Temporary workers, by any other name

Posted by: Matt Rivera

For those of you who work in or around the staffing industry on a regular basis, you know it can sometimes be a confusing roller coaster ride. As an industry, we employ millions of people, and yet, all the general public knows about is that maybe they had a “temp” answer the phone when Myrtle was away on maternity leave.

So why the big identity crisis? Well, that’s a longer story, but one aspect of the confusion (one that I find amusing) is all the different names out there for temporary employees. For those of you who have noticed and may be confused by the many options, and are curious as to where the names came from, here’s a primer.

It all started with the temporary moniker that was intended to denote a worker would only be working in a particular position for a short period of time. No one could have predicted that today, some workers stay in  “permanent” jobs at companies for the same or even less amount of time as some temporary workers’ assignments.

At some point, temporary was shortened to “temp.” Apparently, no one wanted to take the extra time to say the complete, four-syllable name for someone who may not be around next week.

There also was, of course, the brief, politically incorrect naming of female office workers by the company who provided them. Try calling a secretary a “Kelly Girl” today and see what you get. Heck, try calling a secretary a secretary! (Note: I hereby apologize to all the executive assistants reading this. Please don’t  have me fired — I know you have access to the boss’ e-mail.)

Then, came the shift to formalities, and we started to refer to temporary workers by their status as “contract” workers or “contractors.” This led to some interesting water cooler talk:

“Hey Contractor, when’s your assignment up?”
“About another week here, W-2. I’m working on the SF-14 project with the 1099, two H1-Bs and a couple of non-paid interns.”

At least everyone knew where they stood, and who was getting paid the most.

Next came the upgraded names, created by staffing companies in an attempt to charge more. We heard about “consultants,” “associates,” and “resources.” Good thing for lawyers on this one, because this could easily have gotten out of control. I could see a staffing firm advertising their “all-knowing, omnipotent super-beings,” or more simply, “super-humans,” for all of your temporary needs.

We use “contingent” quite a bit, and although it sounds professional, I’m not sure it’s really accurate. There are several definitions for contingent, but according to Merriam-Webster’s, it’s, “likely but not certain to happen,” or “happening by chance.” As in, you are a “likely-to-be-here-next-week-but-no-promises” worker. Hey, I guess it does make sense after all!

Among the more unappealing names for temporary workers was “job shopper,” which apparently was in vogue in the early days when said shopper actually called the shots, and selected from a multitude of open jobs. If that name was still in use today, it would have quickly morphed into something like, “job take-what-you-can-get-shopper,” or “no-jobs-to-be-had shopper.”

My favorite, by far, was undoubtedly conceived in the legal department and leaves no questions as to these workers’ status: “non-employee.” While I see the utility in this, I cringe thinking about the dire consequences for the person’s self-esteem, particularly when the rank-and-file manager misspoke on their first day, “Here’s your desk. As a non-person here, you can’t use the copier. Bathroom’s on the right. Good luck.” Come on, you know it happened.

So as a reader of this talent management blog, you’re probably wondering what all this has to do with either talent or management, right? Well, for one thing, having a consistent name for the temporary workers at your company might help with co-employment risk. It helps if the workers themselves are aware of their status, and it’s especially helpful if your managers know exactly what it means to be a temporary worker at your company (i.e. don’t discuss salary, don’t talk about benefits, and don’t invite them to the holiday party).

Or, better yet, engage a master vendor to manage your temporary worker program and have them go through a clear, consistent, and centralized process when they work at your company.

How’s that for bringing what you thought was a fluff piece back around to important issues regarding talent management?