A temporary work agency is a licensed company that employs workers and places them with other businesses, known as user companies, to cover temporary needs. The agency is the employer: it signs the temporary employment contract, pays wages and handles insurance. The user company directs the day-to-day work on site.
Three parties, two contracts
Temporary work is a three-way relationship. The agency signs a supply contract with your company that sets out the roles, the location, the working hours and the reason for using temporary staff. With each worker, the agency signs a temporary employment contract, always in writing.
In practice, the worker joins your team and follows your instructions on site, while the employment relationship stays with the agency. The agency runs payroll, pays social security contributions, provides workplace accident insurance and is responsible for each person's paperwork.
When companies use temporary staff
Portuguese law allows temporary work to cover a user company's temporary needs. The most common cases are:
- An exceptional rise in activity, such as a surge in orders or a project moving into a new phase
- Seasonal work, such as the harvest or peak season in hospitality
- Covering for absent employees, for example during sick leave or parental leave
- Projects with a clear start and finish, such as building a solar farm
What the agency handles and what stays with you
The agency takes care of recruitment and selection, contracts, pay, insurance, contributions and each worker's documents, including those of workers from abroad. You keep the organisation of the work, the site safety rules and the onboarding of the team into your internal procedures.
At Job On, your company contacts us on the companies line and the request goes to the right person in our sales team, who follows it up and handles any change in roles, shifts or team size. The reason for using temporary staff is always written into the supply contract, and we help you frame it before you go ahead.
How to know the agency is licensed
Only a licensed company may place temporary workers. In Portugal, licences are granted by IEFP, the public employment and vocational training institute, which keeps a public register of temporary work agencies with each licence number. Job On is a licensed temporary work agency, Alvará 1002/24, headquartered in Lisbon with an office in Tilburg.
Updated September 2026.
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