The hiring of talent for a short-term assignment is called contractual staffing or temporary staffing. Contractual Staffing, although quite prevalent in some occupations today, has been observed to hold a great potential for enormous growth in the coming years.
Outsourcing firms are the points of contact that provide temporary staff to organizations. The contractual workforce is screened, recruited and trained by the outsourcing agency, and is then assigned to client organizations while being compensated through the payroll of the temporary employment company itself.
Advantages of Outsourcing to Temporary Workforce
- Temporary recruitments are ideal for reducing the liability of the organisation. This is because temporary projects or contracts do not usually include all the perks that the company provides to its permanent staff.
- Since temporary employees are not part of the organisation’s permanent staff, they are quite immune from office politics or management issues.
- Hiring contractual personnel is useful for companies to fill their short-term staffing requirements at lower costs.
- Recruitment procedures for temporary employees are easier, and it frees up permanent resources for critical core business-related activities.
- When the attrition in an organisation is high and backfilling is becoming increasingly difficult, they rely on temporary staffing for upgrading employee strength.
- Employing freelancers is a great option when a company is in need of entry level staff.
- Multiple organisations only look to retain trained or skilled resources on their payroll. They prefer engaging contractual workers for low-impact activities.
- When a business acquires work on a seasonal basis, they would also require staff accordingly. These organizations benefit largely through employing temporary manpower.
- Contractual employment increases the flexibility of the organisation. Companies can look to reduce or increase their strength according to business requirements if they have the safety net of a contractual workforce intact.
- Employing contractual workers with a chance of renewal on good performance is a great motivating factor for these employees. This ensures satisfactory conduct during their tenure, which greatly benefits the organisation.
Types of Temporary Hiring
- Functional Outsourcing–This includes outsourcing of activities like management of company accounts to an external agency, Tele calling to a BPO, etc.
- Project Outsourcing –This type of outsourcing is more common in IT, infrastructure development projects and large real estate firms.
- Need-based Outsourcing – This includes employment of personnel like security guards, housekeeping, PSOs, etc.
- Offshore Outsourcing–This implies having outsourced business activities or operations done in another country. With the emergence of the internet and globalisation, this type of outsourcing is a clever business strategy to gain a foothold in new markets.
The Other Side of the Coin
Hiring contractual workers is like a double-edged sword, and needs to be handled very carefully.
- While some temporary employees may give their best performance, others may put up an unsatisfactory conduct, marked by a casual attitude, because they are not permanent employees of the organisation.
- Some temporary workers may lack self-motivation and need to be pushed to better their morale and performance.
- Cultural adjustment, learning and growth of contractual workers in the organisation are another major hurdle that needs to be handled prudently.
- In India, attainment of contractual employees may be a challenging task, considering the overall mindset that is skewed towards security in the job. Fewer skilled personnel would be willing to experiment with newer companies and explore varied options available to them in the job market.
- Short-term employment opportunities are not ideal for projects of critical importance. Building a relationship with the client, imparting confidential information to employees and bonding between team members becomes increasingly difficult with a contractual workforce.
It is understood that different companies rely on outsourcing for varied reasons. Although there are certain things to be aware of when embarking on contractual employment, the concept of temporary staffing is here to stay.
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References
https://www.peoplematters.in/article/staffing-recruitment/why-temporary-staffing-here-stay-12891
http://www.newgensoft.com/company/media-coverage/contract-workers-the-pros-and-cons/
https://www.mivirtual.com.au/temporary-work/
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/blogs-and-comment/temps-are-here-to-stay/
https://www.allegisglobalsolutions.com/blog/2014/september/the-contingent-workforce-is-here-to-stay
https://www.techopedia.com/definition/14497/offshore-outsourcing
