One of the biggest advantages contractors have is their flexibility, and a new research study has just offered up even more proof of flexibility’s importance.
The research study, commissioned by the Confederation of British Industry, found that the number of businesses that are planning to create jobs over the course of the next year is at its highest point since 2008, right at the onset of the credit crunch and resultant worldwide recession. Umbrella company contractors are poised to be in particularly good shape, as freelance workers are ready and willing to pounce on the burgeoning number of opportunities coming their way soon; in fact, more than half of companies surveyed said that they would have an increased workforce by the end of 2014.
The CBI study highlighted the importance of flexibility when it comes to building bigger workforces by a significant margin in times of economic uncertainty. With the economic future of the UK and in fact the entire globe still very much in a state of flux, businesses are often highly reticent to take on permanent employees out of a fear that the economy will suddenly worsen once more and they’ll be unable to sustain extra permanent staff, but with contract workers there’s no danger of this happening; having the flexibility to hire on extra help in the form of a temporary worker or two when the work is there and then scale back their employment during leaner times has enabled more than one company to weather the economic storms of the past few years.
For what it’s worth, I’ve been saying that the economy owes a huge debt to freelancers and umbrella contractors for a long time now. However, it’s incredibly gratifying to see that there are major organisations such as the CBI that have come to their own conclusions based on their research – and even more gratifying to know that their conclusions are the same as mine! It’s not easy being the lone madman shouting at the top of his lungs to anyone who will listen about how important contract workers are and how the economy of the UK owes them a massive debt for keeping so many businesses afloat during these terrible economic times; now I’m not the only one, and that means perhaps people will take me seriously!
Well, maybe not, but it’s a start.
