The calibre of people that a business hires can mean the difference between a highly productive workforce or a drain on resources. Similarly, recruiting, hiring and onboarding employees can be lengthy, costly and often unsuccessful. When the incorrect people are hired, there is a poor culture fit, it impacts productivity and team morale, and when people leave and there is a high churn rate of employees, the entire process begins again.

However, there are hiring alternatives available for businesses. There are many reasons why organisations across different sectors are choosing to use a hiring alternative rather than the traditional method of hiring. Here are a few examples:

It can be challenging finding skills:

Scarce skills mean that many businesses are struggling to hire employees with the abilities, experience and qualifications their organisation needs. They don’t have easy access to the talent pool they need, particularly when roles need to be filled quickly. 

Short-term needs:

Many businesses are seasonal or project based. This means that workforces don’t always need to be the same size. A large project or busier season requires more employees – which becomes a burden on the balance sheet when there is far less work in the pipeline. In this situation, hiring alternatives may be the most cost-effective solution because they allow companies to access the skills they need when they need them, without the costs of recruitment or onboarding.

A more targeted focus:

Hiring alternatives are not only about accessing skills that are not permanent employees on full-time internal contracts. Alternative hiring solutions tend to come with additional benefits, such as managed services that manage a contingent workforce and even suppliers via one point of control, handling everything workforce-related from end to end and even on-site. This leaves the business open to focus on its core capabilities instead of people management. 

Complex labour environments:

South Africa’s labour laws are complex and ever-changing. Staying abreast of them is not only challenging and time-consuming, but a regulatory must. Hiring alternatives mean that experts in the field can worrying about ensuring that the business is 100% labour compliant, which once again frees businesses up to focus on their core competencies.

Workforces match production needs:

When revenue suffers, it can be a sign that employees are struggling to manage their workloads or meet production quotas. This is often the result of workforces that are too small during high-production times to balance low production times. In this situation, a business can assess their needs to determine if a short-term hiring alternative can help boost sales or meet production needs.

Unpacking hiring alternatives

A hiring alternative is a method businesses can use to obtain the skills and workforces they need without hiring long-term employees. Traditional hiring methods require recruitment, onboarding, training, as well as managing all salary, tax and benefits-related tasks. 

Here are three hiring alternatives that could solve your business’s workforce and recruitment challenges.

1. Subcontracting

Subcontracting is when a business contracts another company to perform specific tasks they may not normally be able to do. This is generally because the tasks require specific tools, equipment, licenses or expertise. Subcontracting tends to be highly specific. For example, in construction work,  a construction company may subcontract another business to complete plumbing or electrical work. They could also recruit and build a team to bring this inhouse, but if many jobs don’t require these skills, it’s an added overhead that might not make financial sense. 

2. Outsourcing and contingent labour

Outsourcing is hiring others to complete tasks that people within an organisation once completed themselves. It is a hiring method that saves companies money and reduces hiring costs. When leveraging outsourcing and contingent labour, entire departments within a company can be eliminated. Contingent labour is a cost effective way to ensure that employees are up-to-date when it comes to the necessary skills they need, that all recruitment and onboarding is taken care of by the contingent staffing partner, and that labour forces can be scaled up or down based on project needs. The contingent labour provider will simply move employees to another project, ensuring employment is maintained without clients carrying additional labour overheads.

3. Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO)

Recruitment can be outsourced, even if employees are not subcontracted or outsourced. An expert who handles end-to-end and on-site permanent recruitment takes the hassle out of recruitment, but also has access to specialist pools of talent and is able to ensure that the correct training and onboarding takes place to meet all business objectives and regulatory requirements. 

The BLU difference

At BLU, we have over 30 years of experience supporting our clients in their alternative hiring needs. As a member of the Adcorp Group of companies, we have access to the best solutions to attract, recruit, hire and train independent contractors who want to perform services on contract while still being able to work independently. We also hire, train and support contingent workforces across various industries. As a managed service provider (MSP), we manage contingent workforces and suppliers via one point of control on behalf of our clients as well.

Visit BLU by Adcorp to find out more today!