Contingent workforce solutions can be any sort of outside, freelance, or independent contractor that a business hires on a temporary basis to support functions or projects the business cannot accomplish on its own. Workforce management services will often times recommend this route to companies that don’t have the revenue, time, space, or long-term work to support hiring full-time employees to do certain jobs that aren’t directly related to the business itself. They are used across and country and throughout virtually all types of businesses, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office 40.4% of the current workforce is made up of contingent workers and 66% of them work inn a full-time capacity. Here are three examples where contingent workforce solutions can be the answer.
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1.) Construction Projects: Perhaps one of the sectors most familiar with contingent labor management is construction and building jobs. Many times even construction companies will sub-contract different pieces of a larger project to smaller ones. The terms can vary, sometimes they work independently with their own company getting the job done as they see fit, other times they work directly under the direction of the larger company. Some long-time construction guys don’t even work for a company at all. Through years of establishing networks and connections they rely on getting hired out for these types of big projects.
2.) Mom and Pop Shops: Small businesses in general can benefit from using contingent workers because it allows them to get something done they otherwise probably couldn’t have much more cost-effectively than hiring more full-time employees. Many small shops can’t afford the overhead and associated costs. Let’s say a family-owned pizza shop wants to create a professional marketing campaign. They probably don’t have the means or long-term necessity to hire someone to do the job indefinitely, so instead they could find someone qualified to do the job and come up with some sort of contract with them. Once the job is complete and the individual is paid they can each go their separate ways.
3.) Newspaper and Journalism Outlets: Probably the most common area to find contingent workforce solutions is in the world of media. Especially in today’s day and age where news travels around the world in a matter of minutes newspapers and other outlets many times rely on local freelance writers to provide them content from the “front line” to their national source. Overall, 90% of firms utilize some type of freelance talent and that number is probably even higher when looking at solely media companies.
