The trend of contractual employment which gained momentum in tech-based firms post the COVID-19 pandemic has now spread its roots across various sectors such as consumer durables, e-commerce, and retail. These sectors are increasingly leveraging contract roles to navigate short-term market demands, scale operations flexibly, and on the back of rapid adoption of artificial intelligence.
Recent studies, including a comprehensive report by Careernet, a talent solutions provider, reveal a robust growth in contractual hiring, with a 15% compounded annual growth rate since 2022, and an anticipated surge of 20-25% in 2024 compared to the previous year, with most growth expected to come from Global Capability Centers (GCCs).
Pranshu Upadhyay, regional director & head of India technology practice at Michael Page, said: “With the gig economy and project-based hiring, we’ve seen a lot of momentum in contractual hiring. Sectors such as consumer durables, IT, e-commerce, GCCs, and retail have major demand in the contract hiring space, particularly for skills like GCP (Google Cloud Platform), Data Analytics, AI/ML, and general staffing market skills like operations and administrative functions”.
Upadhyay said contractual hiring across sectors has increased by 22% year-on-year between March 2023 to March 2024.
GCCs have been instrumental in this shift, with over 1,580 major GCCs spread across 2,700 centers in multiple cities, significantly contributing to the flexibility of the workforce, experts said. Additionally, tier 2 and 3 cities such as Indore, and Lucknow are experiencing a spike in contractual hiring.
Anshuman Das, CEO and co-founder of Careernet, said: “The upward trend in contractual hiring can be attributed to the shifting market dynamics and the changing nature of jobs. Companies are hiring talent with specialised skills for specific job roles to benefit from their expertise without the need for extensive training. This is particularly beneficial to foreign companies and GCCs operating in the country, as it allows them to access a diverse talent pool while maintaining a lean workforce”.
Further, roles for contractual workers in the tech space is seen to increase more going forward. Careernet said that the hiring volume for contractual tech roles is estimated to be between 150,000 to 200,000 per year, with an additional growth rate of 7-8%.
“With skills such as AI/ML, internal teams often lack expertise in the latest trending technologies so in such a context, it is much easier to access an affordable expert who brings in contextual knowledge,” Karthik Sridharan , co-founder and CEO of Flexiple said.
Raymond in talks to sign Rs 5k-cr joint realty pacts
BHEL receives order from Adani Power worth Rs 3,500 crore
The ‘Green Rush’: Reasons why businesses support green offices
Fashion retailers offer up to 90% discounts
From: financialexpress
Financial News
