| After huddling in our bunkers for much of
the past 18 months we look forward to restoring growth and prosperity to our companies.
Many firms will find, however, that they are unable to harness the early breezes of
expansion due to resource constraints that are a direct result of recent knee-jerk staff
reductions.
Peter Cappelli, Wharton management professor and director
of the school's Center for Human Resources observed that the recent economic crisis forced
many managers to focus only on the short-term. Slaves to quarterly performance
expectations, departments cut employees with little concern for the long-term impact of
layoffs. In many cases they were forced to sacrifice core competencies resulting in a
devastating brain drain.
As an expert on post-recession employment recovery Cappelli
knows that it will be some time before hiring begins again in earnest. "Companies
will always wait to see that the demand is there because the fixed cost of hiring isn't
trivial." Instead companies will use contract/temporary workers to hedge their bets
on hiring, rather than committing to paying wages and benefits to permanent, full-time
workers.
The use of contract labor to augment one's staff isn't a
new concept. In fact prior to the recession it was fairly commonplace in IT, Finance and
even Human Resources. Many firms outsourced whole projects or departments to large
staffing firms. But this practice was less prevalent in marketing.
Top 5 Reasons to Hire Outside Marketing Expertise Now
If you find yourself short on talent necessary to grow your
business consider these benefits of augmenting your existing staff with temporary
marketers:
1) No long-term commitment.
You can generally hire full- or part-time marketing resources by the hour, week or month
without committing to long-term employment. This allows you to cover temporary holes (i.e.
maternity leave) or limited workload surges (i.e. a new product launch) without affecting
headcount.
2) Scale up or down at will.
Flexibility is the biggest benefit of contract marketers. As your needs change so can your
temporary workforce whether it be the overall number of contractors you use or the
individual skill levels you choose to access.
3) New ideas.
New marketers bring a fresh perspective and new ideas. By augmenting your current staff
with marketers from other backgrounds and industries you bring new ways of approaching old
problems to your organization.
4) Rent-to-Buy Option.
In a resource constrained environment hiring the wrong person can be catastrophic. In many
cases, hiring a marketer on a short-term contract allows you to test drive them before
committing to permanent employment.
5) Saves Time and Money.
HR experts say it costs a company a year's salary just to hire a new employee. Depending
on the level of the position it can take 2-6 months to land the right candidate. In the
meantime, work is falling through the cracks. Contract marketers are generally available
to start making contributions within 48 hours with little or no up-front costs.
The final chapters of The Great Recession will be written
in the next 12-18 months. Those who boldly embrace the nascent recovery will gain share
and thrive in the years to come. Those who continue to cower and wait for better days may
be irreparably harmed. But seizing the initiative will take resources, specifically the
arms and legs necessary to keep your marketing initiatives on track. Perhaps now is the
time to take a new look at securing temporary marketing talent. |
