Eighty percent of employers expect their non-employee workforce, which consists of consultants, independent contractors, temporary employees and project teams, to remain the same or increase in size over the next year, despite today's economy, finds the Annual Workforce Trends Study commissioned by Yoh.
Though this temporary workforce could present issues for employers, this new workforce enables free agency and could change how non-employees build their careers, as there is a greater emphasis on knowledge and skill, rather than seniority and security.
As the United States recovers from the recession, the focus on the non-employee workforce is different from past economic recoveries because employers traditionally add temporary workers before hiring full-time employees.
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"Historically, temporary employment has served as a bellwether for permanent hiring, but these findings suggest that something much more substantial is occurring to overall workforce composition," says Lori Schultz, president of Yoh. "Employers are saying that the recent recession has fundamentally changed their employment strategies and led to a 'just in time' hiring strategy that will make temporary employees an even greater pillar of the American economy."
Additionally, Yoh's Annual Workforce Trends Study also finds:
- Since September 2008, 88.5 percent of business leaders say their non-employee workforce size has leveled or increased.
- Major investments have been made to improve the management and effectiveness of its non-employee workforce, 63 percent of business leaders report. Increased employee engagement efforts, vendor consolidation, better employee communication, and temporary worker integration into the organization's teams have all been implemented.
- There is a considerable misalignment, the survey finds, between organizational and business priorities. Of the business leaders surveyed, more than 70 percent of business leaders cited cost as the main concern with non-employee use, which, Yoh says, minimizes the quality, value, impact, and integration of the temporary workforce, while accountability, independent contractor compliance and co-employment risk are listed as the three lowest priorities.
"It is not uncommon to rely on temporary talent during difficult economic times," says Adam Lawrence, head of global sourcing at SAP. "However, this economic cycle has resulted in a more dramatic and permanent increase in contracted labor. I do not see the current levels of temporary talent decreasing in the near future."
The new workforce makeup will also largely affect employers and employees, as employers can now quickly adjust the workforce size based on the project load. Temporary employees may be involved in projects for longer, which opens them to jobs that were earlier filled by full-time employees.
"Working on a contracted basis has given me diverse opportunities that I would not have been exposed to otherwise," says Cecilio Rodriguez, a seasoned contract employee. "Lately, I've noticed an increased level of attention from employers toward their temporary staff, and it appears as though temporary employment is not as taboo as it once was."
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