The Temporary Labour Market: What Challenges Do They Face?

Like many firms, across many industries, temporary labour providers have faced a number of challenges in recent months and for many innovation will be key to achieving ongoing success.

The challenges:

Automation - Recent news stories have highlighted the increasing use of technology and the rise of automation within traditional 'blue collar' sectors of the economy and also now increasingly within 'white collar' industries.

Within 'blue collar' and manual labour sectors, where it is more common for staff to be employed on a short terms basis with higher staff turnover, increased level of automation could potentially reduce the requirement for some job roles. Therefore having a knock on impact on temporary placement firms, who as a result of the reducing demand for labour could see their core revenue streams decline. For example - Amazon are developing drone deliveries, Uber are trialling driverless cars and prototypes have been created which can lay bricks quicker and more accurately than humans can.

The rise of the gig economy - Increasingly workers are demanding the flexibility of deciding when and for how long they work. Whilst some workers enjoy the flexibility and freedom that 'gig' working offers, it can provide employers with challenges around managing staffing levels...