Are you planning on hiring temporary or contract employees in the near future? A clear and thorough temporary work contract should be high on your to-do list before you start approaching candidates. Here’s a brief overview of contract employment definitions and benefits for temporary employees, the salary they may be expecting and how to create an employment contract for them.
Employment contract types
Employment contracts are designed to legally protect both employer and employee, while laying down the specifics needed to do the job properly.
If you are hiring a temporary employee for the completion of a project or task for a set period of time, you’ll need to write up a Contract for Services—a legally binding agreement between an employer and a self-employed or agency staff member. This differs from a Contract of Service, which is the agreement made with a permanent staff member.
The difference between the two is that a Contract for Services will give specific details on a project duration, expected timelines, milestones and deliverables, as well as terms of employment.
What should be included in a temporary contract of employment?
According to Government, your temporary employment contract will need to include the following specifics:
- Your business name
- The employee’s name, address and business name, if applicable
- The job payment terms
- Working hours
- Holiday entitlement
- Notice period details
- How to complain about grievance handling or disciplinary action
It should also include a written statement of ‘employment particulars’. This will detail all the job specifics, such as the length of time the contract lasts, the start and finish dates and an outline of the expected deliverables and tasks.
Temporary employee remuneration package
As with permanent employees, the best way to attract top performing temporary employees is with a competitive remuneration package, whether that be day rate, hourly wage or fixed term contract salary. You can create an attractive offer by benchmarking the role by type, industry, complexity, duration of the assignment and the region your business is based in.
If you aren’t able to match offers from employers with larger budgets, you can still gain the upper hand by leveraging strong employer branding, opportunities for learning and adding value, and attractive non-financial benefits in your temporary work contract that you have to offer.
Benefits for temporary employees
According to UK Government, fixed-term or temporary employees should enjoy the same treatment as permanent staff with regard to basic benefits like statutory sick pay, paid holiday, unpaid parental leave and use of workplace facilities.
Writing a temporary work contract
You have several options when drafting up a temporary contract of employment. The first and most simple method is to work with recruitment agency that specialises in temporary recruitment to create a watertight contract which has been written up with expert help and which serves both parties fairly.
Get in touch with the Robert Half temp team
The second option is to use an example of a temporary work contract as your guide, then customise it according to project requirements and the onboarding process of your business.
How to make your temporary work contract stand out
Here are a few quick pointers to make a temporary contract of employment look great for new hires:
- Make sure you’re clear from the start on salary, working hours and how long the contract is for.
- Highlight the experience you aim to give in terms of office culture. This is an excellent way to become an employer of choice and highlight your brand.
- Give examples of the benefits you will offer, not just in remuneration, but in things like skills training, learning courses or even office perks -these are all great opportunities to attract the right employee!
For more hiring advice or setting up your own temporary work contract, get in touch with your local team of Robert Half specialists today.
