The rise and benefits of a flexible workforce

• Pink News

Since the foundation of our organisation in 1980, we have experienced a demand from our customers for temporary IT resources. While we are still providing quality IT personnel to fulfil contract positions, the market drivers creating this demand have changed. In the past, temporary employees were only used as short-term replacements when employees called in sick or went on vacation. However in recent years, skills shortage and economic uncertainty have changed the way we utilise contingent staff. Today’s companies desire a more elastic workforce, one that enables them to hire contingent or on-demand resources for specific projects rather than hire and on board full time employees.

More and more organisations recognise the advantages of a flexible workforce and are already exploring ways to incorporate contingent workers into their HR strategies. Conversations with these organisations have provided us with an insight of the impact of contingent workers on organisations and the advantages these organisations experience:

• Cost flexibility: organisations can realise cost savings from adjusting staff sizes up and down based on business requirements, so labour efficiency is high in a flexible staffing environment. Furthermore, they can also control the wages paid for particular tasks by using contingent workers on a project basis.
• Speed and agility: resourcing needs can change from day to day. Embracing a contingent strategy enables a company to access the right resources to meet specific skill or competitive challenges quickly, without incurring longer-term costs or disrupting the organisation.
• Innovation: contingent workers bring new knowledge, unique experiences and fresh thinking based on experiences outside of the company or even the industry. If contingent workers’ roles involve moving across the organisation, they can also share best practices across organisational boundaries more easily than internal employees.

With the economy continuing to stagnate, businesses will remain cautious, which is why we are seeing an increase in the longer-term demand for flexible staff. In order to fulfil this demand, Pink Elephant depends on ‘the power of its network’. As we have been in the industry for over 35 years, we have established a diverse pool of Pink Associate’s: independent IT professionals trained by Pink Elephant who have committed themselves to us and participate in our projects.

Wondering how we can help you with your resourcing challenges? Please contact us on +44 (0)118 324 0620 or info@pinkelephant.co.uk.