Demand for temporary workers is growing in niche areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics.
As information tech companies gain more digital deals, the demand for temporary or contractor jobs in it roles is likely to increase substantially.
According to TeamLease, the demand for temporary workers in technology firms is already back to pre-Covid-19 levels after such a sharp 90% fall in the early months of the pandemic.
“We expect demand to double in the coming months as there is a surge in digitization and investment in cloud and infrastructure projects,” said Siva Prasad Nanduri-VP and Head of Business, TeamLease Digital.
Employment listings at the firm, which used to be 2,200 a month pre-COVID-19, had dropped to 400 during the lockdown.
Across IT companies, too, it is realised that gig staff will play an important role in the execution of their company strategies.
Pune-based Zensar is in the process of putting together a comprehensive policy to govern its temp hiring.
“There is a transition in technology and we need a wider pool of experts who can work on specific projects. This will be our focus, “said Vivek Tandon, Chief Human Resources Officer, Zensar.
Demand for temp workers is across functions, but particularly across niche skills such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics.
IT company Nutanix has worked with partners to hire temp workers to improve certain skills as needed, said Sankalp Saxena, MD-Operations, India, Nutanix.
“Typically, skills are focused on automation, testing, platform certification on the technical front and the increase in shared services for HR and finance as required,” he said.
The uncertainty in the overall business environment is also driving quite a few companies to look for hired employees on contract.
The outbreak of the virus has pushed home-based policies across the board and businesses are still uncertain about their talent requirements for the long term. This, coupled with a growing need for people with specific skills, makes contract staff an attractive proposition.
Contract management solutions firm Icertis is currently hiring contractors to fill open technology roles across India and specifically to look for people working on niche technical skills such as AI / ML.
“We hire temporary workers and expect a good portion of them to became more full-time employees at the end of the current contract,” said Sulekha Thakkar, general manager, Human Resources, Icertis. The company expects this trend to continue well into 2021, as business requirements remain dynamic.
Globally, companies also prefer to turn to contract employees for specific projects.
“Organizations all over the world are going through different stages of transformation, so we can expect demand to continue to grow. The flow of demand from hiring contractors and gig workforce is expected to increase as employers vary their headcount and focus on output-driven programs, “said Vijay Sivaram, CEO of Quess IT Staffing.
In the past year, Quess has seen a significant rise in demand for contract staff and gig workers.
