Temporary work. To put it simply. ‘Temporary work’ isn’t a catch-all term for any situation involving flexible, fixed-term employment arrangements. It’s a proper form of employment which is clearly defined by law and comes with full social security.

A precarious job is a job without protection, which is probably short-term and where there are no professional growth opportunities. Temporary work in no way falls under this description.
The type of agreements proposed by personnel loan companies, like other forms of agreement in the world of work, can be either fixed-term or indefinite, just as the length of assignments can be short or very long. It is important to stress that temporary work is also a pre-selection tool adopted by many user companies to help them in deciding which employees they should integrate directly into their structure.
We protect workers; in this regard, it is safe to say that anyone who operates as a temporary worker enjoys a wealth of guarantees. It is useful to remember that the personnel loan sector is governed by various federal rules, and, since 2012, has also been governed by a collective agreement that is strongly backed by social partners. In this sense, each specific detail of workers' protection is regulated.

It is vital that every worker can access the pillars on which our country's social security system is based. As previously written, anyone working as a temporary worker is protected by the same rules as all other workers, with added improved protections stipulated by the collective agreement for the loan of personnel.
Welfare, compensation for loss of earnings due to illness or accident, maternity, access to unemployment benefits, family benefits: temporary workers are fully entitled to all social insurance provided by the Swiss legal system.

At a disadvantage compared to whom? Compared to your own previous situation, you are probably not at a disadvantage if you were unemployed before.
What about compared to other workers? Social security and presumed precariousness have already been dealt with; now, a key issue remains for those entering into an employment contract, namely economic conditions. Is equal treatment guaranteed in the areas of salary, working hours, holidays, and public holidays? Yes, without a shadow of a doubt.
Temporary workers at client companies subject to sectoral collective agreements with binding force or to normal cantonal/federal labor contracts, enjoy the same treatment as those working in the aforementioned sectors (e.g. the construction sector). In addition to these cases, some sectors have a collective agreement that is made mandatory by our collective agreement (for example, the watch industry agreement) even if it is not actually mandatory. Even in such cases, temporary workers attain the same status as their colleagues in "fixed" posts.
What about all other sectors? Protections are guaranteed by the collective labor agreement, where wage levels, working hours, holidays and the dates of public holidays are specified. Finally, another important point: all temporary workers, unlike many "fixed" workers, can take advantage of a training fund (temptraining) which can provide up to CHF 4,000 of training costs over 12 months at an accredited institute.