When a temporary dental professional arrives for a shift, the day moves quickly. Patients are waiting, schedules are full, and no one wants to slow things down with paperwork.
That’s exactly why expectations need to be clear before the shift begins.
A short, well-designed agreement between a clinic and a temp helps prevent misunderstandings, protects everyone involved, and turns temp staffing into something predictable instead of reactive. In most cases, this doesn’t need to be a long or complex document. A page or two is often enough.
The goal isn’t to over-lawyer the relationship. It’s to make sure everyone starts the shift aligned.
Clarifying the nature of the relationship
One of the most important things to establish is what the engagement actually is.
For temp shifts, the agreement should clearly state that the engagement applies only for the duration of the specific shift booked through Fairly. It is not an offer of ongoing or permanent employment, and it doesn’t create obligations beyond that shift.
This clarity protects clinics from unintended expectations and simply puts on paper what both sides already understand: the temp is engaged for this specific shift and nothing beyond it.
Referencing shift details already in Fairly
There’s no need to duplicate information that already exists.
Start time, end time, role, and location are all confirmed in Fairly. A good agreement simply references the shift details as booked on the platform, keeping the document clean and avoiding inconsistencies if anything changes.
This keeps the agreement focused on expectations, not logistics.
Setting expectations around hours and pay approval
While rates and schedules live in Fairly, it’s still helpful to briefly confirm how hours are handled.
An agreement can outline how hours are approved, who holds the final say in approvals (on the Fairly Staffing platform, that's the clinic), what happens if there’s a discrepancy, and how the approval process works. Most post-shift issues arise from misunderstandings about hours, not pay rates, and a small amount of upfront clarity goes a long way.
Addressing confidentiality and patient privacy
Even for a single shift, temporary dental professionals may access patient information, charts, or conversations.
An agreement should explicitly confirm confidentiality obligations and compliance with PIPEDA and applicable provincial requirements. This isn’t about mistrust, it’s about reinforcing shared responsibility in a regulated healthcare environment.
Aligning on safety, conduct, and clinic standards
Every clinic operates a little differently.
A short agreement can confirm that the temp agrees to follow clinic-specific infection control protocols, safety procedures, PPE expectations, and professional conduct standards, including communication with patients and staff.
These expectations are often assumed, but assumptions are where friction begins.
The challenge isn’t the agreement, it’s the admin
Most clinics already know what they’d want to include in a temp agreement.
The real challenge is collecting signatures without printing paperwork, emailing PDFs, or chasing temps for forms. That administrative overhead is what often prevents clinics from putting agreements in place at all.
How Fairly’s Temp Onboarding Portal with e-Signing helps
Fairly’s Temp Onboarding Portal with e-Signing is designed to make this effortless.
Clinics can upload one or more documents once and require every temp to review and e-sign them before they check in for their shift. There’s no extra work for clinic staff, no reminders to send and no signatures to chase. Set the document up one time for signature, and all future temps will sign it.
Signed documents are automatically collected, emailed to both the clinic and the temp, and stored securely in one place, so clinics get clear documentation without adding any work for their team.
Final thought
The best temp shifts feel easy not because nothing could go wrong, but because expectations were clear from the start.
A short, focused agreement signed in advance creates that foundation. Fairly’s Temp Onboarding Portal with e-Signing makes it automatic, so clinics can focus on patients, not paperwork.
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