Is temping the way to go for professionals today?
By Anonya Roy, SiliconIndia | Monday, 13 December 2010, 12:57 IST

Bangalore: Traditionally, Indians are conditioned from a very young age that the prime goal of our life is to get job, a permanent one at that, and be settled in life. But changing lifestyles have caused a huge setback to that norm. Our aims and goals have taken a different direction altogether. With new lines of study cropping, coupled with the availability of short term courses, people want to know it all and do it all at one time. So how does one do that? How does a person pursue his different areas of interest when he has a job to report at?
For people who do not want to be tied down to a single job and look to follow other opportune areas, temping is the way to go. Temping, which involves recruiting employees for a certain time period or for a particular project rather than hiring permanently, can prove beneficial to employees and employers, providing flexibility to both the parties involved. Even the renumeration in the temp jobs are fast catching up with the industry standards.
"Temping brings in several advantages for the employee. It can be a first time job opportunity and pathway to getting a permanent placement. The employee gains financial independence and flexibility in work. One can get access to multinational companies through temping," says Sudhakar Balakrishnan, CEO and Managing Director, Adecco India.
While it can lead to permanent employment, those who want to seek newer avenues it serves them just right. The process of temping is simple. Balakrishnan explains that it is an agreement among three parties- the client company, the employee and the temping agency. The temp worker is employed by the agency and is under its pay roll but works in the facility of the client company. Once the employee's contract is over with the client company, he can move on to other job or go back to study a new course. Temping makes taking a break in the course of your career easier.
In India, the trend of temping is moving at a slow pace. At present the organized workforce has about 0.4-0.5 percent temp workers. But the future looks bright for temping in India as the companies are realizing the benefits of temping and are now coming out of their conservative mould of hiring employees on a permanent basis.
From the companies' point of view, temping provides manifold benefits. While shifting the job of talent hunting to a third party takes the burden off from non-core administrative functions, it also ensures the placement of right person at the right place in the right time. They can hire for specialized requirements for a project or to replace leave vacancies, sudden terminations. Temping ascertains hiring of skilled and experienced workers, relieving the company spending time and money in training.
Temping lets both the employer and employee have their cake and eat it too. In a world where change is the only constant, will temping gain momentum and become the new normal for professionals of today?