Until recently, Jan had always worked in full-time permanent employment, mostly within the financial services and legal sectors. Like many “full-time” workers, this meant working anything from 70 to 90 hours per week. The only ‘career break’ Jan ever had was when she took maternity leave with each of her children. But even then, she was back at work after only 6 or 7 weeks!
This had to change when Jan was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She carried on working in a permanent role for another two years after her diagnosis but then, given her health condition, Jan realised she would need to find a different way of keeping her skills in play and contributing to the labour market.
At first, Jan took some time out from work to come to terms with her disability diagnosis. It was a really tough time but Jan knew she still had lots of skills she could use. An added complication was Jan has an aunty with Alzheimer’s, whom she also cares for.
Temp work has given Jan flexibility and, in her words, her independence back.
She picks the hours she can work and where she works from – sometimes from home and sometimes in the office – where she is a temp supporting and resourcing people into driving roles.
Jan says her current colleagues often forget she is a temporary agency worker and treat her no differently from a permanent member of staff. She receives the same training opportunities and can get bonuses for meeting KPIs, just as her permanent colleagues are entitled to receive. This is great news as Jan is the first to admit that she was worried what other people would think about her being a temp.
As a mother and a grandmother, Jan says she is a little older than most of her colleagues – but her years of previous work experience, especially in highly regulated and competitive markets, means she is a source of insight and inspiration to those in her new team. Jan dislikes and doesn’t really understand the phrase ‘50 plus workers’ – because it should really be about recognising the skills and experience that every individual brings to a role, regardless of their age or any other characteristic.
Jan’s advice to anyone thinking about getting back into work is to embrace the opportunity of temping by finding a good quality agency, identifying and sharing with them the skills you can contribute, and see how it matches up with the work that is on offer.
Jan acknowledges that since her diagnosis there are things she can’t do – so she focuses on what she can do, and she plans to temp until she retires.
For Jan, temp work works – 100%.
