This has led to the share of temp employees rising to 20-22% currently from 12-15% a decade back, and could touch 40% by FY28, they added.
“The technology in telecom (2G, 3G, 4G, and now 5G) is evolving rapidly. So, companies are finding it more efficient to hire employees on contract rather than reskilling their entire workforce frequently,” RP Yadav, chairman and managing director, Genius Consultants<\/a>, a Kolkata-based staffing firm said.
While reskilling and upskilling is an exercise undertaken by most companies, it is time intensive. So, while a part of the permanent workforce is upskilled and reskilled to meet the demands of newer technologies and related applications, a chunk of the human resources requirements is also fulfilled using the contract route.
“There are certain job requirements that are tactical for a company, in that the requirement will last until a phase in the business development journey for the company. Contract workers are an efficient way to fill these requirements,” said Kartik Narayan, chief executive - staffing, TeamLease Services<\/a>.
A current example of such a strategy would be hiring technicians to lay out fibre and install fibre to the home (FTTH<\/a>) connections when a company launches services in a new market. In case of 5G rollouts too, a lot of ground staff is needed to set up cell sites, for example, and most of them can be let go after the initial set-up.
Instead of hiring and firing full time employees, which reflect badly on a company’s work culture, contract-based workers are a better fit for such roles, staffing experts said.
“On the other hand, the demand for temp employees in the telecom industry<\/a> might also be a result of workforce restructuring or fear of impact from global recessionary trends,” Sanjay Shetty, director, professional search and selection, Randstad India, added.
Reliance Jio<\/a>, Bharti Airtel<\/a>, and Vodafone Idea did not respond to queries on the matter sent by ET.
With demand for temp employees on the rise, the pay gap between temp and permanent employees has gone down to 5% in the sector.
A recent report by TeamLease said in some cities, this delta was as low as two percent.
“There has been a significant improvement in the pay-outs for contractual workers in the last two years due to formalization of the gig economy and establishment of social security codes that recognize gig workers as an ‘employee’ in the purview of law,” Randstad’s Shetty observed.
Events like 5G rollout<\/a> also leads to heightened demand for skilled contractual workers, which has also helped narrow the gap. Permanent employees however continue to enjoy better perks, staffing professionals maintained.
“Contract-based employees tend to move from one firm to another within the sector, acquiring new skills and upgrading existing skills. This also helps them negotiate a better pay for their future gigs,” Narayan added.
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