Whilst Dolly Parton stumbled out of bed and tumbled to the kitchen to get to work for 9am, for some of us Brits those days have gone, and have been replaced by working with greater flexibility and enjoying a better work life balance.
According to new research by the REC 2 in 5 Brits (39%) have been a temporary agency worker, a contractor / freelancer at some point in their careers, that’s up from 36% in 2014. As a result recruitment agencies play an important role in facilitating this, on any given day there are over 1 million people on temporary assignments.
Whether it’s to care for family, spend more time on hobbies, learn new skills, or set up a new business people want more from their jobs, 28% of temporary agency workers choose this way of working because they want flexible hours, 36% want to get on the job ladder quickly.
Whilst in days gone by a temporary worker was perceived to be someone who couldn’t get a “proper job”, nowadays many people are making a positive choice to do flexible work to get more out of their job and their life. Flexible working also benefits businesses, in times of uncertainty employers can bring in a missing skill set into their company through an agency, whilst having the assurance that they are protected from any long term contractual obligations.
Other recruitment related news:
New figures from the Office for National Statistics show that migration has continued to decrease since the year ending 2016. The number of EU citizens arriving for work has fallen to it’s lowest since June 2012. The number of EU citizens arriving looking for a job has dropped to 22,0000, compared to the peak of 82,000 three years ago. With a shortage of UK workers in many sectors, and the UK becoming a less attractive destination for workers from overseas it’s important the post Brexit immigration system is designed based on this data and works for business, workers and employers alike.
Source : REC News and Policy November / December 2019