Temporary agency work always involves three parties: the employee, the temporary work agency and the user company, that is, the company using the workforce in question. 

Who is your employer, who supervises your work?

In this line of work, the temporary work agency is the employer of the worker.

An employee makes a work contract with the temporary work agency, and he/she does not have an employment relationship or any other contractual relationship with the company who has hired the employee from the agency. The agency is the only one to terminate the work contract. 

The company that hires the worker from the agency (i.a. the user company) manages and supervises the work of the employee. The temporary work agency is responsible for all employer's obligations stated in the Finnish labour law (such as paying the salary).

What should you know as a temporary agency worker?

• You should  have an work contract in writing (even for a short job) with the temporary work agency
• Find out the duration of employment, and if that information cannot be given, find out how the employment ends
• See to it that you receive an introduction to your work. A temporary worker should also receive an introduction - both to the work and to the health and safety matters.
• Find out about your occupational health care
• Find out, who is the shop steward or health and safety representative at the workplace
• Write down all the work shifts you have done and your workplaces – save the information
• Check you pay slip at all times

Temporary workers should also join a trade union, so that their interests can be represented better. So join PAM on your first day of work!  

The plus side of temporary work

• You can choose your work shifts and working times, if there is work on offer 
• Freedom
• Variety in life – new workplaces, new work communities and new ways of working even every day
• Suitable for a person who doesn’t want to have fixed working times or regular income, such as students
• In the sectors covered by PAM, the provisions of the collective agreement (i.e. commerce, tourism and restaurant industry, property management) should be followed
• Could be a way to a permanent work contract (approx. 5% are employed by the user company)

The down side

• No regular income
• Uncertainty of the future
• Continuing pressure to learn/adapt to new things – new workplaces, new work communities and new ways of working even every day
• No continuity for employment
• Problems when falling ill (sick leave wages)
• Less room for mistakes – in case there is no work available all of a sudden
• Difficult to build your life in continuous uncertainty 
• Easy for employers to circumvent minimum requirements stated in the collective agreement (sickness allowance, taking care of a sick child, public holidays)   
• Employment may be terminated suddenly even after a long period of work – no term of notice is valid such as in normal employment relationships
• No accumulation of annual holidays
• The shop steward at work has no right to represent a temporary worker
• Orientation to work is often weak
• Difficult to engage in the work, the workplace and the work community – affects motivation and the result (not an advantage for the employer either)
• Usually no right to take part in training 
• Benefits are seldom the same as for the other employees
• Temporary agency staff are not always met with enthusiasm at the workplace – fear that the temporary worker steals working time from the staff
• No possibilities to negotiate with the supervisor on employment-related matters
• Used in some cases as a means to control economic risks – the risks of entrepreneurship is transferred to the employee
• Undermining the traditional unemployment security – no risks to the entrepreneur and easy to get rid of the employee 
• A temporary agency worker is merchandise between two companies – the employee helps these two companies (the agency and the user company) with his/her effort. 

PAM's goals

• The shop steward has the possibility to represent also temporary agency workers
• Temporary agency workers have the same benefits as other workers
• Temporary agency work entails a date of notification on when the work ends (v. term of notice)
• There has to be legal grounds for a work assignment to be temporary, just like in other temporary employment relationships. 
• The rules on temporary work are created at every workplace, they are made together with the shop steward – everyone should know, when and why temporary work is used (it will also diminish prejudices in the work community)
• Temporary work is only used in exceptional circumstances
• There is no need to prohibit temporary work, but the current rules need to be improved in order to stop speculation 
• Recruitment fees should not stop a person from being hired by the user company

What does the law tell us?

The user company must take care of the safety and welfare of temporary agency workers in the same way as for their own employees. 

The Employment Contracts Act

Management and supervision of work

When an employer transfers a worker according to his/her will to the use of another employer, the right to manage and supervise work is also transferred to the user company. In addition, employer's obligations that are directly related to the work and its arrangements are also transferred simultaneously. The user company is obliged to provide the worker's employer with information, which is needed in order for the employer to fill his/her obligations.  

Working conditions

If no collective agreement is binding to the employer hiring out workforce (i.e. an agency), the collective agreement for the company using temporary work force should be applied. 

As from 1 January 2009, the employer is obliged to provide the temporary agency worker with a written clarification on the central working conditions. This applies also in temporary employment relationships that last for under one month, if the worker specifically asks for a clarification from the agency.  

Employee transfer to the service of the user company after temporary agency work

If the employee is hired by the user company after the end of the temporary agency work, and he/she has similar duties as before, the maximum duration of the trial period is reduced by the time the employee has worked as a temporary worker in the user company. 

Occupational Safety and Health Act

Obligation to follow the rules on occupational safety and health

A company using temporary work force is obliged to follow the rules that according to the Occupational Safety and Health Act apply to employers.

The information obligation of the user company

Before the work is started, the company using temporary work force has to notify the agency on the required skills and other special requirements related to the work in question. The employer has to make sure that the worker has the required skills and he/she is suited for the job.  

Responsibility for orientation in the user company 

The company using temporary agency work should take care of the orientation of the worker. 

Notifications to the occupational health care and the health and safety representative

According to paragraph 4, which came into force on 1 January 2009, the company using the work force should notify the occupational health care as well as the concerned health and safety representative at the workplace on the start of the work.  

Law on monitoring work health and safety

According to the law on monitoring work health and safety, before the start of the business, the concerned health and safety authorities should be notified on the use of temporary professional work force.

Links:

A guide on temporary work (in Finnish) http://www.mol.fi/mol/fi/99_pdf/fi/00_julkaisut/vuokratyoopas.pdf

Employment service branch reports (in Finnish) www.toimialaraportit.fi (requires registration). Published for the first time in 2010.

Temporary agency work as a European phenomenon: http://yp.stakes.fi/NR/rdonlyres/18935667-7919-4289-ACD7-24ADAF8DBD2F/0/tanskanenantti.pdf

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