'It pays well, more than minimum wage'

Temper is an online supply-and-demand platform for companies in the hospitality, retail and logistics industries. It works as follows: companies announce gigs on Temper, informing when they need students, how long the job will take, and how much they pay per hour. Job seekers can then apply for the vacancies. Temper is not an employment agency and the students do not work under an employment contract. Instead, they are expected to be self-employed, which means they must take care of insurance, pension and bookkeeping for taxes. Therefore, this type of work comes with advantages and disadvantages.

Working through Temper? Yes!
For Noah (25), a third-year student of Italian Language & Culture, flexibility was an important reason to work through Temper. “You have the freedom to decide which days you will work and on which shifts.” He has worked at about 15 places so far. Some of them only once, others more often. At the companies where he has worked more than once, he is now on their list of steady flex workers. That includes a restaurant in Reeuwijk and the catering service of a hospital in Gouda. 

Flexibility also attracted Bente (22), a History student. She joined Temper in 2021. “I was looking for a job that would allow me to earn money quickly and not be tied to permanent shifts as I didn’t have many hours to spare outside of my studies.” 

In addition, students earn more than average when working through Temper. “I could work less for more money,” notes Bente. She got paid about 18 euros an hour at the bakery Vlaamsch Broodhuys. Ella* (24), who is studying Pharmacy at the Master's level, has been working through Temper since May, partly because of the attractive earnings. “It’s well paid, higher than minimum wage.” 

Noah only applied for gigs that paid at least 16 euros an hour – and he managed to take advantage of that wage. Het Reeuwijkse Hout, a restaurant where he'd worked several times through Temper, stopped hiring freelancers when a new owner arrived at the end of 2022. After five months or so, he got a phone call. “I needed a job, so I told them I would like to work for them again, but only if they offered me a contract.” And he got it, with a wage comparable to the one he used to earn on his Temper days. “I don’t think I'd earn what I earn if I hadn’t worked for them through Temper.”

Working through Temper? Nah...
Temper freelancers work at the same place often, but they are not part of the team. They usually don't get a share of the tips, Ella observes. “I don’t mind that because it already pays quite well.” She wasn’t invited to a team outing either, but she understands that too.

According to Noah, the extent to which Temper workers feel part of the team differs depending on the place. It also depends on the coworkers's age and the relationship one develops with them. At the hospital in Gouda, for example, Noah felt as though there was no such thing as team spirit, but he feels differently now at Reeuwijk, where such a spirit is "very much" present.

Bente feels a bit uncomfortable when she's working at a certain place for the first time, or when she only works there sporadically. It's awkward for her to have colleagues on duty spending additional time on her. “They’re explaining things to me all day, while I’m getting better pay.” But working with too many other Temper workers isn’t ideal either. “I once worked a shift at the Railway Museum, for a catering company. I didn’t like that very much,” recollects Bente. “I was standing there with twenty Temper freelancers, who had never worked there before, and a manager. The workload was quite high, we had to serve dinner even though hardly anyone knew how things worked.” Besides, you may not get along well with your colleagues. “There are a lot of people who don’t do anything: they take smoking breaks all the time or aren’t there when something needs to be served.”

Sometimes, a company may ask Temper workers to do things they didn't apply for. “Many businesses use Temper to fill gaps in their workforce. If there is little to do, they sometimes ask you to do chores that you didn’t apply to do. Once I was supposed to serve food, but in the end, I was mostly cleaning. I kept thinking: 'What am I doing here?'” At least Temper freelancers can then choose not to work at those places anymore, as well as alert other freelancers to avoid that company by giving it a low rating. Temper workers are asked to rate the companies that hire them after the gig to give other freelancers an indication of how well they were treated.

Currently, Bente is working somewhere under contract instead of through Temper. After all, flexibility also comes with a considerable share of risk. “I wanted to work during the Christmas holidays because I needed money, but I didn’t get hired as often as I wanted to.” 

*Ella is a fictitious name. The student prefers to remain anonymous. DUB knows her real name.

How Temper works

Temper is a platform on which companies in the hospitality, retail and logistics industries offer gigs to freelancers. Job seekers can create a profile and apply for work shifts through Temper's app and website. The advertising always mentions the hourly wage. At the end of the shift, the company and the freelancer rate each other. If a freelancer works for the same company more than once, they may end up on a list of flexible workers, which makes them more likely to be hired again. 

Temper workers do not have an employment contract. They are rather seen as entrepreneurs. They are their own boss. After Temper makes an invoice for them, they can get paid in two ways: by either submitting the invoice themselves to the company they worked for or asking Finqle, a billing company, to do it for them. This way, they get paid within three days but it costs them 2.9 percent of the invoice amount. 

Temper freelancers must be registered with the Chamber of Commerce (KvK). They also have to file a quarterly VAT return and fill in the income tax return every year. In some cases, having a VAT ID (btw-ID) is sufficient. If their annual turnover is less than 20,000 euros, they can make use of the Small Business Scheme (KOR), which means they do not have to file a quarterly VAT return.