IT Staffing Report: May 8, 2014

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Survey: 69% of IT leaders say contingent labor critical

Information technology leaders and IT professionals agree that contingent labor is a critical part of many organizations’ business operations, but a disconnect exists with regard to performance and expectations, according to a survey from TEKsystems.

The survey found 69 percent of IT leaders believe contingent labor is critical to the success of their organization’s business operations.

By 2018, the survey found 35 percent of IT leaders estimate that contingent IT labor will make up between 11 percent and 25 percent of their overall IT workforce. This year, just 25 percent of IT leaders estimated contingent IT labor makes up between 11 percent and 25 percent of their workforces.

The survey also found that 68 percent of IT leaders agree that contingent worker performance meets their organizations’ expectations, while 90 percent of IT professionals agree that contingent worker performance meets the expectations of the hiring company.

“If there is one thing that IT professionals and their bosses can agree on, it is that the use of contingent workers is not going away. In fact, as organizations increasingly encounter the need for more specialized skill sets, the use of contingent workers will only increase,” said Jason Hayman, market research manager for TEKsystems. “In order to be successful in the future, organizations need to build stronger workforce planning strategies that account for the influx of contingent labor into the workforce and ensure that talent management best practices are followed with every employee regardless of their status.”

Other highlights from the survey include:

  • Although 70 percent of IT professionals strongly agree that their performance meets the expectations of their hiring company, only 13 percent of IT leaders say the same.
  • 65 percent of IT professionals strongly agree that their skills meet expectations, while only 13 percent of IT leaders indicate that is the case.
  • 48 percent of IT leaders report that they regularly evaluate and provide feedback to contingent workers at the end of their assignment.
  • 23 percent of IT leaders indicate that their contingent labor strategy is part of an enterprisewide workforce planning strategy and 23 percent indicate it is part of a departmentwide workforce planning strategy. Eleven percent say that their use of contingent labor is simply not defined.

TEKsystems' survey included more than 1,500 IT leaders and IT professionals in North America across industries including technology, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, government and professional services.