4 benefits of an integrated workforce

1. enables better talent management

We’ve noticed that companies with an integrated workforce tend to hire permanent staff to manage day-to-day operations and employ contractors and freelancers to handle seasonal work or one-off projects. Professional contractors are either hired for their niche expertise or to manage anticipated workload.

For example, companies usually hire financial planners before the start of the financial year, but won’t need to keep them as an additional headcount throughout the year. Therefore, it makes sense to hire them on a fixed-term contract basis. Within Human Resources, performance evaluation tasks might also be outsourced, as employees tend to be more honest and outspoken when they speak with an independent party during 360 reviews.

Technology jobs are particularly well-suited for contractors or freelancers as there are often one-off projects. For example, banks might want to deploy a chatbot to automate customer requests. Companies would only need an expert to help them set up the technology by a certain deadline, after which the skills will no longer be required to maintain the system. In this case, hiring a contract worker makes the most sense.

All this shows that having a contract employee or freelancer enables companies to be more flexible when it comes to managing their workforce needs, lifting the pressure on permanent headcount budgets.

2. better access to talent

We’ve found that companies that hire talent on contract basis can speed up their search process for filling permanent positions. When companies hire contractors and freelancers on a regular basis, they are inherently building up their talent pool. Essentially, they can tap on this same talent pool to fill any skills gap that are currently lacking in their workforce.

One of the most common scenarios is that you may be satisfied with the work from a contractor, but do not have a permanent role for them in the organisation just yet. However, should a permanent position come up a few months later, you know just who to call. You can then skip the search and interview process and hire the contractor you had previously worked with, significantly reducing the time to fill the role.

3. access to variety of perspectives and skills

We’ve also observed that many contractors and freelancers can bring a wide variety of skills, perspectives and work experience to the companies they work for. If the talent pool is very small and the workforce lacks the necessary skills, we’d always suggest hiring contractors for fixed-term contracts or projects because they can provide those niche skills.

Contractors can transfer knowledge and share the capabilities that they’ve developed via their work experience in other jobs with your workforce. We’ve also observed that one of the most valuable contributions a contract worker can bring to the hiring company is their fresh perspective.

Permanent staff, especially those who’ve been with the company for a long time, can be set in traditional ways of working and develop tunnel vision. Contractors can come in and shake things up with their new ideas and approach. For a company to remain competitive, they often need someone who can bring an outside-in approach to uncover existing gaps and troubleshoot from there.

4. creates positive competition in the workplace

We also encourage companies to employ contractors and freelancers as the arrival of new, highly skilled workers could drive positive competition in your workplace.

In an environment where workers’ skills will determine their employability, new contractors not only enable knowledge transfer, they can further motivate your permanent staff to be proactive in improving their skills and work performance.

how will an integrated workforce affect your business?

1. encourage and accelerate innovation

Hiring highly-skilled and experienced contracting professionals can create a competitive environment in your workplace and compel your employees to step up to be creative and come up with more new ideas.

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