Agency nurses are a much-needed section of the nurse workforce in the NHS, as employers continue to struggle with nurse recruitment and retention. Yet agency working as a career choice can carry stigma, with unfair perceptions about inflated pay and even laziness. Negative ward culture can set up an agency nurse to fail by denying them access to information that would help them do the job in an unfamiliar environment. Conversely, positive teams that value their agency nurses will benefit from their knowledge and bring out the best in them.