Alternative Staffing

Definition (1):

Temporary employees serve as examples of alternative staffing- fundamentally, the utilization of nontraditional sources of recruitment. Other examples of alternative staffing arrangements consist of “in-house temporary employees” (individuals employed directly by the organization, but on a specific short-term basis) and “contractual technical employees” (highly-skilled professionals like engineers, who perform for long-term projects under contract from an external technical services company).

Definition (2):

It indicates hiring people on a part-time or as required basis, generally under short-term contract and for particular services.

Alternative staffing has some advantages for employers as well as employees who enjoy extended free time and flexibility.

• It offers more flexibility to employers for adapting to changes in labor requirements and market conditions. The capability of adapting the labor pool to the immediate requirement can be a great advantage if effectively managed.
• It causes lower labor costs because companies do not require appointing full-time employees for each role. Suppose a small company that requires an accountant for 5 hours per week, appointing a full-time accountant will be costly as well as a waste of resources.
• Labor laws are generally rigid regarding severance packages, tax filings, and various benefits paid. These can be mostly avoided by using alternative staffing.
• It offers more flexibility than conventional full-time roles in selecting the work and managing the work schedule for employees.
• Probably individuals can earn higher income through working as part-time employees in multiple organizations than they can earn as full-time employees in a single organization.