HR Magazine: Does The Rise In Temporary Workers Mean The Fall Of Company Culture?

Originally posted on HR Magazine, written by Jodie Ratcliffe, HR Director.

As businesses invest in building strong values and a distinct company culture to differentiate themselves in both the customer and talent markets, a growing contingent workforce raises concerns about whether these efforts are sustainable.

Companies that are investing in building integrity, ethics and upskilling into their culture in an effort to attract the best talent, close skills gaps and future-proof are facing a conundrum as the contingent workforce continues to grow. How can the visions and values they are working so hard to embed flourish?

The answer lies in changing the traditional way of handling non-permanent employees. To enable agility, flexibility and scalability in a highly competitive global marketplace, where responding rapidly to customer demand is critical, smart companies are increasingly making temporary staff integral to their workforce.

Building Value and Loyalty in Temporary Staff Through Effective Onboarding

As such, the first thing that needs to go is the ‘them and us’ approach. ‘Value’ is the watchword here. A careful balance needs to be struck between ensuring that temporary staff hit the ground running and deliver value quickly, and that they understand the essential values of the business, and also know they are valued. 

Temporary staff may only be with businesses for limited periods but it’s important to build a loyal, committed and talented contingent workforce that will keep coming back. Think of the time and effort this saves, not to mention the business benefits it brings. Such efforts demand an ‘onboarding light’ approach that quickly gets temporary staff up to speed with culture, engaged with key stakeholders and trained as required for the job in hand, essentially setting them up to succeed.

Read the full article HERE.

Ultimately, to maintain a strong, consistent culture, and drive future success, HR should ensure that temporary staff are successfully onboarded, integrated and connected with permanent employees and key stakeholders, and that they share many of the current full-time benefits, where appropriate. This will optimise performance and deliver a vital regular talent resource that provides the agility, flexibility, scalability and competitive edge that is essential for success in the modern fluctuating business environment. Yes, a delicate balance needs to be struck, but recognising and actioning this now ensures companies stay ahead and futureproof.

Originally posted on HR Magazine, written by Jodie Ratcliffe, HR Director.