Are temporary or contract accounting and finance employees the answer to the Covid question?

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The pandemic has made every business assess its recruitment needs in a meaningful way, from furloughing staff to pausing recruitment plans entirely. As organisations are able to turn their attention back towards development and growth again, the question of their recruitment needs has resurfaced. With the enormous pressure on companies great and small to stabilise financially or even garner some economic stability by the end of the year, many are evaluating the advantages of contract or interim staff over permanent hires.

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Why do companies hire contractors instead of employees?

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Companies across different sectors and industries hire contract staff rather than permanent employees in times of uncertainty because contract staff offer flexibility in the following ways:

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Diversifying available skills 

Periods of uncertainty like that caused by the Coronavirus pandemic can mean that companies need different skill sets to support different business functions and departments for crisis management and then to support future planning. Finance departments may need additional support with forecasting and real time business analysis, where Marketing may need support from a consultant, or HR may need help with compliance etc. 

Employing contract or interim staff in these scenarios means you get specialised skill sets that are experienced and efficient, able to onboard quickly and produce actionable strategies and results from the get go. 

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Cost-effective means of supporting business

It is a common misconception that contractors and interims are extremely expensive recruitment options. On the contrary, because they are only employed on a contract basis, you only need to pay for their skills and services for a set amount of time. This means you forgo many of the expenses you accrue from a permanent hire such as annual pay, holiday and sick pay, pension contributions, National Insurance etc.

This will keep annual costs down, ensuring a strong market (re)entry, whilst you continue to build towards the future with cost-effective interim projects. 

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Provide support for a backlog of deadlines

For those organisations that had to make the difficult decision to furlough members of their workforce for a certain amount of time, a backlog of processes, tasks and functions may have arisen from paused projects or reduced manpower. In order to tackle these tasks, contract or interim staff can help support your business for a set amount of time. 

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How to build your recruitment strategy:

In order for many organisations to answer the Covid question and plan for the future, they will need to assess their short term and long-term needs and really strategically outline what skills and budget they will allocate to it.  

One of the simplest ways to achieve this is to engage a recruitment agency. They are able to assess your long-term and short-term needs and match the relevant skill sets and qualifications to make suggestions on how to build an effective recruitment plan. From there they can also help you source, interview and even perform background checks on candidates to make sure you have the ideal team that is the right balance of permanent and contingent staff.

At Edward Mann, our database and deep network we are able to source high-calibre temporary, contract or permanent candidates to suit the specific needs of your business to make sure you have the talent you need to grow. We have the expertise to help you source quality temporary or interim staff and can assess their experience and skills effectively and quickly to help you streamline your recruiting process. 

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Find out how we can help

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