7 Reasons to Hire on Contract for Supply Chain!

There’s more to short-term contracts than covering someone’s maternity leave: there are very good reasons to employ contingent labour – for you and the contractor alike! Sam White from Argentus unpacks the strategies behind Contingent Staffing.

Economists have done a lot of analysis on the rise of the so-called “gig economy.” More workers are using short-term contracts and other forms of employment to provide additional income to supplement or replace permanent jobs – think Uber, DoorDash, etc.

But more and more companies in a variety of industries are also bringing on high-skilled contingent labour for white collar positions in a number of impactful business functions like Technology, Procurement and Supply Chain. 

These roles typically have similar compensation to permanent employment, with the exception that they’re on a fixed term (typically three, six, twelve, or eighteen months). Working more independently and “hitting the ground running” faster than perm employees, these workers work in consultative fashion to expand Supply Chain and Procurement capability for their clients, and then move on to the next contract.

For many of the top performers, contract work is no longer a stop-gap to permanent employment – it’s an opportunity to work in a variety of industries and projects, and broaden their experience.

So what situations are these companies using contingent staff for?

There are a variety of business cases that corporate leaders are making for contingent staffing, recognising it as a strategic and cost-effective tool in their hiring arsenal. 

We put together this infographic to show some of these use cases. It places a special focus on our recruitment specialities of Procurement and Supply Chain, where our clients have increasing needs.

We start from the less strategic, more common reasons for hiring contingent staff, and move into the strategies that the most innovative business leaders around are adopting today.

This article has been republished here with kind permission from Sam White at Argentus. What’s been your experience with contracting and the gig economy, as a worker or in hiring staff? Let us know in the comments below.