; lacking training for work tasks; and lacking clarity regarding which work tasks to do during an assignment.

The theoretical implications of this study are related to the dual employment-management relationship in temporary agency work where the temporary work agency and client organization follow different logics. The logic in the employment relationship is to contract temporary agency workers out to client organizations, thus there is no time for formal training. The logic in the management relationship lies in making temporary agency workers profitable as soon as possible, encouraging shortcuts in training and instruction; thus, temporary agency workers risk being left with a lack of clarity regarding what to do and how to do it.

Traditionally, hiring indefinite duration contract employees has been the dominant method used by U.S. organizations to staff their labor needs. Indefinite duration contract employees, hereafter referred to as “regular” employees, have three defining characteristics: (1) they are hired directly as employees of the organization whose work they perform; (2) the duration of the employment relationship is unspecified, with a mutual expectation that it will continue as long as it is mutually satisfactory; and (3) the employment relationship provides ongoing – as opposed to intermittent – work. When their demand for labor increases, organizations staffed exclusively by regular employees can respond by having their employees work overtime or by hiring additional regular employees. Conversely, when their demand for labor decreases, such organizations can either maintain “inventories” of excess regular employees or reduce labor inputs by laying-off or reducing the work hours of regular employees.

Temporary, part-time, and contract workers face a myriad of challenges as they seek to navigate the complex labor market landscape. Working Partnerships Staffing Service (WPSS), a project initiated by one of the most prominent labor councils in the U.S., sought to create a new type of labor market institution – one that could empower contingent workers by innovatively linking job placement with training, benefits, and membership-based services. However, like other social movement organizations that endeavor to combine advocacy and income generation, structural pressures led WPSS to conform in important ways to the dominant private-sector staffing-industry model. I argue that WPSS's response to these pressures ultimately constrained their ability to successfully innovate. Analyzing the challenges facing new worker-centered institutions, this case study presents important insights on “next generation” union initiatives aimed at better positioning workers in the flexible economy.

Little is known about the implications of employing agency staff on safeguarding or the reasons why employers recruit staff from agencies who specialise in supplying staff to the sector or why social care staff work for such agencies. This paper aims to present findings from a study of agency workers in social care services in England.

Drawing on a review of the literature and policy documents, the study involved a survey of local authorities and interviews were conducted with 93 agency workers and other stakeholders. The interviews took place in three selected localities and data were analysed thematically. The survey investigated local authorities' use of agency workers, enquiring about reasons for this means of employment and any trends. The survey findings were contextualised by national data from England.

Analysis of interview and survey data revealed a variety of reasons for the employment of agency staff. In relation to safeguarding, agency workers filled staffing gaps and met needs for social care services or assessment; however, their abilities to offer continuity of care and sometimes to work within existing systems were compromised. Some employers did not provide agency workers with access to professional development opportunities or supervision.

The findings are used to develop recommendations for safeguarding practice at local level.

There is a temptation to depict agency workers as presenting safeguarding risks: this paper argues that a more rounded picture should be offered and a systems approach adopted.

The purpose of this paper is to address a gap in the recent literature on employment of temporary workers by exploring the impact of temporary workers on the perceptions, attitudes and behaviour of permanent staff with particular reference to their implications for patient safety and service quality in hospital accident and emergency departments. The analysis is set in the context of the job demands-resources theory.

The research was undertaken using a case study approach with semi-structured interviews in two London hospitals. Participants included staff from the HR director level, clinical managers and permanent staff who all had an influence in the hiring and management of temporary staff in some way. Transcripts were analysed thematically using an adopted framework approach.

The results indicate that the effect of temporary staff on permanent staff depended on the quality of the “resource”. There was a “hierarchy of preference” for temporary staff based on their familiarity with the context. Those unfamiliar with the department served as a distraction to permanent staff due to the need to “manage” them in various ways. While this was rarely perceived to affect patient safety, it could have an impact on service quality by causing delays and interruptions. In line with previous research, the use of temporary staff also affected perceptions of fairness and the commitment of some permanent staff.

A model developing an approach for improved practice when managing temporary staff was developed to minimise the risks to patient safety and service quality, and improve permanent staff morale.

The review highlights the difficulties that a limited amount of temporary staff integration can have on permanent staff and patient care, indicating that consideration must be placed on how temporary staff are inducted and clarifying expectations of roles for both temporary and permanent staff.

This paper studies the under-researched impact of temporary staff, and, distinctively, staff employed on a single shift, on the behaviour and attitudes of permanent staff. It highlights the need to consider carefully the qualitative nature of “resources” in the job demands-resources theory.

The article seeks to explain the rapid increase in the use of agency “temps” by employers during the 1990s. It tests the thesis of profound change in employers' labour use decisions.

The data was from in‐depth interviews with human resource/line managers in 12 work organisations in the UK responsible for decisions on use of temporary agency labour. Organisations were chosen to include a variety of industrial sectors, sizes and locations.

Although there were common trends in organisations, including declining numbers of permanent jobs and waves of restructuring, organisations varied in their approach: it was not always profound change. The paper finds four distinct types of agency labour use and developed a 2 × 2 typology, depending on whether employers were acting strategically or reactively, and whether they were using temps for supplementation, or more far‐reaching substitution, for permanent workers.

Research is based on UK data and is a “snapshot” of the situation. However, the typology can be used to analyse temporary agency labour usage in other settings and time periods.

The findings could be used by human resource managers to assist them in making decisions on use of agency workers.

The paper makes associations between external and internal contexts within which organisations operate and how these affect decisions on temporary agency labour usage.

While staffing agencies are gaining importance in work relationships with the highly skilled workforce, their work relations with highly skilled independent contractors have not been investigated yet. Staffing agencies as labor market intermediaries charge a fee to help independent contractors as well as client organizations to create contracts for services while independent contractors remain self-employed. Besides their growing relevance, their exact role remains unclear. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of staffing agencies in work relationships with highly skilled independent contractors.

The authors applied a mixed-methods design comprising a qualitative interview study with independent contractors and staffing agencies’ representatives (n=29) coupled with a quantitative survey of staffing agencies (n=81).

The analysis shows that staffing agencies are important actors in work relationships with highly skilled independent contractors. However, the relationships can be differentiated into rather standardized ones on the one hand and individualized relations on the other hand. This seems to correspond with differences between sectors.

First, the authors discuss staffing agencies as new intermediaries and highlight their relevance in the negotiation of working conditions. Second, the authors emphasize variations of the role of staffing agencies in triadic work relationships of highly skilled independent contractors in relation to specificities of sectors. Third, the study also adds on organizational support theory and related research.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamics between employers' use of temporary agency workers and the aspirations of agencies to expand their role further within organisations.

The study focuses on the construction sector in the UK. A mixed methods approach is employed comprising a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews with construction employers.

Construction employers' use of temporary agency workers remains driven by “traditional” reasons, to meet short‐term peaks in demand and for one‐off tasks. Construction employers have widespread reservations about the use of temporary agency workers. There is little evidence of an expansion in the range of tasks or managerial functions being performed by agencies in construction. Together, these findings point to limits to the inexorable expansion of temporary agencies in the sector.

Further research is needed to assess the extent to which these reservations surrounding agencies, and the limits on the expansion of agencies that these reservations imply, are applicable to sectors outside construction.

Employers' lack of appetite for agency workers stem from perceived problems of quality of agency labour and a desire to maintain control over production. These reservations suggest that agency aspirations to increase their role and functions further in the construction sector are likely to be frustrated.

Much research has pointed to the growth of agency working in recent years. The principal value of this research is in highlighting the potential limits to the inexorable expansion of agency working. The paper also reveals employers' reservations towards agencies, which have been neglected in the literature to date.

Explores the application of segmentation in this market and compares state with private provisions in the UK, states the state service cannot hope to match private provision. Accepts there is general acceptance that the concepts of marketing are as applicable to industrial as to consumer products. Reveals that the labour market suffers from lack of knowledge about vacancies, job opportunities and prospects, and about the differences in wages and salaries offered by employers. Proposes that in monetary terms, if people can be placed in work just one day earlier than at present this would save £21/2 million annually in unemployment benefits and raise national output by £10 million. Concludes that if sufficient finance could be provided by charging employers for the services of the state employment exchanges, then the introduction of necessary marketing techniques could take place much sooner.

Looks at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference held at the University of Cardiff in Wales on 6/7 September 2000. Spotlights the 76 or so presentations within and shows that these are in many, differing, areas across management research from: retail finance; precarious jobs and decisions; methodological lessons from feminism; call centre experience and disability discrimination. These and all points east and west are covered and laid out in a simple, abstract style, including, where applicable, references, endnotes and bibliography in an easy‐to‐follow manner. Summarizes each paper and also gives conclusions where needed, in a comfortable modern format.