Businesses must better manage contractual workers to avoid high staff turnover rates, increased labour costs and lost productivity.
With greater visibility across an organisation, James Kissell, marketing director at WFS: A WorkForce Software Company, believes it’s easier to recognise the real value of non-permanent staff, and thereby streamline management processes and recruitment requirements.
“Using temporary or contractual workers gives employers a high degree of flexibility for ramping up or down as changes occur,” Kissell adds.
“They are, however, often overlooked and poorly managed. This can significantly inflate overtime and labour costs if not carefully monitored.”
Going forward, Kissell offers three reasons workforce technology can help businesses reap the benefits of having a contractual workforce:
Employers can respond to needs more quickly:
When employees are on leave or demand increases unexpectedly, employers need to make quick, informed decisions.
Technology can quickly help businesses know when a decision needs to be made.
According to a 2013 survey of HR and procurement professionals, conducted by the Human Capital Institute, the flexibility to respond to sudden shifts in demand was identified as a top reason why organisations use contractors.
Helps make informed hiring decisions:
Real-time visibility into your total workforce makes it easier to evaluate the cost and productivity of contractual workers, aiding nimble staffing decisions.
Helps identify and deploy new best practices:
A flexible, configurable workforce management solution allows you to monitor, compare and assess data generated by your total workforce, accelerating the discovery of new best practices and ensuring that those practices can be rapidly adopted across the organisation.
“Contractors are different to the rest of the workforce,” Kissell adds. “Their hours are varied and they often have separate pay rates.
“For these reasons, it is vital organisations carefully manage contractors and monitor their time. Technology can provide businesses with a consolidated view of all their workers. This visibility is invaluable to save money and boost productivity.”