Do employment agencies hire people full time to be outsourced to another company?
 

A friend was telling me the other day, his payslip is issued by an employment agency, he is outsorced to another company similar to HP but not on a contract basis but on a permanent basis. In another words, his employer is the employment agency but he works at their client's place.

Is there such a thing or did I misunderstand him. On his payslip, it even shows the client's name.

I thought employment agency only outsource on a contract basis on a 1 year or 2 year basis, never heard of employment agency hiring someone as a permanent staff but outsourced to another company. If there is such a thing, what is this called and why are companies opting for this.

Could it be that your friend is hired permanently by the employment agency but is currently sent to work as a contract employee for the client company? This is how the usual outsourcing model (of headcount) works - company departments with insufficient headcount but a big enough budget for a project will engage employment agencies to provide 1 or 2-year contractors for the project. Not sure if they ever ask for "permanent contractors".

Actually I have been in a situation whereby, I went to a company for interview, I got a job and only later found out, my pay will be handled by an employment agency. I thought that was strange but did not think much about it as I was young and just start new job only. I can't remember now, if that was a permanent position or a contract one.

I had another situation whereby I had a contract position but it was a long contract position 4 years and renewable or convert to permanent staff.