HR trends in India have changed from the traditional to the experimental in the past couple of decades. Traditional resourcing and staffing solutions have given way to temporary staffing which is commonly called “temping”: Indian companies are home to many unique projects and solutions. Many of these require people with specific skill sets to deliver them. Hence, organizations are often faced with the requirement of “knowledge workers” to facilitate the delivery of such projects. This has led to the growth of what is called “short-term project-based hiring” or “temping”. Simply put, organizations hire contract workers for a short time, typically till a project lasts. Contracts range from a period of 2 months to 15 months. While large global organizations follow this recruitment mechanism, in India it is gradually gaining popularity. Did you know that the largest employer in the US is a temporary employment organization, Manpower Inc, which has approximately two million temporary workers on its payroll. Small and medium sized organizations specifically from the Indian Information Technology (IT) industry are employing temp workers. These organizations are opting for temping for many reasons some of which are: Temps or contract workers are on the payrolls of a third-party staffing organization and as such organizations do not need to worry about employment, recruitment and even replacements. They save on the cost of training as the staffing form typically sends in batches of knowledge workers according to the project. They can drastically cut down non-productive staff costs especially when they do not have the visibility of a similar project in future .They can reduce the number of staff on bench and hence save on salaries. They can pay relatively more to contract workers and get work done rather than recruiting them for long-term and paying those perks and retirement benefits besides huge salaries.
But the question is - will this trend be a sustained one? In India, job security is still considered essential for a career. As such, how are professionals coping with the risk element associated with working on short-term assignments? Temping professionals maintain that in this rapidly changing economic environment, the very survival of organizations is unpredictable. Permanent job assurance is now passing as downsizing can happen any time. Many temps also like the exposure to a wide range of applications and organizations. Temping will not suit people who are risk averse and believe in permanent roles with clearly marked paths for personal and professional development. Surprisingly enough, HR pundits and industry watchers believe that this new HR trend is here to stay.
Questions:
1. How does Temping serve as a short term project based hiring?
2. What is the present scenario of Temping in India?