Many business leaders are surprised that today’s temporary workforce represents almost 2% of the total US workforce. To achieve those kind of numbers, today’s temps are much more than the secretary and switchboard operators or a staffing company helping you cover for your employees’ vacations. This was so, well, yesterday! Today’s temporary workers span just about all skill sets and certainly cover all levels of a typical organizational chart in any size business.
Did you know that contract CFO’s, freelance lawyers, engineer consultants, sales contractors and temporary Allied Health professionals are common members of today’s contingent workforce? We didn’t think so. But some of the fast growing segments of temporary jobs are in the professional, technical and managerial ranks.
- Hospitals use allied health staff to plug scheduling gaps.
- Schools use temporary teachers.
- Large companies deploy temporary sales forces at the launch of a new service or product line.
- You name it, there’s finance staffing for executives, marketing staffing for managers and IT staffing for technology projects.
Temporaries are everywhere, and in every role all around you.
I guess this comes as no surprise, but employees no longer work for just one or two employers in their lifetime like our grandfathers may have. Today’s reality is that we work for many employers and our careers are more portable and are more self-directed than ever before. In order to handle the pace and volume of change, employers often use temporary staffing as a business strategy to get the work done.
Companies can look at their workforce plan in many ways. Do I staff for our peak levels or average workload? Do I use contractors for short term projects? Do I create a long term position for a one time/unique skill set or should I bring in a temporary?
For more information on workforce planning and strategic ways to think about temporary staffing, connect with the workforce consultants at Placers.