Covid 19 effects temp staffing and employee payroll management
Social Distancing and a Loss in Revenue
When Covid-19 first started to find space in the headlines, businesses ran smoothly as usual. However, with the rise in the number of cases, the government had to step forward and impose lockdown. It had a significant impact on every single industry. Social distancing and stay-at-home became the “new normal,” and those who did not have the resource to adapt struggled for survival.
What started with a three-week lockdown, stretched for months! It created a ripple effect on the industries and businesses that were closed to stop the spread of the virus. The companies started to look for solutions to reduce the loss, and temporary staff was the first to lose their income source. As there was no demand, they were asked to leave and join only when everything gets back to normal. The temporary staffing industry in India has seen a major loss in terms of revenue in the last few months.
Payroll and unpaid invoices
The ripple effect did not stop at temporary staffing. It moved ahead and caused severe damage to the employees’ status as well. Many companies let thousands of employees go. They were asked to either resign or face termination. It became harder for the companies to regulate payroll, and pending invoices started to pile up in the backend. Many companies that we're relying on e-commerce were completely shut down for weeks.
Lack of remote access to accounts - a security feature that became a headache
As the impact of novel coronavirus is still evolving, it is not possible to tell how the future of temporary staffing in India will evolve. It is still early to tell how companies will secure funding sources to hire back employees or the temporary staff for another couple of months. While some companies are using HR Solutions for contract staffing, many companies still use an in-house system to manage hiring and payroll. In the last few months, it has become next to impossible for the companies to issue payroll and manage invoices as they do not have remote access to the in-house HR and accounts department.
Possibilities of growth
Some industries managed to keep working and even saw an increase in the sale during the Covid-19 lockdown. The Healthcare sector is definitely among the most benefitted sectors. Industrial temporary staffing in healthcare saw a sudden boom as companies needed more people to keep up with the demand for products like face masks, sanitizers, medicines, and more. The same happened to the basic commodities industry. In a recent report, Amul revealed that the demand for milk products increased during the lockdown, which means they must have hired temporary staff during the lockdown to keep up with the demand.
What Does the Future Hold?
Large corporations mostly rely on temporary staffing companies. It not only saves money but helps in reducing the burden on the in-house HR department. In the next few months, while companies will still struggle to get back on their feet, they will prefer to hire temporary staff using temp staffing Services in India rather than appoint someone permanently. It will help them with employee payroll management. Also, it will provide them time to stabilize their funds.
The opportunities are going to evolve again. However, the “old normal” will never see the real world. The demands will change. The way companies function is going to change drastically in the next few months. There is a possibility that even the large corporations will not hire employees on permanent positions the way they used to do in the pre-Covid time. Temporary staffing holds a promising future, provided HR Solutions for Temp Staffing becomes more accessible for temporary staffing companies in India.
A possible rise in the demand for temp staffing solutions
Companies, including SMEs, are concentrating on saving funds to ensure they return to their feet without further financial distress. Most of them are either already planning or may prefer to opt for temp staffing services. Experts in HR Solutions for Temp Staffing believe that the demand for temporary employees will rise by several folds in the coming months as companies won’t be able to hire full-time employees. Factoring in the possible second or third wave of the virus before vaccines make it to the market is not wise to hire a permanent workforce anyway.
Going for temporary employees on a project basis is much more affordable for companies than long-term employees. There is no surety that the work will flow like before for every sector as it used to do in pre-Covid time. Resources in the form of temporary staff will be available on a larger scale in the coming days, and the obligation to retain them will not be there. India has to keep in mind that temporary staffing services may experience complete uncertainty in terms of demand.
Temporary staffing is not something new, and companies have relied on the Temporary Staffing Services in India in pre-Covid time as well. This temp staffs provide support for the upcoming projects and meet the seasonal requirements in various sectors. It becomes easier for companies to reduce the workforce during less demand in the market. As companies are mostly not obliged to provide benefits such as insurance etc. to the temp staff, it reduces the operational costs to a large extend.
Changes in staffing and its effects
In the next few months, there will be a lot of Changes in Temp Staffing Industry and it will have a large-scale impact on the overall recruitment process.
Face-to-face interviews became the talk of the past
Covid-19 has forced companies to eliminate the need for face-to-face interviews in the hiring process. It goes for both temporary and permanent employees. Many employees are operating remotely, and companies have started to prefer the “Work From Home” culture to reduce the chances of infection. The whole idea revolves around the importance of avoiding physical contact and practice social distancing, which is currently the most effective way to avoid infection.
At the time of recruitment, it is impossible to meet the candidates anyway as there are still a lot of restrictions. For this reason, it is better to get in touch with a temp staffing company and save a lot of money and time in return.
Lesser opportunities
Organizations in almost every sector have found themselves in a situation where they have to let go of employees. The crisis rose due to Covid-19 spread, followed by lockdown has forced them to cut down the cost so that they can sail through this difficult time. Major IT giants with workstations across the globe have already started layoffs in different locations resulting in a sudden spike in unemployment.
The demand will rise soon, but hiring back the workforce to the same potential will not be possible for any company. The pressure on the HR Solutions for contract Staffing will increase exponentially as they have to arrange temporary staffing that can cover for the laid-off employees. It is much viable to outsource your payroll and accounting related tasks to some reliable temp staffing company.
Resource management services will be in demand
Managing the employees’ payroll details can be a big task for HR managers. In today’s situation, it makes much more sense in outsourcing your payroll and accounting related needs to agencies that are good at offering resource management services. They will make sure the employee benefits for your staff are properly administered.
Retaining jobs and getting pending invoices cleared has become tricky
There was a time when employees happily shift companies if they get a better package. However, due to the lockdown and massive layoff process across the globe, the employees have become more cautious about keeping their current jobs so that they do not find themselves in a situation where they have no work.
Even in the case of companies that provide temporary staffing services India, the contract workers are looking for stable projects for a longer duration so that they have work in such a difficult time. Temporary staffing companies in India have seen the worst time in the last few months, and no one wants to experience it again. It has resulted in them being super cautious while selecting clients as well. They prefer to check the organization’s potential to clear pending invoices on time so that they can pay the temporary staff regularly.
Overhauling recruitment process
Amid Covid-19, it is not possible to follow the previous recruitment process. Major changes in the temp staffing industry are expected in the next few months as companies will prefer temp skilled professionals rather than going for hiring someone on a permanent position. The whole recruitment process will change from short-listing the candidates to interviewing them for the job.
While companies are trying to keep their workforce healthy and away from infection, the workload on the temporary staffing industry in India is going to increase exponentially. Many professionals who suddenly lost their jobs may find their potential space in the temp staffing sector as highly skilled professionals are also in demand right now to fill in the gap created by layoffs. In the next few months, the whole recruitment industry will get in sync with the new norms closing all doors for the old normal.
