Employers’ responsibilities when hiring temporary staff

At particularly busy times of the year, it’s common for businesses to hire temporary staff to help deal with the increased workload.

Whether these are sourced through a recruitment agency or from direct advertisement of the role, there will be a number of responsibilities that an employer has to that member of staff during the period they are working for them.

We take a look at some of these responsibilities in the points below:

Fixed-term contract hires

An employee is regarded to have a fixed-term contract if they:

–          Are given a contract of employment directly from a company that they have agreed to work for

–          Have a contract that ends on a particular date or following the completion of the work they are doing

Fixed term employees must be given a date as to when their employment will end. If this is over four years then they will no longer be consider as a temporary hire.

Temporary employees of the company must receive the same benefits and conditions as full-time staff. These include:

–          A holiday allowance along with the bank/public holidays off according to what current staff are allowed

–          Salary must match that of those in a similar role

–          Statutory sick pay must be paid if the employee is signed off ill

–          Maternity/paternity leave must be given if required during the period of employment

Those on work experience cannot be considered a fixed-term hire and are not entitled to the same rights as other employees in terms of pay and holiday allowance.

Agency workers

Hiring someone to work for you on a temporary basis through a recruitment agency is a very different process. Many of the responsibilities fall onto the shoulders of the agency, especially early on in the term of employment.

The agency will pay the worker as they will be on their pay-roll for a defined period of time. However, you will be responsible for paying the agreed salary to the agency, of which they are likely to take a cut. The agency must also ensure that the employee receives their rights under the working time regulations.

In return, you as the employer will be responsible for their welfare whilst on your premises. Then, after 12 weeks in the role, the worker will be entitled to the same terms and conditions enjoyed by full-time staff, including all of the points mentioned above that encompass fixed-term contract employees.

With both sets of workers, the employer is also responsible for ensuring health and safety training has been carried out. Any failure to do so that results in an onsite accident could make you vulnerable to personal injury claims, so it is also important that you have adequate business insurance from a provider such as The Co-operative Insurance.

More information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/contract-types-and-employer-responsibilities.

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