A significant number of organizations have ramped up contingent hiring efforts to combat the worldwide talent shortage, but not enough are focusing on ensuring those contingent workers don’t leave before their project or contract has ended.
In fact, many businesses are suffering from high contingent workforce turnover. According to PRO Unlimited’s Spring 2022 U.S Labor Market Report, over 50 percent of the contingent workers who ended their assignments early last year did so within the first two months of their engagement, up from 44 percent in 2020.
The workforce shortage is only making it increasingly difficult for companies to source the right candidates, but while acquiring top talent is crucial, holding on to that talent is even more important. Organizations that put an emphasis on reducing contingent worker turnover can gain a competitive advantage.
So, with that in mind, what can organizations do to improve contingent workforce management and ensure freelancers, temps, independent contractors and consultants don’t leave in the middle of their contract. We’ve listed six tips here to help.
It’s only natural that contingent workers will prematurely quit their assignments or possibly never even show up for the project they’ve been hired to work on. However, correctly advertising assignments can go a long way in mitigating those risks.
Workforce turnover will always be higher when contingent workers have different expectations of the assignment after reading the job preview. Writing accurate project descriptions will ensure your organization is able to better manage contingent worker expectations and better match the right workers to the correct positions.
Your company’s ability to acquire high-quality contingent talent, fast, at competitive rates, is largely down to the staffing agencies that you partner with. Some key things to consider include whether they are experienced in your industry, what costs are included in their bill rate and if they publish their response time.
In addition, for the future success of your contingent workforce management program, it’s important that your business evaluates the performance of staffing agencies. A vendor management system will give your organization reporting and analytics into staffing agency metrics, giving you the insights you need to improve your program.
As we can see from the statistics we mentioned earlier, the vast majority of contingent workers who leave their assignment do so in the first two months. The early stages of working with a contingent worker are the most vulnerable time in their lifespan with your business.
You can mitigate the risks of early turnover by building a structured onboarding process for all contingent workers. Start with some information about the project, give them everything they need to succeed in that role, and make them feel like a valued part of your company culture (as much as you can with a contingent worker). The better they are set up to succeed, the less chance they’ll leave.
Your staffing agencies are responsible for fulfilling your contingent workforce requirements, but that doesn’t mean that your business doesn’t have a hand in ensuring the right contingent workers are sourced. Take some time to learn about the expectations and skills of workers before they are engaged, making sure they are a right-fit for both your company and the project or contact that they’ll be working on.
Need help sourcing and managing contingent workers effectively? An MSP staffing program can help.
One of the best ways to understand why your company is experiencing high contingent workforce turnover is to get feedback from both past and present contingent workers - including workers who leave your company early and those who don’t.
Gaining both positive and negative feedback will give your business insight into what you are doing well and what you aren’t. From there, you can make proactive changes that dramatically improve your contingent worker experience and, hopefully, reduce turnover.
Interested in learning more about how you can better manage the contingent workforce and reduce contingent worker turnover? Get in touch with Contrax Workforce today. Our team of contingent workforce management specialists are ready to help.