Benefits of temporary work assignments

Temporary work in Germany “Arbeitnehmerüberlassung”, still has negative perceptions, such as low salaries, poor working conditions and a lack of acknowledgements towards employees. A lot of efforts have been made in the last few years to improve the regulations. These include changes in industry surcharges or the “Equal treatment” law, which regulates and ensures fair payment and handling of employees and was released in 2017.

In regards to the professional background of white-collar-workers in “Arbeitnehmerüberlassung”, we notice a change, at least in particular working sectors like in HR, e.g. HR Generalists or Senior HR Business Partners. There are many HR Generalists or Senior HR Business Partners now working within the area of temporary work. In the past, these used to be positions occupied by freelancers. Due to the increase in professionals working within this area, many companies nowadays claim higher requirements in terms of education and professional experience. Through different deployments in various companies, the candidates gain a variety of experience and skills. “Arbeitnehmerüberlassung” is a reasonable and useful way of being deployed and should be given a higher acknowledgement in popular culture.

Additionally, this temporary form of working offers, especially for young professionals, is a great possibility to complete their skillset through practical experience. There are temp job offers, which can become permanent jobs. “Arbeitnehmerüberlassung” can act as a gateway to permanent deployment. Certainly, personal networking skills play a huge part here: Visibility and gaining attention through positive working results are mandatory. Temporary project experience can also add an established company name on the candidate´s CV. This itself can open doors for future career steps.

“Arbeitnehmerüberlassung” functions as a way to introduce graduates into the labour market, providing them with insights into companies and orientation. Compared to an internship where quite often, payment is a problem, there are no disadvantages to expect in terms of salary. 

But not only for young professionals, this way of working serves as an entrance to the labour market for all types of candidates. For example, candidates who have been unemployed for a while and have difficulties entering an application process are benefitting here and are offered an alternative way of returning into deployment.
In general, this temporary way of working is characterized by a variety of tasks and the opportunity to gain a lot of professional knowledge in different companies. To have a closer look into this topic therefore is fairly beneficial. To mention here is that there are no disadvantages for employees in terms of social security or tax-related matters since the employer, like in a direct arrangement, has to take care of this.

From the company’s perspective, utilizing “Arbeitnehmerüberlassung” makes sense for a number of reasons: It provides a flexible framework to operate consistently. It is beneficial in peak times of business or lack of personnel, such as parental or sick leave. Especially in these current unstable times, it allows companies to plan their budget more consciously and on a safer basis, e.g. sick leaves or holidays of the temp employee are the responsibility of the lending agency. 

Candidates who are interested in this way of working have to consider a few measures to avoid a poor experience before working for a company offering this way of deployment. This includes aspects such as checking for general permission to deploy candidates temporarily, issued by the German employment agency. Additionally, the company should be a member in one of the collective agreements like iGZ or BAP. Candidates should also be given information about this as the radius of the operation area and contractual components like weekly hours, vacation entitlements and the general duration of the contract. When being deployed, the contract details should be explained to the candidate personally to avoid any following misconceptions. 

In the end, a candidate needs to follow their gut instincts. If there is open communication during the whole process, e.g. questions are being answered profoundly and transparent; then the company can be perceived as reliable and legitimate.

Should you have any questions or if we can support with hiring on your team or your own career search, please contact Marie-Theres Henrich.