With the Australian employment rate at its lowest in over 48 years (3.5% at the time of writing) and the current war on top talent, we have to ask ourselves, what does that mean for a contingent workforce? 

As a temporary recruitment consultant for over ten years in the accounting field, I have never seen a market where it is so difficult for employers to hire and retain temporary employees, whether it’s an additional set of hands for a project, back filling a secondment, covering parental leave or covering for employees’ annual and sick leave! 

With an Australian unemployment rate of 3.5%, an abundance of permanent opportunities, low immigration and rising inflation, we have seen a dramatic decline in job seekers willing take on temporary roles; irrespective of assignment length. 

So, what can employers and recruiters do to secure quality temps in this market?

- Cultivate strong working relationships with temporary employees

- Ensure that temps feel like they are valued and are part of the team and are valued equally to permanent employees 

- The big one, is to pay higher hourly rates to temps to encourage them to pursue temporary employment rather than permanent opportunities

- Offering employee benefits such as accrued sick leave and/or accrued leave (many large employers of temporary staff have begun to offer these benefits) 

- Offering work from home, or a hybrid work environment is extremely attractive to temps, due to rising costs and inflation (ie petrol) 

- Ensure you communicate well with temps, as recruiters, have your temps’ next assignment lined up, so that they can keep rolling into their next opportunity

- Consider a retention bonus, on completion of the assignment; when temporary workers are being pursued by recruiters, this can be a great incentive for them to stay to the completion of the assignment

- Ensure you are providing a positive, inclusive working environment and thorough on-boarding, hand over and training to ensure temps can easily and effectively pick up the role

I currently work with a number of job seekers who enjoy and thrive on temporary assignments, mostly to accommodate family requirements over school holidays or who like to travel in between assignments. These people are absolute GOLD in today's market and some have worked in over 20 temp assignments, placed by me. I love working with them and know that we could encourage more talent to work on a temporary basis if we, that is employers and recruiters work together, to combine some of the strategies highlighted above.

Ask yourself, what are we (as a business) and me (as a leader) doing to attract a quality temp to join our business and what can we offer? Both in tangible and intangible benefits to enable us to retain quality temporary workers.