Temporary agencies place approximately two and a half million people in jobs each day in the United States. Every year, about twelve million people use these placement agencies to find temporary work. Many Americans, even those who desire permanent jobs, decide to enter the labor market through the portal of temporary agencies. Compared with the post-World War II era, when it was a marginal labor practice, temporary employment is today an entrenched feature of jobs and labor markets. How have temporary employment relationships become so widespread and normalized? In The Good Temp, Vicki Smith and Esther B. Neuwirth provide some novel answers to this question. Their provocative analysis is based on an insider's view of the interior dynamics of a temporary help agency in Silicon Valley. It incorporates a historical perspective on the rise of the temporary help service industry. Smith and Neuwirth document how this powerful industry not only created a new market for temporary labor but also played a fundamental role in the erosion of the permanent employment model. They analyze how agencies themselves came to manufacture and market this reinvented product-the good temp, an employee who is effective and efficient, committed, and sometimes preferable to a permanent staff member. Joining extensive participant observation data with historical analysis, The Good Temp contains some surprising findings about temporary employment today and fills a significant gap in our understanding of this important labor relationship.

Winner of the William G. Bowen Prize Named a "Triumph" of 2018 by New York Times Book Critics Shortlisted for the 800-CEO-READ Business Book Award The untold history of the surprising origins of the "gig economy"--how deliberate decisions made by consultants and CEOs in the 50s and 60s upended the stability of the workplace and the lives of millions of working men and women in postwar America. Over the last fifty years, job security has cratered as the institutions that insulated us from volatility have been swept aside by a fervent belief in the market. Now every working person in America today asks the same question: how secure is my job? In Temp, Louis Hyman explains how we got to this precarious position and traces the real origins of the gig economy: it was created not by accident, but by choice through a series of deliberate decisions by consultants and CEOs--long before the digital revolution. Uber is not the cause of insecurity and inequality in our country, and neither is the rest of the gig economy. The answer to our growing problems goes deeper than apps, further back than outsourcing and downsizing, and contests the most essential assumptions we have about how our businesses should work. As we make choices about the future, we need to understand our past.

A successful career woman pays the ultimate price for having it all in this “outstanding psychological thriller” by the USA Today bestselling author (Publishers Weekly, starred review). With a dream career and a handsome screenwriter husband, TV producer Carrie is at the top of her game. Now with a baby on the way, she will truly have it all—she'll just need someone to fill in for her while she's on maternity leave. A young script editor with some missteps in her past, Emma is determined to make the most of the temporary position. She wants a life just like Carries . . . exactly like Carries. Carrie has given up more than anyone knows to get to the top of a ruthless business. But with Emma filling in for her at the office, her perfect life starts to unravel. Her bank account is inexplicably overdrawn, her husband seems strangely distant and colleagues are all too happy to take Emma's creative direction. Carrie finds herself dying to get back to work . . . until a letter left at her door changes everything.

Contains work-related stories from the temp worker magazine, Temp Slave, this book is useful for people who slave in offices where self-worth and job security are defined by the word 'temporary'.

Temporary employment is on the rise. In uncertain economic times, many businesses view employing temps as a cost-effective strategy to both maximize productivity and foster flexibility. Being noticed and ultimately hired by clients in this increasingly competitive market requires staffing services and temps to perform at new levels of excellence. Working with staffing service firms and temps for over 20 years, Cathy A. Reilly has learned a thing or two about the staffing industry and the bottom line: what temporary employment success looks like to a client. No matter where you are in this three-sided working arrangement, The Temp Factor: The Complete Guide to Temporary Employment for Staffing Services, Clients, and Temps is the most comprehensive and innovative manual on temporary employment you will find. This up-to-date book is written for anyone working within the temporary employment industry, whether you are just starting out or possess years of experience. It provides readers with basic information to build upon, fresh perspectives, and better solutions to meet today's business staffing challenges. The Temp Factor is a valuable resource for temporary employees, clients and staffing services seeking to achieve distinction and a competitive edge.

groundwork for a new corporate ethos of ruthless cost cutting and mass layoffs. --

Sixteen-year-old Dylan Highmark thought his winter was going to be full of boring shifts at the Dairy Queen, until he finds himself in love with a boy who's literally too hot to handle. Dylan has always wanted a boyfriend, but the suburbs surrounding Philadelphia do not have a lot in the way of options. Then, in walks Jordan, a completely normal (and undeniably cute) boy who also happens to run at a cool 110 degrees Fahrenheit. When the boys start spending time together, Dylan begins feeling all kinds of ways, and when he spikes a fever for two weeks and is suddenly coughing flames, he thinks he might be suffering from something more than just a crush. Jordan forces Dylan to keep his symptoms a secret. But as the pressure mounts and Dylan becomes distant with his closest friends and family, he pushes Jordan for answers. Jordan's revelations of why he's like this, where he came from, and who's after him leaves Dylan realizing how much first love is truly out of this world. But if the attraction between them defies the laws of physics, love may be the only thing that can keep Jordan and Dylan together. THE TEMPERATURE OF ME AND YOU is the story of first love, and the lengths we'll go to figure out our hearts. What starts as an electric, chance encounter at a Dairy Queen quickly evolves into a heated romance, a journey of trust and identity, and a ticking clock for survival.