Related reading: ‘How to Get the Most Out of Your Strategic Sourcing Partners’ What Is a Temp Worker?Ī temp (temporary) worker will typically come in on an hourly rate, on a fixed contract, with a requirement to track their time through weekly, bi-weekly or monthly timesheet submissions. Let’s explore some of the key differentiators, and look at ways that you can make sure you know your ‘temp’ from your ‘IC’. This isn’t helped by the language and phrasing in the industry-it’s not uncommon to misclassify Independent Contractors as ‘temporary’ workers or to put ‘temporary’ workers through on SOW bids. While firms have well-established HR and procurement procedures in place to handle full-time employees, the same cannot always be said for the contingent workforce.

That’s an astonishing increase of 6 million people in the last decade. The US gig economy has grown by 15% since 2010.

The rapid growth and popularity of using a contingent workforce means that understanding the difference between temporary workers and Independent Contractors (ICs) who require an SOW has never been more important. The Contingent Workforce and the Gig Economy Continue to Grow Understanding the difference plays a key role in controlling your Statement of Work (SOW) costs, but more importantly, it can save you significant legal headaches. There’s a tendency to categorize these two types of work, and therefore workers, together, but they are distinctly different. One thing we hear all the time from our users (and broadly, in our industry) is “What is temp work?” versus “What is SOW work?”.

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