SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CAREERS / PART-TIME CAREERS : Stepping Off the Full-Time Track : Flexible Work Schedules Allow Workers to Balance Their Lives While Thriving at Work : Karen Gonzalez: Manpower Inc.
Laid off from her secretarial job three years ago, Karen Gonzalez wasn’t sure what she wanted to do or where to begin. All she knew was that she needed income right away.
So the Laguna Hills resident signed up with Manpower Inc. and has been temping ever since.
Like an increasing number of people, Gonzalez has made temping, well, sort of permanent. And that’s just fine with her.
“My mom in Northern California calls and says, ‘Don’t you think you should have a permanent job?’ ” said Gonzalez, 48, who is divorced. “But I say: ‘This is pretty permanent, Mom. If I lose this job, they always find me another one, usually better.’ ”
Increasingly, people like Gonzalez are using temporary services as a long-term solution to bringing home a paycheck. Four out of 10 people who work for temporary-help firms now stay for a year or more, according to the National Assn. of Temporary and Staffing Services.
In the three years Gonzalez has been with Manpower, she has rarely been out of work--except when she has wanted to take time off. Though temporary jobs usually run six to eight weeks, Gonzalez has sought longer assignments.
Her first job through Manpower, as a full-time secretary at Resolution Trust Corp.’s office in Newport Beach, lasted 11 months. Afterward, she took three weeks off. Then she was dispatched to work for British Aerospace Co. That job ran nine months.
Gonzalez, who has 1 1/2 years of college and strong word-processing skills, is now working as an administrative assistant at National Education Corp. in Irvine, where she has been since last spring.
As a longtime employee of Manpower, Gonzalez gets two weeks’ paid vacation a year plus holiday pay. Manpower picks up 50% of the premium for her health insurance. And Gonzalez, who has earned between $10 and $12 hour, is considering signing up for Manpower’s employee stock-purchase plan.
“Just about the only thing I don’t get is dental and eye insurance,” she said.
Of course, Gonzalez doesn’t know when her current assignment will expire. It could end tomorrow, she admitted. But that doesn’t trouble her.
“Even though it’s a temp job,” Gonzalez said, “it feels very secure.”
Gonzalez said she doesn’t know how long she’ll keep temping. “I like the flexibility, and it’s given me the opportunity to work at different places,” she said. “I’ll probably temp until I find a job I really, really like and the company offers me a permanent position.”
