Consider temporary work or take the permanent one?

[Thebluehen]

Can someone explain temporary work to me? I’ve never had a temporary job.

I’ve been offered a permanent position this afternoon which is a good job, but not perfect.

I’ve also seen a temporary to permanent job which is better hours, local and much better money. To be honest, it sounds too good to be true. I’ve spoken to the recruiter only. The temporary job has come about because the regular employee has gone on long term sick leave and I’ve been told, won’t be coming back. The recruiter has said if the employer likes me, they will offer me a permanent position within a few weeks.

Am I likely to pay fees to the agency from my hourly rate? Is “promising” permanent work a common ploy to attract temporary workers?

Basically, what’s the catch?

Is it a FTC with option to convert to perm if the person doesn’t return?

FTC? full time contact?

There's less security as they can just let you go without giving a reason, but it works both ways and you can leave with very little notice too if you want to. You may not get employers contribution to a pension and if you are planning on getting a mortgage, they probably won't take your salary into account as it's not guaranteed. They probably won't be as focussed on your training and development as they would be with a permanent employee.

You'll not pay fees from your wage, the employer will pay fees directly to the recruitment agency.

You usually just get paid for what work you do, so may not get sick pay etc.

I'm currently on a temporary contract and I love it, I work hard but don't feel the same responsibility as I did with my previous job, and don't take work home with me. I'm part time and if I need to do a different day some week, it's usually not a problem, so I find it quite flexible like that. It suits me for now, but I'll look for a permanent job in the future to progress my career more.

The major risk with temp to perm roles is that they don’t or can’t offer you a perm role. Or it takes a very long time to come through. Which could be the case with someone off sick - people talk a good talk but realistically it takes a long time to exit someone who is long term unwell. Don’t rely on the agent to tell you the truth but no harm having an interview.

I'd be asking myself why the employee is on ltsl and wondering shat the workload/culture is like at the temp job.
Money is all well and good, but if it's toxic you'll end up leaving then you'll not see that money.

Kemer- that's a good point!

It's a small business and it sounds like they were hoping this person would come back, but now won't.

However, how likely are they to offer me a permanent position whilst someone is on sick leave? Surely they'll wait until that person can officially be made redundant? They've only been off sick for a couple of months.

It's difficult to know without knowing how long they've been in their post.
At local authority, it took them 6 months to dismiss someone who was long term sick. He'd been in the post 9 months....
They should follow procedure, so you could be waiting months. There are no guarantees with temp work.
But then you can be ditched from a permanent post for any reason if you've been there less than 2 years.
Workers rights have been eroded.

The recruiter is pushing me to start next week. The job spec also states the applicant should have a "thick skin to deal with frustrated customers". Maybe that explains the long term sick leave of the predecessor?

I think I'm erring in the side of playing safe with the permanent job as I'm naturally a bit risk averse anyway.

Like you say though, there's very little difference between temporary and permanent when it comes to employment rights for the first two years.

Accepted the permanent job today and didn't pursue the temporary to permanent job.

Thanks all.