If you are hiring new people, you should know about contingent staffing before moving ahead. It’s a process that makes your hiring process faster, better, and removes multiple risks. This guide will cover everything you need to know about contingent staffing. From continuous staffing, meaning, and benefits. Lastly, we will see how to start with contingent staffing.
What is Contingent Staffing?
Consignment staffing is the process of hiring freelancers, part-time workers, or contractors to fill positions. These employees are not on the company’s payroll as full-time employees but are brought in through staffing agencies or direct contracts to fill immediate or short-term needs.
Common types of contingent workers include:
- Freelancers and independent contractors
- Temporary workers (temps)
- Consultants
- Gig workers
- Project-based staff hired via staffing firms
When a company needs to complete a task on their terms, they prefer hiring a consignment staff rather than hiring a full-time worker or an agency.
So, if you are looking for consignment staffing meaning in simple terms, it’s the staff you hire for a temporary period who are not associated fully with your company. These staff are often working remotely.
How Contingent Staffing Works
Hiring temporary staff is a complex procedure. There are two options you have here. You can either have your HR manager who will manage this staff. The other way is to MSP (Managed Service Provider) as a middleman who will manage the employees for you.
Either by you or through MSP, the procedure is pretty much the same.
- Identify the Need: The company determines the skillset, role, and duration for the position. You also need to consider whether they will work on-site or remotely.
- Engage Talent: Talent is sourced through MSP, or the HR finds them for you.
- Selection process: You can set your requirements and hand them over to the MSP, and they will do the selection process for you.
- Onboarding & Contract: Once selected, the worker is onboarded under a contract that clearly defines the scope, timeline, deliverables, and payment terms.
- Work Execution: The contingent worker performs their job independently or as part of a team.
- Project Closure or Extension: Once the work is done, the contract ends or may be extended if needed.
Benefits of Contingent Staffing
Let’s see the benefits of contingent staffing.
Flexibility and Agility
When going with consignment staffing, you have full flexibility over the hiring process.
- You can hire the employee for as much as time as you need.
- Remote options allow you to have more space in your offices.
- Some temporary staffing is also available on-site.
- You can hire a small team to execute a project faster.
- Helps a lot during the peak season of your company.
You can get access to a pool of talent without actually taking the risk of hiring them as a full-time employee. That’s the second benefit you get.
Risk reduction
When working on a new project, you may not be quite sure about the output or the funding you are about to raise. In such cases, a temporary workforce is the ultimate solution as there are fewer risks.
You can terminate the contract whenever you want without any trouble. Laying off a permanent employee invites a lot of legal and ethical issues. That’s not the case here.
Cost Savings
Full-time employees cost a lot. Even if you exclude the salary, the cost to the company is a lot. Instead, you can find some of the highly experienced content staff at an affordable cost.
Global companies often outsource to India as the country has some of the best talent.
Contingent staffing in India costs 3x less than hiring in the US.
Faster Onboarding with Better Performance
Hiring contingent staffing is fast as compared to hiring a full-time employee. Instead, you can quickly hire temporary staffing on a contract basis. One can consider it a trial period before hiring full-time.
As these contingent staff are paid based on the work, you will have better performance.
Here are some of the pricing models for contingent staff.
- Fixed monthly costs for X months.
- Pay per hour
- Pay per project (you can define the milestones for clearing the payment)
- Pay per design, word, or page (for creative staff)
Should you hire an Agency for Contingent Staffing?
To begin with, you need to first understand your requirements.
Some questions include:
- How fast do you need the staff?
- Do you have a pool of potential employees?
- Do you have an HR professional who can find, track, and negotiate with the employees to crack a deal?
- Have you worked with contingent staffing before?
Depending on all these, you can think whether to hire an agency for it or do it all by yourself.
An agency makes it easier for you to find the best talent around the globe. Whether you want to get talents from India or the USA, Aarna Technologies will help you to do it.
Aarna Technologies helps you find all of these workers based on your needs. Whether you need a full-time freelancer or a project-based team, we are here to guide you further.
Still confused about contingent staffing? Contact us today and let’s have a quick meeting and discuss it further.
FAQs About Contingent Staffing
1. Is contingent staffing the same as outsourcing?
Not exactly. Contingent staffing involves hiring individuals temporarily, whereas outsourcing typically means handing over a whole function or process to an external company. You can always have Aarna Technologies as your partner, as we handle the contingent staffing for you.
2. How do staffing agencies fit into contingent staffing?
Staffing agencies such as Aarna Technologies maintain a pool of pre-screened talent and help companies fill short-term roles quickly. They handle recruitment, onboarding, and sometimes even payroll.
3. What’s the difference between a contractor and a freelancer?
Contractors usually work under a formal agreement with a set duration and scope, while freelancers often work on multiple small projects with flexible arrangements.
4. Are contingent workers eligible for employee benefits?
Generally, no. Since they are not full-time employees, contingent workers are not entitled to benefits like health insurance or paid leave unless specified by the contract or local labor laws. You can offer them if you want, but it’s not mandatory at all.
5. Can a contingent worker become a permanent employee?
Yes. In many cases, businesses hire contingent workers as full-time employees if the relationship works well and there’s a long-term need. You need to communicate with the employee about their availability.
