sonlymewalter

I have just completed an industry report which demonstrates over the next 5 - 10 years there is a shift to more part timers workers as opposed to full time, and from perm employment to contract work.

What this means is people could find themselves having 2 part time jobs instead of one full time job or alternatively working on set contracts for periods at a time. Permanent full time jobs are going to increasingly become a thing of the past.

Employers can increase or decrease staffing without the expense of redundancy.

Employees are going to be even less secure than they are today.

Kevin Rudd's wife has an employment agency. This trend should make them even busier. And richer of course

knockoff nige

I think this may or may not happen. Generally companies find employees less enthusiastic about their work when working on contracts. When people hav ejob security, they often have a certain amount of pride in what they do and so do it right. Most companies have a mission statement and expect employees to get on board with it. Very hard to do when they could be turfed out without any reason. I believe successful companies need fulltime permanent staff.

Amazulu

Great news. I'm a natural born contractor. 'Job security' is an excuse to pay you less IMO. A staffie would earn 60% of what I do.

Loyalty is a two way thing. If companies are not loyal to their employees then they should not expect loyalty in return. Do your job to the best of your abilty and get paid for it. All the rest is bullshit.

sonlymewalter

I agree with everything you said. Problem is - the trend moving fwd is for part time work or contract work over the coming years.

It's already happened. There is a slow moving trend which will accelerate over the next 10- 15 years

rabsody

The contractor mentality seems to be pretty well entrenched here though, it's quite different to UK which seems to be more protective of workers rights etc (this may have changed since I last worked there). Here it's definitely more of an 'easy come, easy go' type ethic with lots of casual work.

I think you could argue that contracting actually gives the employer a better result from the employee as you know they can let you go if you don't perform. It's a lot harder with a permanent employee, three written warnings, evidence etc.

sonlymewalter

I'm a consultant / contractor too so it doesn't affect me neither. My concern is two fold. Non skilled workers will not be able to negotiate as they will be "two a penny" and skilled workers will be fighting contracts based on cost as opposed to skill and capability. Whilst in principle contracting work seems the way to go, it will de-stabilize the workforce and those reliant on long term security.

The other thing to consider is the "fringe" benefits of working permanently and full time. Things like sick pay or holiday pay. This is not included in contract work and part time work will make this difficult. If someone works 2 part time jobs, how can they synchronize holiday dates to get the customary 2 weeks holiday and the other issues associated with working in two part time jobs as opposed to one full time job.

Personally I think the workers will suffer and it's a false economy for business / employers

steve99

You should be in government

Wave the Sails

Wave the Sails

Good points

sonlymewalter

Prime politician material