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Recruiting and Hiring Advice Search Resource Center: Search Recruiting and Hiring Advice > Workforce Planning > Staffing 2014: Next Years Hiring Supermodels Staffing 2014: Next Years Hiring Supermodels
Staffing Trends
By: John Rossheim
What staffing trends are likely to define the year ahead? A quick look back provides some clues.
Riding four years of economic progress, however halting, the staffing industry heads into 2014 with prospects of growth in profitable niches.
And what staffing trends are likely to lead the way? Staffing firms that provide just-in-time labor -- at an unprecedented level of service. More than ever, the key for providers of contingent workers is to carefully match the staffing model (or models) to the client.
"Temporary employment is near a historic high in terms of penetration of the labor market," says Sandy Mazur, division president of franchise and license at staffing firm Spherion Corp. in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Employment in temporary help services reached 2.7 million in July 2013, up by 170,000 from a year earlier and nearly a million higher than in 2009, according to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Here are some of the factors that are fueling this ongoing staffing trend:
Temporary is a permanent corporate strategy. Given the volatile labor force, the staffing industry will likely continue with the predominant keep-all-options-open management style of the 2010s.
"Weve moved into a mode where companies consistently use contingent workers to deal with ups and downs," says John Challenger, CEO of outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas in Chicago.
Client expectations rise as VMS and MSP models evolve. Given the integration of contingent staffing into the very structure of workforce planning and management, it's not surprising that clients are upping the ante for the VMS (vendor managed staffing) and MSP (managed service provider) models of contingent workforce procurement and management.
A 2012 report from Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) says: The very evolution and increasing sophistication of the contingent workforce management field
is separating the wheat from the chaff, particularly in the VMS market, as suppliers must meet higher standards and more complex requirements.
MSPs climb the labor-market ladder. MSPs billed for a greater number of support workers than professionals in 2011, because professionals are more highly paid. Yet two-thirds of the dollars in MSP billings were for professionals, according to the SIA report. That employers are charging MSPs with higher-skilled jobs bodes well for the profitability of this staffing model.
Clients like SOW for well-defined projects -- and costs. Statement-of-work contracting is rapidly increasing. The model: contingent workers pay is tied to projects completed rather than hours worked. Its popularity stems from its use as a means of shifting cost risks away from employers.
Companies are using statement-of-work contracts for greater opportunities for cost containment, says Mazur. SOW can do that, and I think well see more of it.
Specialized labor at commodity prices. Enterprising providers of contingent staffing are finding creative ways to source affordable labor with niche knowledge or specialized skills.
"We've got agents with diabetes to sell to diabetics," says John Meyer, CEO of Miramar, Fla.-based Arise Virtual Solutions. The company provides call-center services through its network of independent contractors who typically earning $12 to $14 an hour.
Arise is able to choose call-center representatives partially on the basis of their health status because, as long as they are deemed independent contractors, many anti-discrimination laws do not apply.
Tapping the market for instant labor. Technology continues to shrink time-to-fill in the on-demand labor market.
"We can ramp up almost instantaneously by sending out an email blast to our agents," says Meyer. Arise's contractors typically work 15 to 20 hours a week, and many are hungry for additional hours, he says.
Temp-to-perm: Agency or homegrown? "Contingent labor is now an audition ground," says Challenger. "Employers actually get to see them work, see what theyre about and how they fit in."
These temp-to-perm arrangements can be a profitable business for staffing firms, though smaller employers are also experimenting with homegrown temp-to-perm trial-employment arrangements.
Onshored contingents might be the new black. Many companies, faced with customers who have grown dissatisfied with a communications gap between themselves and offshore support workers, are turning to onshore contractors to staff up during their busy seasons.
"The lunch I want to eat is the offshore providers'," says Meyer. "Were 'Buy American' in the U.S., 'Buy UK' in the UK, and so on."
Some markets should be written off. Some companies have tried contingent workers and found them unable to align with the business and company culture as well as full-timers do.
"Theres a time and a place for contingent," says Christine Stack, director of talent acquisition at media agency MEC in New York City. "But we don't use contract workers anymore."
jsr
(7,712 posts)Disgusting.
mnhtnbb
(31,320 posts)from his 40 hour $12/hr job that lasted 3 months.
Now he has a Fulbright for 10 months in Germany. Has applied for US grad school 2014.
We're encouraging him to think about trying to stay in Germany.
antigop
(12,778 posts)SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)Gives YOU a great place to visit too... (and perhaps to retire to )
mnhtnbb
(31,320 posts)However, his SO is planning several trips--first in October where they'll meet in
Spain--possibly Rome/Turkey during winter break.
Retirement? I doubt it. We're already both collecting SS (hubby 70 and I'm 62)
pretty much connected to Chapel Hill.
SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)Kids need to think globally these days.. Especially while our health care issues are still unresolved here & the job market is sketchy.
A nice foreign place with good wages, decent lifestyle & benefits seems a good consideration for unencumbered young-folk
FirstLight
(13,352 posts)or paying rent, gas, food, etc...
yep, that's about all the work I can get these days too. Hoping beyond hope that finishing my BA next year will give me a 'career' to settle into and try to build something after all...though it seems I chose a dying profession, Journalism. (dammit)
phantom power
(25,966 posts)liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)BuelahWitch
(9,083 posts)They make people incorporate, then charge them for training on a job, which they may not even get. They really take advantage of the people who want to work at home.
http://www.findingworkathomejobs.com/Arise.html
cap
(7,170 posts)people can write tight contracts. Also, if someone is working for more than 1 year at a particular company and you are not paying payroll taxes, it is tax evasion.
