30th January 2012

Contractors appear to be meeting business demands

The demands of businesses are likely to be met by contractor workers, recent research has suggested.

A paper compiled by ManpowerGroup entitled Increasing Demand for Better Skills Assessment and Match for Better Results explained how tight margins are changing the way employers think about their staff.

Coupled with growth in the emerging markets, the current economic climate means that businesses are demanding new and more specific skills and capabilities from their employees. This means that firms are tending to hire “just in time”, rather than keep a number of skilled employees around on standby.

These changes are particularly well-suited to contractors who are able to focus on a niche area and can be hired for a set term when needed. Indeed, a recent study from McKinsey found that around 60 per cent of companies questioned see temporary and contractor workers as the largest growing percentage of their workforce.

Manpower chairman Jeff Joerres commented: “Clients are telling us they need to be more flexible and agile to react to this environment. Manpower is seeing the global contingent workforce grow as a result.

“Companies are evolving their approach to manage their talent as carefully and strategically as they would any other scarce resource, flexing their workforce in response to demand and changes in their markets.”