Straightforward, flexible, spontaneous - temporary staff during capacity bottlenecks

If employees are absent because of illness or accidents, if a project has to be postponed because of bad weather and finally completed in considerably less time than originally allowed for, or if the planned duration is reduced because trades working earlier have caused delays - then they are probably the most frequently chosen solution: temporary staff. According to current studies, temporary work is used by employers above all to bridge capacity bottlenecks and to cover absent personnel. Across all sectors, 82 per cent of firms state that they use temporary work "to cover short-term staffing needs". Temporary work is characterised by the fact that three actors are involved in the employment relationship: the employees are employed by a temporary employment agency, which places them with the relevant external firm for individual assignments or projects. There they work temporarily, that is, for a limited period - and can thereby cover peaks in workload.

The use of temporary work has increased massively in Switzerland in recent years. Since the early 1990s its share of the volume of work has more than quintupled and the absolute number of temporary employees has risen even more sharply. The construction industry plays a central role in this: compared with total employment in construction, and compared with other sectors, particularly many temporary staff work here. Around 24 per cent of all temporary employees work in the construction industry, about 12 per cent in the main construction sector and 12 per cent in the finishing trades, whereas only around seven per cent of all working people work in construction. Overall, about 5.1 per cent of those in the finishing trades are temporary employees; in the main construction sector it is around 10 per cent. In the peak-season months the share of temporary staff in the latter can even reach 20 per cent.

The advantages of using temporary employees are obvious: staff are quickly and flexibly available as required, the period of employment is limited in time and can therefore be linked to a job or project, and the notice periods in the first three months are very short. Temporary staff thus make it possible to achieve a high degree of flexibility in terms of personnel and working time, which is helpful above all for cushioning fluctuating order situations and for coping with recurring peaks in workload.

Set against this is the question of how temporary employees, who above all stay in the company only briefly, can best be inducted into existing work structures and tasks, and to what extent their work is comparable in quality with that of permanent staff. Because of the smaller body of experience - especially regarding the processes in the particular firm - and the weaker attachment to the company, the quality of the work is often rated rather more negatively. A further aspect negatively associated with temporary work is the increased accident risk of temporary workers compared with permanent employees. The causes of this are the short duration of assignments and the frequent change of workplace, so that temporary staff are less familiar with the working processes in the firms they are placed with. By way of comparison, accidents also happen more frequently among permanent employees when they start a job. The fact that temporary work is more often carried out by young employees - over a quarter of temporary workers are younger than 26 - also contributes to an increased accident risk, since young employees generally have a higher accident risk. More thorough inductions and increased instruction on the part of the firm can minimise this risk.

Employing temporary staff via a staffing agency - that is, a temporary employment agency as the link between the company and the temporary employees - offers the advantage of reducing administrative effort and possible inconvenience. The agency is responsible for the placement licence and deals with all legal questions concerning the temporary assignment. Beyond that, employees who are engaged via a staffing agency are covered by the collective employment agreement (GAV) for staff leasing and by the Recruitment Act (AVG), which set out pay and working-time provisions uniformly.

In summary, then, the use of temporary employees offers a way of offsetting seasonal fluctuations, short-notice absences or recurring peaks in workload. But here too the rule applies: the earlier you know about bottlenecks and the need for temporary staff, the more you can influence qualifications and pricing. Longer-term advance planning makes it easier to find an employee with the appropriate qualifications. A longer time horizon also makes it possible to obtain quotes from different staffing agencies, compare prices and ultimately save costs.