Question

Should hiring and managing the contingency work force be considered part of the staffing process? Explain your answer.

Answer 1

According to a workforce study, contingency workforce constitutes more than 15% of the workforce. The contingency workforce should be considered as a part of the staffing process as they are hired to complete a specific project. Freelancers, on-call workers, contract workers and independent contractors etc constitute the contingency workforce hired on a project basis

Some of the HR professionals believe that contingency workforce should be managed in a controlled manner on grounds of financial, legal and security grounds. The HR professionals suggest that it is critical to manage the contingency workforce adopting a hiring, managing and releasing process (staffing process)

Microsoft settled $97 million in 2000 to pay pensions, health benefits and employee stock options in regard to a contingency workforce staffing process that was conducted for years to complete their projects. This indicates that contingency workforce management should be considered a staffing process part

Many organizations procure contingency workforce for specialized work nature and the HR should manage this contingency workforce as they contribute significantly to the organization staffing and performance of the company. HR professionals consider contingency workforce management or contingency staffing to be a capability management issue with the idea of rehiring the key personnel in their organizations after the end of the specific project or assignment. Some HR professionals comment that contingent staffing becomes an organization’s hidden cost and becomes extremely difficult to track or monitor the contingency workforce and the amount spent on them. Hence managing the contingency workforce should be considered a crucial part of the staffing process in organizations hiring contingency workers on a regular basis