Temporary work Temporary work Temporary work or temporary employment (also called odd jobs) refers to an employment situation where the working arrangement is limited to a certain period of time based on the needs of the employing organization. Temporary employees are sometimes called "contractual", "seasonal", "interim", "casual staff", "outsourcing", "freelance"; or the word may be shortened to "temps". In some instances, temporary, highly skilled professionals (particularly in the white-collar worker fields, such as law, engineering, and accounting) refer to themselves as consultants. Temporary work is different from secondment, which is the assignment of a member of one organisation to another organisation for
Temporary work regulations in North America do little in addressing labour market insecurities and the precarious nature of temporary labour. In many cases, legislation has done little to acknowledge or adapt to the growth of non-standard employment in Canada. In the European Union, temporary work is regulated by the Temporary Agency Work Directive and the Member States' laws implementing that directive. Lawsuits have addressed some of the controversies about the status of temporary workers in the sharing economy. For example, two class-action lawsuits settled in 2016 resulted in changes to Uber's employment policies, including clarification of drivers' rights and the company's disciplinary