In this gig economy, workers from Gen Z through Boomer are varied in their career goals and commitments. Some thrive in long-term relationships with companies. Others prefer to parachute into, and then out of, organizations. They excel at addressing a big challenge - or problem - and then moving on.
While not all companies are the right-fit for bringing aboard this type of contract worker, many are – and others could be – with the right understanding of the value they offer. Following are five situations in which contract workers may make sense for your company.
1. You Are Preparing for a Major Technology Upgrade.
Whether you are a small business with one office and a few computer systems or a larger enterprise with hundreds of systems spread across the country or even the globe, a technology upgrade can be daunting.
Perhaps your current staff is capable of supporting the upgrade but is already swamped with other projects. Or, maybe, your technology team has selected an ERP system, but doesn’t have the specialized experience in orchestrating the implementation. Either way, onboarding a contractor devoted to your company’s short-term needs could have long-term positive impacts.
These include ensuring the implementation goes smoothly with as little downtime as possible, optimizing the features and benefits available, and providing training to your team members.
2. Your Company Is in Acquisition Mode.
After a series of mergers and acquisitions, your company has morphed into something very different than its original business model. By recruiting an interim CEO with situation-specific experience piloting the ship through such change, you may avoid unnecessary missteps and more quickly reap the rewards of financial gain.
This temporary executive is energized steering companies through the merger aftermath, while also envisioning what’s needed to build an effective leadership team for the months and years ahead. They can set the new team on the right course through deliberate and focused planning and development oversight.
After a period of six months, a year, two years or more, the interim CEO will have completed their mission fortifying your newly modeled entity and can sail off to their next contract opportunity.
Whether melding teams amid a recent merger or integrating new technology across the enterprise, managing your employer brand through corporate transition can be tricky. Read more aboutHow to Manage Your Employer Brand Through a Corporate Transition.
3. You Are Preparing to Rebrand Your Company.
Your marketing director is excited to spearhead the rebrand but is short on intellectual capital to support all the ideas they have for the project. A temporary brand marketer, brand copywriter and/or social media specialist may be the answer to helping with the analysis, planning and execution of the brand transformation.
Moreover, bringing someone on board for a longer-term engagement may be the insurance your company needs to rise above the competition, remaining attuned to ever-changing digital branding strategies.
4. A Key Role Suddenly Is Vacated.
Whether through unplanned termination, resignation or illness, a vital employee has vacated a role without much warning. This doesn’t leave much room for planning and implementing recruitment efforts.
In these instances, rather than rush the hiring process, you may opt to bring in a contract worker who specializes in performing the open role, until the hire of a new, full-time team member. The value here is that you can keep the company moving forward without a lag created by a vacancy; at the same time, you open up space for proper screening and vetting of an employee to fill the role for the long haul.
5. You Are Test-Driving a Role.
Maybe you are trying to determine whether the value proposition is there for creating a new role or whether you should instead use the budget elsewhere.
You may determine that bringing a short-term contractor onsite could help you engage an employee on a trial basis, with the intention of hiring them should the value prove itself out. When filling a gap in sales, marketing, finance, operations or another functional area, this solution may speed up your decision, initially, without the pressure of long-term commitment, up front.
