The temp solution

TWO months of retirement were enough to persuade Rosemary Butler that she wasn't ready to leave the world of work. During a career spanning four decades in the legal secretarial field, she had amassed a wealth of experience and skills and decided she still wanted to put them to good use.

"I took early retirement at 59, partly because I was about to have my second hip replacement operation and partly because I was getting married again and my job - which was in Leeds and involved travelling and working irregular hours - didn't really fit in with married life," says Rosemary, now 68, who lives in Acomb with husband John, 56.

"But I only lasted about six weeks. When I started talking to the walls, I decided I wanted to do something else," she says with a chortle.

While wanting to return to work, she was reluctant to take on the responsibilities of a full-time job. Temping, she decided, would be ideal. And so at the age of 60, Rosemary became one of the oldest recruits of York employment agency Liz Dargue Staffing, Davygate, York.

Eight years on, Rosemary is the company's longest-serving temp - and has just completed her 100th assignment.

She's worked for most of the leading companies in the city including Railtrack, the Joseph Rowntree Trust and Persimmon Homes. But there's one notable omission: "I've never worked for Nestl," reveals Rosemary. "They are too difficult for me to get to."

Such fussiness is a luxury few workers can afford, but it's a bonus for a temp.

In practice, Rosemary has a lot of say in who she works for and for how long an assignment will last. And if the boss is horrible, the canteen food lousy or the office too off the beaten track, she can turn down the assignment or give it up at the end of the week and await a new, more suitable one.

"My priorities are that it has to be interesting work, plenty of it, nice coffee, good loos and car parking space or on the Park & Ride route," she says.

Temping also affords Rosemary the flexibility not usually found in permanent work.

For the past two years, Rosemary has had every Monday off so she could attend an HNC course in Horticulture with Plantmanship at Bishop Burton College near Hull. Also, she likes to stop working altogether during winter.

"I'm getting to be an old lady and I don't like to going out in the bad weather!" Rosemary says with teasing smile.

"If the gas man is coming, then I can say that I can't work next Wednesday, so it's great for things like that. Or because I'm a keen horticulturist, if there is a good spell of weather, I don't work."

However, Rosemary is keen to stress she'd never leave anyone in the lurch. "I'd always work through to the end of the week, then ask the agency to find me something else," she says.

That's never been a problem, reveals agency boss Maggie Gibson, because Rosemary is much in demand.

"Clients ring and ask if Rosemary is free - and she is frequently asked to go back," reveals Maggie, who has just completed a management buy-out of the Liz Dargue operation in York. From this week - which appropriately enough is National Temp Week - the company will be known as Opus Appointments.

"We even have firms who will only let staff take their holidays if Rosemary is free to cover for them," adds Maggie.

To mark her 100th assignment, Maggie paid for Rosemary and John to have dinner at the Sidings restaurant just outside York.

"It was really good of Maggie because, as I keep telling her, I only come to work because she pays me!" laughs Rosemary.

During her eight years as a temp, Rosemary has had four or five job offers, but has never been tempted to go back to full-time, permanent, employment.

"Some people get puzzled that I'm not looking for a job... but I get terribly itchy feet and don't like to stay anywhere too long," she says.

With her short, blonde hair and fashionable clothes, few people would guess her true age or that she was a grandmother of five.

However, there have been a couple of scenarios when her age was commented on.

"One woman when she found out I'd remarried said: 'How lovely you've found company in your twilight years'," says Rosemary, adding the words were kindly meant.

But she is less warming towards the man who asked her: "Can you use a word processor at your age?"

Not surprisingly, advancing years aren't much of an issue for Rosemary, who jokes about how her 'toy boy' husband helps keep her young.

"I think you can get a very old 40 year old and a very young 68 year old. The old clich is true: age is an attitude of mind."

Maggie echoes this view and encourages older people to consider temping.

"Older workers are more reliable," she says. "They feel their skills aren't good enough, but they can easily pick up new pieces of software. We can recommend organisations they can go to for the appropriate training.

"And we are sympathetic. If they have been out of the work place for a long time, we put them in an easy contract until they build up their confidence."

Temps earn on average between £5-£7 an hour, says Maggie, or higher if they land a short-term posting, say to cover maternity leave. And temping can lead on to a permanent job with a company.

The law now gives temps similar rights to permanent workers, adds Maggie. They are entitled to 20 days' holiday, sickness and maternity benefits - after a 13-week qualifying period.

Rosemary's only gripe is that as a pensioner she has to pay the standard rate of income tax on her earnings. But the rewards of working, she adds, are more than financial.

"There is the social element of work and if you have worked all your life then to stop would leave a big hole. I can't see myself stopping...I've told Maggie I'm going to keep on temping until they shoot me!"

For more details about work as a temp, contact Opus Appointments, 9a Davygate, York. Tel: 01904 659565 or visit the website: www.opusappointments.co.uk