Professional gig economy prospers amid skills shortage

● More than half of CEOS concerned about lack of skills ● Covering longterm staff absence deemed top benefit

The professional gig economy has been boosted by an “intensifying war for talent” as digitalisation and a lack of suitable staffing resource create critical skills gaps, a new report published today has found.

The 2019 salary guide from recruiter Robert Half, which has an office in Edinburgh, found that 28 per cent of UK businesses – equivalent to 1.6 million firms – plan to hire temporary or contract staff in the next 12 months.

The business added that this is driving a boom in shortterm hires and contributing to the growth of the professional gig economy – the use of temporary or interim specialised staff on a short-term basis to fill skills gaps.

Such an agile strategy provides a short to medium term solution while business leaders invest in internal training to upskill their current workforce – with 17 per cent planning to do so in the next year – or continue to look for new, permanent staff to help them realise growth ambitions.

Amid Brexit uncertainty and a potential shrinking of the skilled talent pool, more than a third of UK companies say short-term employees are currently filling skills gaps in their organisations. The top benefits of hiring temporary or contract staff in the next 12 months were found to be supporting long-term staff absence (35 per cent), providing staffing flexibility (34 per cent) and to act as a stopgap between permanent hires (32 per cent).

And about two-fifths of respondents consider digitalisation to be the main evolving force in the workplace today.

Indeed, 31 per cent of employers state that a candidate’s technical skillset is their most important consideration when making a new hire.

And Robert Half also discovered that over half of chief executives are concerned about the significant lack of digital skills in the UK talent market, as businesses battle to adapt to artificial intelligence, automation and digitisation.

Robert Half said such a skills shortage is “especially prevalent” in the technology sector, which it said is estimated to have a 40,000-strong deficit in professionals with the qualifications needed to meet the demands of the UK economy.

Matt Weston of Robert Half commented: “An intensifying war for talent and business growth plans have provided a significant boost to the professional gig economy.”

He added that access to an immediate pool of specialist talent “prevents costly project delays and helps businesses realise their potential and compete in an increasingly digital world.

“Furthermore, flexible, strategic staffing models – those with a dynamic mix of permanent employees and highly-skilled temporary professionals – can provide companies of all sizes with the agility to quickly increase or decrease the size of their workforce.”