Glossary
Fixed-term employment (FTE)
A direct, time-bound contract under the Industrial Relations Code, with the same pay, benefits and protections as a permanent employee — including 1-year gratuity vesting.
Fixed-term employees are hired directly, for a defined period. The IR Code requires parity with permanent employees doing comparable work — same wages, hours, leave and statutory benefits, without needing a contractor layer.
The standout change is gratuity: FTE workers vest after one year of service, pro-rata, rather than the standard five-year threshold for permanent staff.
Why it matters now: FTE is now a compliant way to staff genuinely temporary roles without disguising them as contract labour. The shortened gratuity vesting changes the cost comparison against permanent hiring.