The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue volume that examines a range of concerns, challenges and responses relating to temporary workers and human resource management (HRM). The paper highlights eight key research questions and describes the structure of the issue. The various articles investigate six main areas: the rationale for using temporary workers rather than permanent workers; factors determining types of temporary work arrangements; the rationale for temp workers entering into temporary employment; the nature and extent of the relationship between TWAs and user firms; the relationship between employment regulations and an organization's labor use patterns of temporary workers and the HR challenges associated with ongoing and extensive use of temporary workers. Findings varied according to the main focus of each paper. Many differences exist in the skill levels of temp workers, their demographic characteristics and reasons for undertaking temp work.