Flexi staffing refers to the situation where organizations hire employees temporarily, either for a fixed period or until the completion of a task. These employees can be from staffing agencies or referrals on a contract basis. Flexi staffing is becoming increasingly popular among workplaces to complete short-term projects and goals effectively.

Flexi staffing also helps organizations who might require a lot of workforce during a specific period. 

• Temporary employees who are sent to an organization from Staffing Companies for a specific set period
• Leased employees, a portion of the workforce from a staffing agency that takes orders from a client but on the agency’s payroll
• Contract workers who work on the system of contract staffing. Contract workers work for one client at a tie at the behest of their agency. These employees only work for a set period or until the completion of a project. 
• A critical difference between contract and temporary employees is that the client pays contact employees, and the staffing agency pays temporary employees. 

Benefits of Flexi Staffing: The most significant advantage to employers that contract staffing brings to the table is decreased cost to the company to hire new employees. The amount of investment required to bring in new employees is reduced significantly 

• Employers can hire individuals with specific skills to suit their requirements. This also reduces the amount of time and investment required to find full-time employees for those roles or with those particular skillsets. 
• Flexibility is another significant advantage as Flexi staffing allows employers to respond quickly to the market’s needs and demands and adapt more readily to any changes. 
• Contract staffing can be beneficial as there will be an immediate impact as well as a fresh set of perspectives that could lead to better workflow and growth. 

Flexi Staffing Trends in India

Flexi staffing is becoming more popular among Indian workplaces. Major companies like Infosys, Wipro, and Cognizant are looking to adopt more third party payroll service strategies in their organizations. 

• According to a survey by Kelly Services and the Society for Human Resource Management in 2018, 42% of organizations surveyed said they would look at contract staffing in the next three to six months. The same survey saw 68% of organizations stating that they already hired temp staff for a period of six months to a year on short term projects. 
• The Indian Staffing Federation in 2018 stated that the Flexi staffing industry was increasing at 14-20%, and 60% of organizations engaging in temporary staffing or Flexi staffing found that they were able to overcome a downturn much faster than those that did not. 
• India’s tech services industry worth 177 Billion USD is looking to employ over 7 lakh people to reduce bench strengths and faster deployment of changing skillsets according to a report by the Economic Times in 2019. 
• India stood fifth in the world in terms of numbers in Flexi staffing with 3.3 million people in the country and valued at 4.19 billion USD, according to a report by the Indian Staffing Federation in 2018. According to the Hindu Business Line, the Flexi staffing industry is poised to read a workforce of 6.1 million by 2021 at a growth rate of 22.7%.

What This Means for the Indian Market:

Given that many workforces are becoming more technology-driven, Contract staffing may soon overtake regular or full-time staffing solutions in many major organizations. This also will allow organizations to adapt more quickly to seasonal or cyclic changes and demands in the marketplace. Flexi staffing will also see the creation of thousands of jobs for employees looking for flexible working conditions. With the government becoming more involved in job creation for the youth of the country, staffing has emerged as a viable means of doing so. Its effectiveness will be seen in the days ahead.