Temporary work arrangements have become increasingly popular, leading to inherently less security for workers compared to permanent contracts. Using Structural Equation Modelling on a sample of 1,698 employees, representative of the overall employee population in the Czech Republic, we show that temporary workers show lower overall quality of working life than their peers with permanent contracts, and that the pathway of effect is both direct and indirect, mediated through worse perception of one’s job. At the same time, the perception of support from managers and organisation appears unaffected by the type of contract, suggesting an equivalent treatment of workers by organisations. The results highlight the need to provide adequate support to temporary workers during the ongoing shift towards more prevalent temporary employment in order to maintain or improve satisfactory quality of working life levels in the organisation and the broader society.