HRM

Chapter 2. Recruitment
Assignment.2

Contingent workers are seen as a

valuable resource to employers.
Describe the conditions under
which contingent workers are likely
to be most highly valued by
employers. In addition, do you
believe that employers will replace
many of their full- time workers
with contingent workers? Explain
your answer.
“Contingent workers refer to the workers who work on the
part-time basis as freelancers, contractors, leased workers,
seasonal based etc.”

Benefits of contingent workers

There are many potential benefits to using contingent workers.
Although the specific benefits vary from situation to situation,
some of the more common benefits include:
1. Increased efficiency. You can increase efficiency by using
contingent workers to staff peak hours, days, or periods of
demand or for one-time projects. During periods of lower
demand, you can stop using them.
2. Administrative savings. Using contingent workers can

ease your administrative burdens by reducing the need to

complete routine employment documentation and other
 administrative tasks. For example, participating in a leased
employee arrangement may save you from having to
review employment applications, interview job candidates,
or prepare tax withholding forms.
3. Cost savings. Perhaps the most significant motivation for

using workers such as independent contractors and

temporary employee is cost savings. You often must pay
employees for nonproductive time, but you don’t usually
pay contingent workers for downtime (e.g., you cut back
on temporary employees during periods of low
production). Additionally, you generally don’t provide
workers such as independent contractors and temporary
employees with the benefits you provide to regular
employees, such as vacation time, holiday pay, sick leave,
and health insurance (incentives in short). Finally, using
independent contractors allows you to avoid withholding
payroll taxes, paying social security and Medicare taxes,
and making unemployment contributions.
4. Flexibility. Contingent workers allow you greater flexibility
in maintaining and adjusting staffing levels. You can readily
increase staffing when your labor needs are high and
decrease staffing with minimal legal risks and economic
consequences when your labor needs are low.

In my opinion, Employers shouldn’t replace many of their

full-time workers with contingent workers because
workforce doesn’t seem professional with contingent
workers. No proper working atmosphere is created with
contingent workers. There won’t be any check & balance on
the workers as well as the office work. A downside to using
contingent workers involves the potential for lack of talent
at critical times. Such lack of critical talent can result either
from a lack of availability of known talent, or from the
inability to locate talent for a specific project, even though
such talent does exist. Another issue that we cannot turn a
blind eye to is halt in supply of internet connection, all
around the places especially in developing countries because
as witnessed the trend of contingent workers is more
prevalent in South.