The year 2017 is here, and it’s promising a lot of changes for the modern workforce. As the economy changes, Companies are making changes to adapt. These changes include relying more on contingent workforces that are found through staffing agencies and focusing on their company branding.
Company Branding
Most companies have put a lot of thought into how their company looks to their customers, but it’s a relatively new idea to think about how a company looks to its employees. As the unemployment continues to drop, the quit rate among private-sector employees continues to rise. By July of 2016, the quit rate was at 2.1%, and there are plenty of reasons to believe it has continued to grow.
This means that there is a growing pool of In order to successfully recruit the candidates that are the best fit for your work environment, however, it only makes sense to be connected your employees’ and contractors’ network of contacts. Yet, only 57% of companies have an employer brand strategy.
The goal of growing an employer brand is to improve the Reputation of a company among potential recruits. Nearly 70% of professionals say they would not take a job with a company that has a poor reputation, even if they were currently unemployed. Yet, 84% of this group would consider leaving their current job for a position with a company with an excellent reputation. Improving a reputation can be a complicated process, however, that focuses on how a company is being represented by its current employees, clients, and contractors. The more these people are able to express positive things about working for and with your company, the more your company’s reputation will improve.
Contingent Workforces
The ultimate goal of improving your employer reputation is, of course, to attract the best talent. It’s becoming more common, however, for companies to want use a temporary pool of workers. In many cases, companies are discovering that they need a workforce that can respond to the demands of a diverse set of problems and situations. In many cases, this means that the best people for today’s project might not be the best people for a project in the future.
The solution for many organizations has been to develop a contingent workforce. This workforce is capable of expanding and contracting to meet the needs of a company; as a company requires more workers, it works with a staffing agency to hire them.
Currently there are over 44 million Americans who are part of this “gig economy”. The workers in this field have a diverse range of skills, experience and backgrounds. Some late on additional work while working full-time, while others prefer to have a flexible schedule that they can control. As this workforce grows, perceptions about short-term jobs are also changing. While many people used to have the impression that temporary work was a stepping stone to a full-time placement, today many workers are choosing to work with multiple companies to diversify their resumes and exert control over the types of projects they take on.
This means that many of the best workers in this temporary staffing pool are highly selective about the type of work they take on. Company reputation and job satisfaction are extremely high priorities for them when deciding whether or not to accept a position. Companies that view their contingent workforces as a valuable part of their growth strategy and company branding will work towards making the employee experience a positive one. When these workers leave the company, they can be a valuable resource to tap for references for employees on future projects. In many cases, employees who leave on good terms are able to be used again for future projects.
