A few months ago, we wrote a blog on how we thought a flexible workforce, including temporary and contract workers, would be an essential tool in getting Britain back to work and helping companies grow again. The pandemic has hit a lot of companies hard, and now we are facing rebuilding confidence and getting back to the business of positive growth!
Flexible Workforce Essential for Growth
Temporary and contract workers are essential for business expansion. They allow companies to create new jobs with less risk. Businesses can push forward with projects when they might otherwise have held back due to lack of resource and fear of increasing headcount in these uncertain times. Conversely, the newly appointed temporary or contract worker is back in a position, earning money and being part of the exciting stage of business growth again. If it all works out the temporary job could turn into a full-time job, and the business and employee go from strength to strength, a win-win for all!
Statistics and Quotes From REC
According to the REC's latest report, hiring intentions for agency workers in the last quarter reached a net +6, the highest since October to December 2019. It seems businesses over the next quarter are more likely to look at a flexible workforce using temporary and contract workers than permanent staff. This is the first time it has happened since the May to July quarter of 2018. A trend we seem to be seeing ourselves, and it does make logical sense.
Chief Executive of the REC, Neil Carberry, said "A flexible jobs market has always been one of the UK's great economic assets – keeping employment high in the good times and ensuring people have more options when times are tough. Today's data shows that as lockdown eases and the economy recovers, businesses will use temporary work to start to build back. That makes sense and matches the pattern of previous recoveries. While the path ahead is still uncertain, temporary work helps firms create jobs sooner, and helps people who need new jobs get back to earning quickly."
Employers' intentions to hire over the next 12 months are also high, at net +13. This all lends strength to our prediction that a healthy, flexible workforce will be the key ingredient to a robust economic recovery. We have also seen these trends in our business and predict a substantial demand for short to medium-term access to skilled workers, some eventually leading to more permanent roles.
A Future Vision of a Temporary Workforce
Over five years ago our director, Annejulie Sambrooks was laying the foundations for how we should evolve our temporary workforce service. She had the future vision of it being a critical service. Fast-paced development within technology-driven business was heading our way, and it would need a different way of working. There was a real need to harness a multi-skilled workforce that chose to pursue a flexible but exciting career. She wanted to take the temporary workforce from being looked upon as a second option for both employers and employees, to a first-choice opportunity to grow business. We call it the 'Flexible Workforce', not just temps jobs for a quick fix but skilled temporary workers, together with highly talented contract workers, forging the backbone for future business development. She had the vision back then, and she was also positive that when Brexit struck, this would play a key role in helping companies make sense of a shifting business environment. Who would have guessed at that stage there would be a need for it in a post-pandemic business revival too!
Temporary, Contract and Freelance Workers
Thirty-nine per cent of people in the UK have at some time been a temporary, contract or freelance worker, and the majority do this by choice. Thirty-six per cent chose this to find work quickly, while twenty-eight per cent used temporary work to earn fast money. Temporary work is also used as a career progression tool into permanent positions. Sixty-eight per cent of temporary workers progressed to permanent roles. So we can see from the figures this plays a vital role in our economic success. As Neil Carberry said "A flexible jobs market has always been one of the UK's great economic assets." and we feel this way too.
A New Solution For Our Times
Hot on the back of the need for a more flexible approach to working, we created a flexible workforce solution called 'Prestige Remote 360'. Prestige Remote 360 is a complete and secure remote workforce solution. It is designed for businesses that need to move forward with employees but are having problems with office-based work solutions. We combine handpicked highly talented, flexible workers that are incredibly adept at home working, with the security of a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner. We are making it really simple to integrate talented people at all levels into business at any time, seamlessly and safely. Taking a flexible workforce solution and bringing it right up to date for the circumstances that we are now living in, a flexible workforce that is talented, agile and can work from any location. We feel 'Remote 360' is the natural conclusion of a skilled, flexible technology-driven workforce that can help companies get back to prosperity, helping with the future ebb and flow of modern business progression and success.
Conclusion
We have always been all-in on a modern, flexible workforce, positive that it would help in many different economic cycles. We did not see this one coming, but we know a flexible workforce can help the period we are now in too. It seems we now have empirical evidence that businesses are turning to a flexible workforce to grow. We would say to companies to embrace this talented resource as it is a frictionless way to rebuild again. This will help you forge forward, getting your business and the economy back to where it should be once again!
Have a look at 'Prestige Remote 360' and see if this can be of any help for your business. Feel free to contact us at any time on 01925 419 900 or on the contact forms below.