In 2022, at least 175,000 people in Ireland classified themselves as ‘temporary employees’ a significant increase since 2002’s number of 134,000.
Temporary workers are employees hired for a specific time for specific projects or tasks. There are many benefits to hiring temporarily including, for example, the ability to hire for specialised skills. Skills-based hiring is one of the defining talent market trends of 2024, and we predict it will only grow in importance over time.
What does temporary employment mean?
A temporary employee's role is usually for a specific, short-term period, addressing immediate needs, such as covering for absent employees, handling seasonal workloads, or completing short-term projects.
How do employers benefit from temporary employees?
Hiring temporary employees can be hugely beneficial for an organisation, as they are cost-effective, versatile and time-effective. We’ve taken six key benefits and explore them in detail below:
- Temporary workers are cost-effective: Employee benefits can account for over 31% of employee compensation costs. Temporary workers typically receive fixed rates without requiring benefits such as health insurance. They are also not part of the organisation’s head count. Allowing further financial flexibility and allows them to optimise spending across the year, by scaling their temporary workforce numbers, up and down, depending on demand.




