Businesses having trouble recruiting permanent members of staff for specialist roles should take a look at the packages they’re offering.
Results from the 2012 Contractor Confidence survey by The Pulse Umbrella Group show that almost a third of contractors (31 per cent) would be willing to take on a permanent role if a position with the right employer became available.
Chris Futcher, CEO of The Pulse Umbrella Group, says: “The results show that many contractors could be tempted to become permanent members of staff, which is interesting as the majority of respondents had been working as contractors for over two years.”
Other factors which could persuade contractors to become permanent include being able to make more money as a permanent employee (15 per cent) and a position in a convenient location (11 per cent).
When it comes to how contractors feel they are perceived by permanent employees, most feel that permanent employees perceive them equally compared to other permanent staffers (51 per cent). However a worrying 19 per cent of respondents said that they believe they are perceived more negatively than permanent members of staff, with only 10 per cent feeling they are perceived more positively.
“While it’s great that the majority of contractors feel permanent employees make no distinctions between them and permanent staff, it goes to show that the contracting industry does have some way to go to communicate the value that contractors can bring to projects. Contractors bring specialist skills to a role which are often simply not available in the permanent staff talent pool” says Chris.
