labour day

September 7, 2026

If a company keeps a person working as a temp for more than three months it should be mandatory for the company to hire them full time. Anything beyond that is exploitative of the agency who is paying them, and also the company where they are doing the work. Three months is enough time to determine if a person is capable of doing the work required. If they have been working steadily for that length of time then obviously there was a position that needed to be filled.

Three months is also reminiscent of earlier times in the blue collar world when a company would take on a new hire, but they would be in a three month probationary period. If they seemed a fit for the job after doing it for three months; the perks of being a full time employee would kick in. Like a pay raise, vacation time, medical and dental benefits, and the opportunity to participate in a group retirement plan. If they were not so great they would be let go. The way it is now companies can keep people on as temps for years. They never get those perks.

I worked as a temp six times in the last fifteen years. Four of those jobs hired me full time. I've been at the last one that hired me full time for nine years now. The two that did not hire me full time likely would have if I had stayed. I just saw what they were like after working there as a temp, and didn't like what I saw. So I left. The ones where I was hired, and then later on quit, seemed okay at the time of my hiring, but they turned to shit later on. All at about two years.

The job where I am now was a much better place to work when I started as a temp. I've watched it steadily decline to what it is now.

Someone wise once said that if the bad days at work start to outnumber the good days then you know it is time to move on and find something else. Honestly, I'm not there yet. I bitch about it a lot, but sometimes it is tolerable.

Hmmm... I guess I've veered off the path. I do that a lot. I started this post about how temps are being exploited, and now that I've typed things about it I find myself wishing I was a temp so I could just walk away from my job without really losing anything. As it is though I get 4 weeks paid vacation, and benefits, plus I've been putting money into the group retirement plan. If I were to leave, those things would go away. So really I'm just forcing myself to stay in a toxic unfulfilling job for benefits, vacation time, and money... lol Happy Labour Day!