Contract staffing – previously known as temporary staffing – has been steadily on the rise in recent years, particularly in IT. In fact, according to a 2015 IT Indutry Outlook, 31 percent of IT employers plan to rely on contract employment in coming years. Clearly this option is working for a large number of IT companies, but can it solve your own workforce woes? Read on and decide for yourself.
Overcome a Skills Gap
A huge number of impressively qualified IT professionals has begun pursuing contract employment. If you are not finding the talent you need through your traditional recruitment strategy, it might be because you are overlooking a huge and varied candidate pool.
Institute Strategic Staffing
Recruiting is typically a reactive process. The goal of strategic staffing is to transform it into a proactive process. Companies know what staff they need before they need them, and then bring new talent on board exactly when their skills become necessary. The flexibility afforded by contract staffing makes instituting towards this ambitious way of operating much easier.
Lower Recruiting Costs
Finding full and part-time staff is a time-and labor-intensive process, and the training and onboarding necessary creates another expense. The focused nature of contract staffing makes it much faster, easier, and easier on your budget to find a qualified IT professional to fill a needed role.
Cut Staffing Costs
You may only need someone with a specific skill set to complete a single project, or to lend their expertise for a prescribed period of time. Bringing someone into your organization permanently exposes you to the significant cost of paying salary and benefits, and possibly unemployment too. Contract staff are present only for as long as they are necessary, slashing your staffing costs and helping you complete projects within budget.
Identify Top Talent
A number of companies are now pursuing contract-to-hire options. They bring someone into their organization for a limited period of time, and if both parties are happy at the end of that period, the contract employee is offered a more permanent position. This “try it before your buy it” strategy helps companies make confident hiring decisions, having seen firsthand that the chosen candidate has the hard and soft skills to make an impact. This also helps reduce turnover because candidates have a better sense of the office environment and day-to-day responsibilities when they accept or reject the position.
Contract staffing can be just one piece of your broader recruitment strategy. If you are ready to begin exploring the details of this agile workforce solution, contact the team at RennerBrown.
