Article: The increasing importance of India’s staffing industry

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The increasing importance of India’s staffing industry

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Staffing industry has grown in importance in the recent times. We take a look at some trends that would impact the industry.
The increasing importance of India’s staffing industry

One of the direct impacts of a changing business ecosystem on companies has been on their talent demands. Rapid shifts brought in by technology and evolving market conditions have meant that companies have to often chart their talent demands beforehand and work proactively to stay ahead of the curve. This has meant that staffing firms have a larger role to play. But that is not the only reason why the staffing industry is slowly becoming an important partner in helping organizations meet their talent demands. 

The creation of jobs has been a point of contention and in the recent few months, many have questioned the ability of the formal sector to absorb the growing numbers of the working population. The aim of the current government to spur job creation by bringing in investments and providing monetary boosts, are all to eventually enable more companies to come up in order to share the burden of creating jobs and absorbing people into their workforce. Staffing companies are key to facilitate such a process. 

In addition to the increased pressure of making the correct hiring—-due to the uncertainty brought in by use of newer and better technologies—hiring numbers, in general, are pegged to owing to government’s focus on growing SME and startups in the country. Sectors like telecom, finance, insurance, and are all projected to ramp up their hiring numbers. Given the impetus to grow the manufacturing sector, and initiatives like Make In India slowly take off, hiring numbers across the board are bound to go up. 

In the case of SMEs however, staffing firms have an opportunity to play more of a leadership role. Helping organizations in predicting and meeting their talent demands, staffing firms can help such companies successfully navigate incoming changes. With the rising importance of SMEs and startups in India’s growth, there will be a rise in demand for talent, an area where staffing companies, with their troves of experience, can be sure to fill. When it comes to staffing industries, the following broad trends can be observed      

  • The rise in temp staffing

Although most technological transformation periods have been successful in helping organizations increase their profit margins, it is not to say that the overall impact of the changing economic scenario has completely been positive. A look at the recent instances of retrenchment within sectors like IT has thrown up new problems in front of job seekers and the staffing industry alike. As many seek to fill the need for quality talent, the added pressure of matching a company’s evolving talent preference is sure to increase in coming times. 

The result has been that many companies now prefer flexi-staffing. Reports that noted such a growth added that the traditional ‘bench’ model of where full-time employees were kept on standby to work on new projects, has now begun to make way for a model where companies prefer a flexible and temporary workforce.  

  • The use of better technology

Technologies like could computing, A.I., automation are redefining how processes have been traditionally executed. Many of such changes are slowly, but surely, becoming an indispensable component. A similar trend that impacts not just India but also talent companies globally is the use of AI to facilitate recruitment. Artificial intelligence is bound to be a strong ally of staffing firms when it comes to addressing issues like unconscious bias, data crunching, and hiring the best fit. As the range of talent issues that staffing firms deal with diversify, using AI would be a great advantage to find the best fit and ensure a seamless onboarding process.  It will significantly reduce the time it takes to source a candidate and will also enable staffing firms to understand the need of their clients better.  

  • Understanding the role of flexibility 

The option of working remotely and flexibility in jobs has become an important concern for candidates. In a study done by Indeed, the option of remote/work from home has grown the most in the last year. As staffing industries match client aspirations, evolving candidate preferences mean staffing firms have to pay more attention to matching skills to the right positions. Even companies and startups are hiring remote workers which enable them to work from the comfort of their homes.  Although the role of remote working will become more prominent in the coming time, HR professionals are split when assessing the benefits of the model. But rising candidate preference would soon lead to recruiters providing work flexibility.  

Studies have shown that the staffing industry is poised to grow at a rate of 12 percent in the coming years. With the onset of rapid labour market changes, many businesses have had to proactively anticipate and tackle their talent issues. This is also the area where the staffing industry in India has, and is bound to play an important role. But such growth also hinges on how effectively they can adapt to some of the major shifts that are taking place in the industry right now.  

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Topics: Staffing Recruitment, Recruitment, Talent Acquisition, #Redefine Staffing

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