The contingent workforce has grown massively in recent years, and contingent workers now comprise an increasing percentage of the average company’s total workforce. These workers, which are made up of freelancers, consultants and contractors, are highly beneficial for companies across all industries.

They can help your organization address a shortage in skilled workers, improve your workforce flexibility, help you scale for specific demand or projects, improve the speed and cost-effectiveness of your hiring decisions, allow you to assess your business needs on an ongoing basis, as well as many other benefits.

However, for businesses both familiar and unfamiliar with the benefits that on-demand staff can bring, there are still a wide number of misconceptions that hold them back from either hiring contingent workers are managing them successfully.

If you are looking to improve efficiencies, cost-effectiveness and a high number of other benefits that the contingent workforce can help your company realize, HCMWorks has debunked four common myths that might be holding your organization’s contingent workforce back.

1 - The contingent workforce is just a trend

There are a few companies that are refusing to engage the contingent workforce since they believe it’s “just a trend” - yet this couldn’t be further from the case. In fact, there’s a wide range of studies that point out the exact opposite.

A 2018 study from Deloitte, for example, found that only 42 percent of survey respondents said that their organizations are primarily made up of salaried employees - with employers expecting to “dramatically increase” their dependence on contract, freelance and gig workers over the next few years.

Deloitte’s 2018 Global Human Capital Trends survey found that 37 percent of survey respondents expected growth in the use of contractors, 33 percent in the use of freelancers, and 28 percent in the use of gig workers.

Multiple other reports also help confirm the contingent workforce is only growing. While the exact figure varies between studies, it’s believed that the contingent workforce will make up anywhere between 30-40 percent of the entire US workforce by next year (2020).

2 - Contingent workers are a short-term solution

Many organizations see the contingent workforce as a short-term solution, but this really isn’t the case. In fact, the contingent workforce is an incredible way of meeting the long-term needs of your business while ensuring that you’re not overstaffing or hiring the wrong workers.

Creating long-lasting relationships with contingent workers will ensure your business has the flexibility to bring in workers when and where you need them. This could include short-term work or even long-term projects that last a year or more.

The contingent workforce will even allow your business to hire temporary workers with an eye to full-time employment. This will give you the time to test out the fit of a consultant and ensure that they are the right fit for your company.

3 - Procurement is responsible for the entire management of contingent workers

As we covered in a recent blog, titled ‘Who is Responsible for the Contingent Workforce: HR or Procurement’, the large majority of businesses have no unified approach of how to manage, engage and optimize the contingent workforce.

Is it procurement, HR or is it an entirely new department that should look after the management of contingent workers? No matter what your organization decides, everyone in your company should be working under a unified approach in which procurement and HR collaborate and give expertise to your contingent workforce management strategy.

This will allow your business to ensure it has visibility and control over its contingent workforce, meaning greater efficiencies, improved cost savings, better hiring decisions and a host of other benefits.

4 - Hiring and managing contingent workers is just too complex for my organization

To some extent, this is true. Creating and managing a successful contingent workforce management strategy is incredibly complex. In fact, it’s incredibly unlikely that your organization has either the resources or expertise to do so - no matter how large your company is.

That’s why any company with a successful contingent workforce management strategy is likely to have outsourced this part of their business to a managed services provider (MSP) that specializes in the contingent workforce.

An outsourced MSP will ensure your overall contingent workforce management strategy is effective, saves your company money, helps you acquire the top talent in your industry and avoids compliance issues.

Want to learn more about how HCMWorks can implement a contingent workforce management strategy that will help your company reach new heights? Contact our team of experts today for more information.