Ambitious business leaders, changing consumer demand and the rate and pace of technological change means that SMEs and start-ups are cementing their position as the innovation engine of Australia’s economy. To keep SMEs moving forward, quickly bringing in the right people and skills is essential to meet customer demand and respond to change.
With 38 per cent of businesses reporting a skills shortage, the recruitment challenges for SMEs is more acute.
Upskilling existing workers is also a challenge many SME’s struggle with. A recent NSW Business Chamber report found that 23 per cent of employers do not have the budget to train workers and 22 per cent say staff are too busy to train new colleagues. In fact, 28 per cent of employers say it is easier to hire someone already qualified than to train someone.
To help alleviate the time, cost and hassle of recruiting and training new workers, many SMEs have turned to the skilled contractor workforce and are finding greater access than ever before to the skills they need, available on a short term or project basis.
SMEs that embrace the growing bank of flexible and skilled workers as part of a new approach to employment will benefit from a reduction in training costs, the ability to have specific project focused skills sets at a moment’s notice, and the ability to keep productivity high, especially as 72 per cent of CFO’s report an increase in productivity by using on-demand skills.
Here are three tips for staying ahead of skills shortages:
1. Engage with skills on-demand
Hire the skills you need using a highly skilled, agile, contractor workforce, which allows you to scale the number of resources, up and down, based on business needs. Recruiting temporary highly skilled workers enables SMEs to bring specialised skills into their teams on a project by project basis. Highly skilled, qualified and rated freelancers are fit for purpose and their speed to productivity is high. The existing one million contract-based workers in Australia is expected to grow to 3.2 million by 2020. They can’t all be wrong! Insist on quality professionals with independent and pre-veted ratings, and links to their work experience.
2) Go direct and have someone-else be the employer of record
Adapt your recruitment processes and take advantage of online platforms that save time, money and are hassle-free. By going direct, you get more autonomy and control in the decision-making process, and you can find, assess and engage with skilled contractors instantly. Look for those platforms that can offer contract workers you can hire quickly, but that also run the administrative processes like payroll, superannuation, insurance and compliance – so you don’t have to. Adoption of new technologies means the demise of the costly, traditional recruitment regime.
3) Go outside of Monday to Friday, 9-5
Peak usage on our digital platform is before 8am, and after 7pm – with weekends also busy. This is because good workers are working in work hours, and business leaders and managers are busy leading and managing. It is the DNA of small businesses to work long hours – utilising contractors enables you to engage on-demand.
SME leaders tell me how important it is to get the right person, the first time – and how tough that can be. By utilising skilled freelancers on a contract basis, you get flexibility, and freedom of choice with less risk on project deadlines.
SMEs have an incredible advantage in adapting quickly to change. Start rethinking your recruitment model today, seizing opportunities to hire directly on a short- term basis, and you will remain ahead of any skills shortages.
Jennifer Maritz, CEO, Nvoi
