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COVID-19 has had a profound effect on all aspects of our lives. Not only have there been serious implications for people’s health and wellbeing, there have also been deep and lasting effects on how we live our lives in general.
However, we have been able to make changes and overcome many of the challenges brought about by the COVID pandemic. We are still adapting, we are still changing, and step by step we are learning to cope with our ‘new normal’.
The same can be said in the world of business. Just as we have made major changes in our personal lives, businesses have had to navigate completely uncharted waters.
As the COVID crisis began to unfold towards the beginning of the year, business leaders scrambled to respond to the overwhelming disruptions to their businesses.
The focus was on the immediate impacts. How to address disruptions, how to realign strategy and mostly, how to protect the health and wellbeing of employees.
At Cpl we were able to assist many of our clients by providing contract/temp IT support specialists with the know-how to quickly and safely facilitate moving to remote working.
Fast forward a few months and many businesses have effectively responded to the crisis. Slowly, the focus is shifting from the ‘here and now’ to planning for what's next.
Against a backdrop of uncertainty in the market, many business leaders are facing tough decisions in terms of their short, medium and long-term recruitment strategies.
Fortunately, we have been able to assist many of our clients in recent months by introducing them to the benefits of engaging contract workers.
Could contract or temporary workers also provide a solution for your organisation’s recruitment needs? We have outlined some of the benefits below.
Why hire a contractor over a full-time employee?
Access to specialist skills within 24 hours
Traditionally, the hiring process for contract employees is a lot quicker than with permanent roles.
We work with a large pool of contractors across all tech verticals. Typically, we can have a selection of quality profiles with our clients for review within 24hrs. These are extremely experienced professionals who can make a real difference within days of joining an organisation.
For example, In the wake of COVID, we witnessed an enormous spike in demand for candidates with strong cybersecurity credentials. As the country quickly switched to remote working practices, many businesses were struggling to deal with new cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities.
Fortunately, for many of our clients, we were able to quickly provide the right skills, talents and experience to safely and securely implement the shift to remote working quickly.
Flexibility
As the market remains uncertain organisations are being forced to continually revisit their plans and strategies and need employees that can quickly adapt, evolve and remain fit-for-purpose. This is critical if companies want to stay afloat and ahead.
Contract employees can be hired on a short, medium or long-term basis. A detailed contract of service is put in place to protect both parties while retaining flexibility, putting both employer and employee at ease.
In a post-COVID world, whether you need to quickly scale up or reduce headcount, never has such increased flexibility been so critical.
Reduced financial risk and exposure
For many organisations trying to navigate the current crisis, it can be tricky to balance risk management against seizing new growth opportunities.
The defined nature of hiring contract employees allows for more accurate financial forecasting, as well as a reduction in financial exposure long term.
Contract employees can also be more cost-effective as companies can bypass many of the expenses involved with onboarding, the provision of benefits such as health insurance, training and development.
The ability to adapt quickly
The COVID crisis has rendered normal business territory as unrecognisable. In order to successfully navigate this new landscape, many organisations are embracing change – and perhaps adopting capabilities they wish they had invested in before.
Whether that means embracing the cloud, focusing on automation or adopting agile practices – an experienced pair of hands, tailored skills and a fresh perspective can be invaluable in times of flux and change.
Contract workers can effectively provide the niche skills and experiences required during these times quickly and effectively.
Organisations will always have permanent employees, and rightly so, as they serve an extremely important purpose within any given business.
However, business leaders are increasingly hiring a blended mix of full-time employees and contractors, often due to the benefits, we have just outlined.
The fact that these benefits can be amplified quite significantly during times of uncertainty means that we anticipate the demand for contract workers will only increase.