Why contractors?

Because contractors are an excellent way of securing a resource when times are tough but isn’t always considered by organisations who are more focused on finding and keeping talent in-house. By opening your search to include freelancers and contractors, you may just find the recruitment process isn’t such a never-ending nightmare.

As with so many things, Covid gave almost everyone the opportunity to sit and reflect on their life up to that point and what they wanted going forward. Unsurprisingly, a whole bunch of folks decided that their job was something that needed fixing, and stat!

Just as Jessie J sang back in 2011, “its not about the money” proved to be true in 2020/21 when so many of us determined that feeling appreciated was as important as feeling valued. It became more about being set up to achieve a true work/life balance and knowing that our mental health and wellbeing was being factored in by our employers, rather than being knowing there’d be fresh milk in the fridge and beers on a Friday afternoon.

We experienced a dramatic shift in how we were expected to work, and while for some the work from home situation proved to be more nightmare than fantasy, a whole bunch more people understood what hybrid working opened for them and their loved ones. Practically no one wanted to be tied to their desks anymore and decisions were made that allowed more personal freedom.

For some, these personal freedoms included the decision to become a freelancer/contractor and in the year to March 2021, over 355,000 New Zealand men and women^* were working on that basis.

Given that nearly 14% of women and 3.5% of men had made the decision to move into the self-employed/contracting space that March 2021 year, it’s entirely possible that the person you’re looking for to join your crew wants to do so but on a temporary basis.

You may be asking yourself why on earth someone would choose to walk a path of uncertainty, but it’s a win/win for you and them when you really think about it: