Purpose

The purpose of this study is to understand the teamwork of temporary employees by taking into consideration the impact and role of the management’s perspective, temporary employee’s perspective and contextual perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on reviews of workplace literature pertaining to temporary employments, conversations with managers and temporary and permanent employees of organizations engaging temporary employees on a perennial basis have been thematically analyzed.

Findings

Multiple perspectives of teamwork of temporary employees exist in organizations. However, one rarely finds the interaction and collective treatment of these perspectives, which are critical to understanding teamwork of temporary employees. The paper reports on these perspectives.

Practical implications

With rise in temporary employments in organizations and teamwork being crucial to participative work cultures, organizations need to consider multiple perspectives of the phenomenon before making an informed decision.

Originality/value

There is limited research that delves into teamwork of temporary employees despite the phenomenon becoming increasingly significant in organizations. This paper offers an approach to look at teamwork of temporary employees through multiple perspectives.