World – Businesses converting more permanent positions into contingent roles

By memberservices@staffingindustry.com (Danny Romero)

More than half of businesses around the world expect to transfer one-third of their permanent positions to contingent roles in the near future, according to the Q4 Talent Trends report by Randstad Sourceright.

The survey, which polled more than 700 global human capital leaders, found that 61% of employers plan to replace up to 30% of their permanent positions with freelancers, gig workers and independent contractors to become more agile and flexible in the changing economy.

Furthermore, approximately 40% of employers surveyed expect they will be able to reduce the impact of talent scarcity by having an integrated hiring strategy.

“Companies are increasingly embracing gig workers, and even robots, in their overall workforce to address the increasingly tight labor market in the US and around the world,” Rebecca Henderson, CEO of Randstad Sourceright, said. “While in the last decade contingent workers have been viewed very differently as compared to full time positions, today’s companies are welcoming the opportunity to employ a more agile workforce, particularly as a greater number of gig workers embrace flexible work practices as well.”

Meanwhile, Randstad Sourceright’s data also showed that nearly 70% of employers surveyed believe the skills gap is widening and will create significant challenges in the near future, which is why a vast majority of companies agree that all available resources should be considered to combat recruitment challenges.

According to the report, companies are investing more in training programs to meet the growing demand for talent. Half of employers (50%) said they have increased budgets for reskilling programs in 2017, and 52% say they are investing in training and development technologies at moderate or significant levels.

The report pointed to research from the World Economic Forum that showed workers in India are not receiving the technical and vocational training needed to prepare them for a changing economy. In the EU, the report pointed to research from the European Commission which showed that by 2020, there will be more than 750,000 job vacancies in the ICT sector.

“HR departments have quickly realised they can no longer stick to business as usual if they hope to hire top talent in the 21st century,” James Stovall, Randstad Sourceright’s Senior Vice President of solution design, said. “By implementing an integrated talent approach, where permanent, contingent, independent and machine labor are engaged strategically, companies can improve their workforce agility by having access to the right talent at the right time.”

Source:: World – Businesses converting more permanent positions into contingent roles