With the demand for flexible working on the rise, temporary roles can be a way to get the skilled workers you need into your organisation. They’re also a great talent pool for full time vacancies.
Flexible working is becoming more and more popular, with organisations often having a temporary component to their workforce.
New research from Randstad shows that 80% of Kiwi workers see temporary work as a stepping stone to a full time job and Randstad New Zealand director Paul Robinson said organisations could benefit from allowing workers to prove themselves in non-permanent roles.
“If you've got someone who's doing a really good job on a temporary basis, then that should be the first person you have a conversation with and ask if the permanent role is something they'd be interested in.
He said that as the economy started to gather pace, organisations wanted to grow but may not be able to afford or have the sign-off for permanent employees.
“It’s [temporary work] a way to provide a business with flexibility around not having to commit long-term.
“On the jobseeker side, there are a lot of people who actually want to have a lot more flexibility in their employment. They don't want to work nine to five every single day, week in, week out.”
He said that along with flexibility, temporary jobs also allowed employees to make sure they were in the right role.
“There's nothing worse than staff turnover because someone hasn't done their due diligence as far as the type of position they're going into. Especially for younger people who might not be quite sure around what they're looking for long term. It gives them a chance to hone their skills in different aspects of work as well.”
The Randstad research also showed that 13% of New Zealand workers expected their jobs to disappear due to advances in technology, but Robinson said that although a certain number of roles would eventually be taken over by technology, the new technology itself would create jobs.
“Look at application development for smartphones. That wasn't even around three or four years ago. Same with all the roles that have come through in social media. So while yes, some roles might become redundant through technology, there are new roles that will be created because of it as well.”
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