UK 
United States
It’s no secret that the composition of the traditional workplace has changed.
Not so long ago, almost the entire workforce were permanent, full-time employees. ‘Work’ used to mean 40-hour weeks, nine to five, Monday to Friday, in the office. Businesses did hire contractors, freelancers and temps – but only reluctantly, to plug an urgent gap.
Today, ‘work’ is a much broader term. The workforce is firmly ‘non-traditional’; a melting pot of permanent employees alongside contractors, freelancers and gig workers.
But there’s a big problem:
Most businesses haven’t yet adapted their recruitment and HR policies to cope.
That matters because it means you’re not harnessing your non-traditional workforce effectively or cost-efficiently. Specialist non-traditional employees can add heaps of value – but only if you handle them the right way.
That’s even more true at the moment, as April’s planned IR35 extension throws these issues into sharp relief. Navigating the non-traditional workforce with confidence (and compliance) has never been more important.
By the numbers: here’s the story
There are 4.8 million self-employed people working in the UK, IPSE report. And the highly skilled freelancer sector has grown by 46% since 2008.
Meanwhile, PwC say 46% of HR professionals expect at least 20% of their workforce to be contractors or temporary workers by 2022. And 20% of people believe traditional employment won’t exist at all in the future. (Bold claim, that.)
That’s a monumental change for businesses, recruiters and HR professionals to navigate. And we’re not doing a great job so far.
Deloitte find, for example, that only 17% of UK businesses have policies and strategies in place for the use of non-traditional workers. Only 66% of HR teams onboard non-traditional workers, and only 49% offer training to these employees. A third don’t assess or manage these workers’ performance.
How do you define your contractors,
freelancers, locum staff?
Next steps
Businesses need to rewrite their approach, to maximise the benefits of the non-traditional workforce while avoiding the risks and costs.
Here are three actions you can take right now to navigate the non-traditional workforce more effectively.
Review and classify your current workforce
Use specialist tools to recruit and manage non-traditional workers
Focus on integrating traditional and non-traditional workers
Don’t just cope. Thrive
Nobody can afford to bury their head in the sand about the changed workforce.
Non-traditional workers are becoming integral to business growth, bringing capabilities companies struggle to find traditionally, combined with the flexibility that underpins true business agility.
Learning not just to cope but to maximise the value of this non-traditional workforce will become the major predictor of business success.
