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Competing for the best contractors?

Competing For Best Contractors

by Charlotte Gurney

Contractors have become a crucial part of the workforce in recent years. One recent survey of  1,050 senior executives identified that non-permanent staff accounted for 42% of workforce spending. This type of workforce model has advantages for businesses in terms of flexibility and being able to upscale or downscale depending on need. It also provides a different way of working for the contractors themselves. However, many are not entirely happy with the rates that they’re paid, as well as the lack of training and the employment arrangement itself. As a result, for those businesses looking to integrate the best contractors into their workforce there is a need to ensure that these needs are being met - or the brightest talents could simply go elsewhere.

How to compete for the best contractors

Make sure this agile approach has buy-in across the business. It’s essential that everyone, from management to admin staff understands why contractors are part of the workforce and how this fits with the strategy for the business going forward. Ensuring that contractors feel welcome will be essential, as will catering to the specific details of a contractor arrangement. Make sure that the work contractors are given is appropriate to their level of skill and expertise and that their expectations are being met in terms of what the position promised.

There is still a duty of care for a hybrid workforce. Particularly during the pandemic, issues surrounding care and mental health have been pushed to the top of the list. Does your business take care of its contractors as well as the permanent, contract staff? If not, what more could you do to ensure that this duty of care is being met?

Integrate contractors into the team and cater to their needs. Most people work better with the support and motivation of team members so make sure that your business is set up to enable this for contingent staff. If you’re serious about competing for the best contractors now may also be a good time to consider what specific benefits you could offer to those who choose to work in this way. For example, some organisations now offer contractors on-demand pay, which means that they get wages as they are being earned, making it easier to achieve financial stability. It’s not just about pay - what opportunities could your business offer contract workers, especially those that are looking to follow portfolio career paths?

Get to grips with the red tape and paperwork. Employing contractors can trigger a different set of requirements, when it comes to tax, pensions etc. If you want to attract the best contractors then your business needs to be able to seamlessly adapt to the different infrastructure for contingent workers. For example, do you understand how IR35 applies to your contractor workers and are you processing their tax and National Insurance contributions in accordance with the requirements?

Being able to work with the best contractors can give your business an edge, bring fresh skills into the organisation and improve agility. If this is what your workforce needs then it’s essential that you are competing for the best people. Volt have over 70 years experience in helping Multi-National organisations and SME's to find the very best talent - speak to the team today to see how they can help you: https://www.voltinternational.com/contact/redhill