The Contracting Workforce: Fuelled by Digitalisation

Even before COVID-19 hit in 2020, many organisations were already employing contractors as a way to flex and scale their talent needs. The pandemic has further highlighted the need for companies to reassess their growth strategy and operational costs – and one component that stood out was the deployment of talent, both in the short and medium-term. Companies are scaling back the permanent workforce, while others are engaging independent contract staff to execute ad-hoc projects.

Michael Page findings revealed that 62% of organisations across Malaysia currently employ contractors. In particular, there has been a significant increase in contract hires during the pandemic in specific sectors such as FMCG, Retail, Manufacturing and Technology. This spike in contract hires was brought about by the need for digitalisation during the pandemic. To manage the uncertainty of headcount and its associated costs, companies depend on contractors as that allows them to scale up or descale the workforce where needed.