A lot of companies are going to be bitten when they find that they can not renew a contract after a year. There are standards that a company must meet such as having the contractor having control over work and hours for them to qualify as a true contractor and not an employee.
The companies are relying on the fact that people will be hungry enough to put up with this and not wish to burn a bridge. However, people will get mad and start calling the IRS hotline.
People will get abused for a while and then everyone will wise up.
If there is going to be a lot of churn in the labor force, people will be able to blow off companies a lot easier.
robinlynne
(15,481 posts)hundreds of people ready to fill any slot. Nothing is guaranteed in this economy. Not even minimum wage.
TheMastersNemesis
(10,602 posts)I am glad to see someone besides me post about the condition of the labor market. The brutal truth is that this idea started under Reagan and was his plan when he spoke "code" saying he would create a service economy. This idea is more than 30 years old and there were articles on it in 1981 extensively explaining the "new business model" that was being evolved by corporations. It was about the end of full time jobs and the social contract.
The GOP has supported such an idea for over 30 years. Hence the attack on labor and labor unions and federal regulations. BTW the old law about independent contractors still applies. The problem is that the Labor Department has been gutted of its enforcement personnel. I will bet in red states that there is no effective labor law enforcement whatsoever. Agencies have been packed with right wing ideologues put in to gum up the works. Bush had 8 years to do it at the federal level. The reason so many federal agencies are having problems are the saboteurs who were put in place in mid management levels. I could see this practice at DOL.
A churning and desperate labor force is on that cannot organize. It cannot kick back. And with no longevity or job security fear and intimidation rule. Still working people in the country do not get it.
Look at Colorado Springs and Pueblo Colorado and the recalls. Both senators who lost were pro labor and pro labor regulation of business practices. They stood for unions and fair wages. The new Senators are teabaggers. And the one from C Spring wants to prosecute women who have miscarriages. He is a Christianazi wanting to replace the Constitution with a Bible based government.
And the recall was as much about RW extremism as it was about gun control. And this situation was a test case for the RW to recall anyone in a state that has recall laws. So no matter what state you are in if you are not a Christofascist pro NRA type you face the risk of recall or primary.
Ironically all these politicians do not believe in fair wages, labor laws, or collective bargaining.
KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)it is aimed at businesses and their HR departments, not at potential employees.
The standard of living in the US continues to decline. With little acknowledgement in the MSM, the average american gets by with less and less each year. Anecdotally, in 1984 I made $12 to $14 an hour as a line cook and could get as many hours as I wanted at that rate, so about $26K per year -- a new car was $6000, gas $1.21/gal, a year in college was about $3500,
According to the OP article, employers still want to pay $12 to $14 but a new car $20,0000, gasoline is $3.75 and a year in college is $12,000+. Someone making $26K today is making 66% less than someone who made $26K in the mid-1980s but we refuse as a nation to deal with these numbers. The MSM pimps the idea that we can "get back to normal" when in truth there is no going back.
RagAss
(13,832 posts)lark
(23,004 posts)My daughter just got offerred job teaching French in Brazil. Today she finds out her hours and pay. I doubt the pay will be worse than what she would get teaching in FL, but can't wait to find out. Teachers are being punished in FL, and her love is in Brazil, so we'll find out shortly how they treat professionals.
Taverner
(55,476 posts)toby jo
(1,269 posts)It gives opportunity to small/seasonal businesses that could not compete without it. How would a small business compete in a large bid situation if they could not hire temp help to fulfill their obligations? This dynamic keeps big businesses honest and gives the little guy a break.
How would seasonal businesses even operate without temp help?
They need to unionize. Just like we need to export unions along with all of our jobs that went south, we need to give these folks some bargaining power. The big guys come in and exploit laws protecting workers every time. With unions, these folks won't be so vulnerable.
Temp workers are providing a valuable service, and even big business, or especially big business, should recognize and culture a respect for that.
upaloopa
(11,417 posts)The trend is to not have businesses take any risk or responsibility for a work force at all.
All labor is to be supplied on a just in time basis by an agency or labor contractor.
The employees are to be on call with no certainty as to length of job or amount of pay. The more that is the work force model the more workers are pitted against each other for survival. There will be no organizing in that world.
It is the same as migrant workers in the 30's. Only now everyone will become a migrant worker,
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)But if you want families that send kids to school to learn more than they did, income enough to support a government that creates the things that we cannot do by ourselves, you aren't going to get it done with labor from Kelly or Manpower.
What built this country was long-term thinking, investment in people and insfrastructure. This trend is short term, profit taking thinking, and it will hurt us badly in the long run.
If one is a temp worker, however, especially in tech, their single best strategy is to work the hours they can, and spend the rest of their time learning on their own, with NO loyalty to any company, state, city, or neighborhood. Only themselves. Because any one of those other distractions will screw you over anytime it is convenient and or profitable for them without a second thought for you. If you aren't looking out for yourself and your family, trying every day to gain more skills so the boss-man on the plantation sees you as more valuable, then you will lose, like many if not most people are losing.
If one wanted to design a way to run a country into the ground, it would be hard to find a better one.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)Heywood J
(2,515 posts)with low wages, no benefits, and no job security. Been there, done that, have a T-shirt. Unionization won't do shit if they pick up the phone and replace you with someone else, or someone hired through a different staffing agency.
How did business ever operate before millions of people became temps?