Temporary jobs on a high, despite tepid job market

Chennai: Driven by demand for e-commerce delivery needs and retail stores, coupled with wobbly job market is forcing regular recruiters to take in temporary candidates. This category is witnessing a 20% year-on-year rise this festive season. Head hunters, who see less than 10% growth in permanent hires, say their clients are hiring 15-20% more in temp job hiring.

“The market is not stable and laying off permanent staff can be risky. Companies are moving towards temp jobbers,” said Thammaiah BN, MD, Kelly Services, a head hunting firm. Temp for roles like delivery executives, shop floor managers for e-commerce and retail, sales personnel for fintech industries are being sought after. While, salaries have remained the same, the demand has risen.

Retailers see a 15-20% increase in the temp staff hiring. “This year, we would have an increase of around 15% more temp staff at our stores across the group. This is keeping in mind high consumer demand, expected business numbers and more number of stores,” said a spokesperson from Future Group. Demand is also seen among online sweet retailers who see an uptick in corporate and personal gifting. PlaceofOrigin, which has seen a 50% jump in demand, has doubled their hiring.

“They are mainly used for super packaging and logistics,” said Ashish Nichani, co-founder, PlaceofOrigin. Salebhai has 32% of its temp work force this year formed by freshers, who handle customer support, logistics and IT.

Retailers hire temp workers through staffing agencies, graduates from tier 2 and 3 B-schools. Hiring firms witness a nearly 10% increase in the number of freshers trained and hired for the roles in the delivery, procurement and IT teams.

“Last year, we saw freshers contributing to 15% of the workforce. Now it is between 22-25%. However, even a 1% increase means a significant rise (of tens of thousands) in jobs. This year, the demand is much higher,” said Suchita Dutta, executive director, Indian Staffing Federation. “We see no growth in hires for permanent jobbers and a 15% growth in temp hiring, which saw an 8% growth the previous year,” said Dinesh Goel, co-founder, Aasaanjobs. Recruiters add that fresh graduates who don’t have much of a career choice in a flat job market are opting for temp jobs. “Over two years ago, hires used to be for 12 months and companies were more liable to keep them. Now the anchor has moved to hiring for 3-4 months as freshers consider it ok to start off with temp jobs and then move on to better jobs later. Also, the pay per month is higher when you work for a shorter period of time,” added Asaanjob’s Goel.

Ready to Master Stock Valuation? ET’s Workshop is just around the corner!