A  casual employee is staff member employed on a shift-by-shift basis with the possibility to increase or decrease hours and shifts work depending on the needs of the business. Casual staff do not accrue annual or sick leave, and are generally paid at a higher hourly wage.

Some organizations particularly employee casual employees in order to complete certain projects or carry out a job for a period or months or weeks; it is a great advantage to have casual employees within an organization, because the employer will not have to consider cover annual leave expenses and employee benefits. Another advantage of employing a casual employee is that in some cases, or for certain projects, some casual employees are specialised in particular area.