The important areas would be Minimum Wage Standardization, Provident Fund, ESIC, Contract Labour Industrial Disputes, to name a few. Further reforms that benefit both the Industry and the employee will be key to attract more talent.

Also, staffing companies need to start looking at other aspects to make it a choice of employment. This would include Women Security, Contract Worker Security and better Health insurance . There is also a need to establish parity in employment and to ensure that the contract workers are paid well in comparison to the output as compared to the Permanent Staff in an organization.

Talent development through innovative programs, introduction of best practices in rewards management and employer branding will go a long way to attract and retain talent and further grow this sector. Also, in knowledge based industry like IT and others, Staffing needs to move up the value chain and play the employer role to the employee rather than the facilitator role it plays today by providing the all-round experience that a full time employer would provide.

Staffing performs a very important role in nation building as it focusses on an important aspect of providing employment. Staffing also helps connect prospective employees to the employers, thereby directly addressing the unemployment problems impacting the country. Through Staffing agencies, prospective employees are able to get employed which helps them earn a good living and this contributes to the growth of the economy. The penetration of Staffing has been significant and as a body we need to ensure that we are able to impact more lives, not just in metros but in smaller towns too.

As we move further in the future, we will see the labor landscape changing in India with the workforce demanding more flexibility at work. This will further translate to companies adopting various talent engagement models towards their full-time employees, temporary employees, freelancers, independent contractors, as well as alternate sources of workers like retirees, alumni, and online talent communities. We will see more acceptance of different talent types. Flexi staffing provides the employer the benefit of hiring talent at a fixed cost and for a fixed tenure.

This helps the employer achieve certain objectives within a given timeframe. For the employee too, the fixed tenure provides them the benefit of gaining exposure in multiple organizations. It helps them be more flexible and gives them the option of engaging in a contract when they want to work and helps them decide the tenure too

As indicated in a recent Kelly Report, “India Temp and Contract Staffing Landscape 2018”, one of the important aspects that accounts for the growth of Temp staffing is the flexibility it offers talent. Also, with the millennials entering the workforce, we see that the concept of “employment” is rapidly evolving with talent wanting to explore varied work engagements with prospective employers. A regular 9-5 job is getting redefined and this to some extent can also be attributed to the ecosystem which supports flexi staffing. The gig economy is growing at a rapid pace in India and we’ll see an increased adoption of flexi staffing across sectors and skill levels, with more permanent jobs being converted to contractual assignments.

Contractual employees are entitled to wages at par with permanent employees. The concept of “equal pay for equal work” is being looked at more closely by Indian organizations which are striving hard to make temporary employment lucrative. Initially, India saw the concept of flexi employment thrive largely amongst the shop floor level employees with low end jobs being made temporary. Overtime, this has changed and we now see highly skilled and niche jobs also being offered on a temporary basis. Other than salaries, temporary employees are also covered under Medical insurance, maternity benefits, workman compensation, statutory bonusses and ESIC coverage. Some organizations also extend gratuity and PF benefits to their temporary workforce.