Temp work booms as employers move to slash hiring costs

Six in 10 recruiters are opting for such temporary hiring strategies.

Temporary and contractual work is set to gain further momentum in Hong Kong’s job market this year as the percentage of recruiters opting for such flexible working options rose from 57% to 62% YoY in 2017, according to Hays Asia salary guide.

More than a fifth (22%) plan to increase the composition of temporary workers in their organisation’s workforce whilst only 7% opted to decrease contractual workers. Almost three quarters (71%) are planning to maintain their current percentage of temp employees.

“A growing number of organisations in Hong Kong are using contractors and temporary workers for a number of reasons from containing costs to sourcing specialist expertise for specific projects,” said Hays Hong Kong & South China managing director Dean Stallard, .

A separate report confirmed these findings as over 90% of CIOs in the city admitted to a hiring preference for temporary IT talent in a bid to save costs whilst maintaining the company's permanent headcount. 

Of the companies engaging contractors and temporary staff, a fifth (20%) do on a regular basis whilst 42% only do so for ad hoc or special projects and another 20% enlist the services of contractors only under exceptional circumstances. A measly 18% shun such flexible hiring strategies.

Amongst its five Asian neighbors, Japanese recruiters are seen as the most open to contract and temp work at 85% followed by Singapore at 66%. Malaysia and Mainland China similarly expressed high levels of optimism for temporary hiring arrangements at 59% and 46% respectively.

“We see the use of contractors in particular to be the new norm in Asia with key countries that compete with Hong Kong tapping into this type of flexible staffing on a more regular basis,” added Stallard.