Contractors are the “new normal”, enabling client organisations to “manage costs while continuing to maintain productivity”. So says the Association of Professional Staffing Organisations (APSCo) in its new publication, The APSCO Guide to the Flexible Workforce – your route to corporate agility.
The guide contains a collection of themed articles focusing on the benefits of contractors and other flexible knowledge workers, providing insights into the value contractors bring to the UK economy. Guidance is also provided on what clients and recruiters need to consider when engaging a contractor.
According to APSCo CEO Ann Swain, client organisations increasingly depend on contractors for much more than simply ‘gap management’: “Historically, many organisations may have thought of temporary and contract workers as people who were used to hold the fort during an absence.
“The reality is that the professional flexible workforce is now ‘the new normal’, which can provide employers with a candidate who has had exposure to a wide range of management styles and business practices.”
Alium Partners CEO Mike Hollin agrees, suggesting that, in the case of interim management contractors, they “are now being seen less as crisis managers or trouble-shooters and more as an elite group of solutions providers”.
However, the appreciation of what contractors can contribute to an organisation is still poorly understood, as academic Patricia Leighton notes in her article, The Future is Freelance. “We…note the lack of awareness on the part of governments and others about the vital role Ipros [independent professionals] play in economies.”
PCG’s head of public affairs Simon McVicker identifies in his contribution the value contractors can offer to organisations with limited resources: “Buying in…high-level resource on a short-term basis provides access to a new level of expertise for businesses that may not have the means to invest in it on a permanent basis.”
APSCo’s guide also provides practical advice on how to navigate the legislative and regulatory landscape when hiring a contractor.
Although aimed at end-user clients, contractors will find the contributions by Baker Tilly’s Chris Gore and Martin Benson and Ernst & Young’s Rob Woodward and John Chaplin useful for when they are engaging with a client unused to hiring workers under the contracting model.
The complete guide is free to download from the APSCo website.