If you are an employer, you’re probably facing difficult decisions when it comes to hiring staff. Do you hire full-time or part-time workers? Can you afford to have so many workers on the payroll? It seems that the dominant trend is to rely more on the contingent workforce, i.e. temporary workers or contractors, hired to work on specific projects and tasks. It makes perfect sense, with payroll taxes, benefit costs, and other issues proving to be too great a problem for many companies, especially those that have been affected greatly by the current pandemic.
Also, the fact that technology has changed the way we work and that we have people all over the world working for companies far away from their place of residence is now a common occurrence. Also, contingent workers are crucial to making companies more flexible, which is what every company wishes to be. The fact that employers can bring staff for a limited time and at the exact moment when they need help is a great bonus to those running companies.
What is a contingent workforce?
Unlike traditional employees, contingent workers work under a contract, i.e. temporarily. Whether they are retained and for how long depends on many factors, primarily on whether there is such a need. For example, if a company has a specific task that needs to be done now, but which might not be needed in the future, it doesn’t want to have employees on the payroll and not be able to use them all year round. Instead, companies choose to hire people who get the job done, receive financial compensation for it and move onto their next job (which might be at the same company, as well). This is something that benefits both the contingent worker and the employer. While the benefits to the employer are more than clear, what about those to the employee? A contingent worker may work for many different companies, even leaders in their respective fields, in a relatively short period of time, and thus gain excellent knowledge and references and that’s just one of the benefits.
Possible problems and solutions
Needless to say, not everything is perfect when it comes to hiring contingent staff. To begin with, the difference between a contingent workforce and a traditional one isn’t always clear and laws often vary in each state and even city, which is why you need to ensure that you’re in compliance with all applicable laws. If you’re not absolutely sure you’re in compliance with the law, the best idea is to hire a legal expert to help you avoid any problems that would jeopardize the future of your company.
Next, there is a problem related to finding the right contingent workers. It is time-consuming to recruit qualified staff interested in your offer, introduce them to the company, and manage all the administration related to their hiring. However, that problem can be solved by turning to experts in providing efficient global contractor workforce solutions. What they do is make sure there is a streamlined approach to contingent workforce management and clean accountability when it comes to contingent workers’ contracts. This investment actually allows companies to free up resources and focus on developing the business.
The benefits of hiring a contingent workforce
It’s clear that the main reason why employers want to hire a contingent workforce is that it allows them to expand their labor force without dealing with additional costs, such as health insurance and other benefits. Next, the flexibility that is provided by a contingent workforce is something that is difficult to put a price on. Namely, a contingent workforce allows you to evaluate company needs at any given moment. If you have more staff for a short-term assignment or seasonally during the peak season, a contingent workforce can be of great help to your company. Finally, if both you and your contingent employees are satisfied with your co-operation, chances are you’ll both be more than willing to enter similar arrangements in the future. These and other reasons are impacting the current trends shaping the contingent workforce.
How does it work?
Contingent staffing requires business managers to be flexible, which is great since we don’t know what the future has in store and we should be as adaptable as possible to have a decent chance to develop. When managers and their companies can increase and decrease the number of people working for them depending on the current situation, it allows them to be much more flexible in terms of meeting the demands of the market. Also, they are able to work with a much wider range of employees, which means they have a better insight into the labor market. Ultimately, that means they can make more informed decisions when it comes to choosing the right staff for future projects.
Typically, a manager of a company which needs a contingent workforce posts available work onto the platform where they manage their contingent workers. Such posts normally stipulate the relevant times, dates, deadlines, financial compensation, and other elements necessary. Then, potential applicants reply to the post, and the ball is again in the employer’s court. The recruitment process begins, followed by an introduction to the company and clarification of any outstanding issues. When the workers complete the set tasks, they report back to the manager and receive the agreed financial compensation, as agreed. Such modus operandi also allows employees to work on several projects at the same time or fully commit to one task. In either case, they are in charge of managing their own workload. The benefit for the employer is that they only pay employees for the time they’ve invested in working on the project.
Conclusion
With more and more companies opting to utilize contingent workforce, it’s understandable that there are significant advantages. However, they can only be enjoyed if you are able to assess the needs of your company and the circumstances it is operating in properly. Also, you should know how to go about finding the right contingent workforce making employment arrangements that are in line with the applicable laws. Hopefully, this text will help you make a step in the right direction.