(Editor’s Note: This is the next in a series of guest blog posts about contract staffing, courtesy of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.  Similar posts will appear in future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.)
Not so long ago, many people felt compelled to choose between their career or family.  Now, as buzz phrases like “work-life balance” take over the workplace, the focus is on “having it all.”

While having it all may sound great in theory, it’s hard to come by in practice.  Juggling a full-time job and family responsibilities (which for many workers includes caring for children AND elderly parents) is not for the faint of heart.

That’s why, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, many skilled professionals are turning to contract staffing.  In what the article calls “a major shift,” temporary/contract placements of college-educated professionals has outpaced those of clerical and blue-collar temps.

In fact, placements of contractors in healthcare, technology, engineering, science, law, and accounting are expected to make up 52% of the expected $100.3 billion staffing industry revenue in 2012, according to the article, citing Staffing Industry Analysts statistics.

The article states that the reason for this shift is that workers are trying to find work with a more flexible or part-time schedule.  Contract/temporary work is a viable route to flexible work, particularly for those with in-demand skills such as engineering, IT, programming, and social media.

The article further states that these workers make between $20-$200 an hour, but typically do not get benefits.  This is where you, as a recruiter, can really make a difference.  Lack of benefits is a major factor that often holds candidates back from considering contract work.

But you could place your highly skilled candidates as contractors and outsource their employment to a contract staffing back-office, such as Top Echelon Contracting, that provides them with benefits.  That way, they can enjoy the flexibility that is possible through contracting without missing out on the benefits they can gain through traditional, full-time employment.

As a recruiter, your job is to provide your clients with the best of the best.  By providing candidates with the opportunity to “have it all,” you can attract the highest caliber talent and, as a result, attract the best placement opportunities.

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888.627.3678
dfledderjohann@topecheloncontracting.com
Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.
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(Editor’s Note: This is the next in a series of guest blog posts about contract staffing, courtesy of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.  Similar posts will appear in future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.)

According to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, companies are planning to increase their use of interns by 8.5% this summer.

The majority of these companies are planning to pay their interns, but if you have clients who are considering unpaid internships, this is a good time to remind them of the strict rules and risks of doing so.

In most cases, interns must be paid.  In order for internships to be legally unpaid, they must meet the following six criteria, as outlined in the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fact sheet on Internships Under the Fair Labor Standards Act:

1. The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment;

2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;

3. The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;

4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;

5. The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and

6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

Over the past couple of years, the DOL has been cracking down on illegal unpaid internships, so it is important that your clients handle their internships properly. You may want to suggest that they hire interns on a contract basis and outsource the employment of those interns to a contracting back-office.

That way, they can avoid the risk of not paying their interns without taking on the additional costs (benefits, employer taxes, etc.) and administrative burdens that comes with making them direct-hires.

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888.627.3678
DFledderjohann@TopEchelonContracting.com
Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.
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(Editor’s Note: This is the next in a series of guest blog posts about contract staffing, courtesy of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.  Similar posts will appear in future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.)

If you’re running your own back-office and offering benefits to your contractors, it is critical that you’re familiar and compliant with COBRA. COBRA, which stands for The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, was enacted in 1986. It requires employers with more than 20 employees to offer continuation of health care coverage when an employee loses coverage due to status changes, such as resigning, losing a job, or having hours reduced.

In addition to requiring employers to offer continuation coverage, there are numerous notification requirements that come with COBRA.  For instance, you must send a notice to employees explaining their COBRA rights when they first come onto your plan, and you must send another notice when they lose coverage so that they know how to elect COBRA.

The Department of Labor AND the IRS regularly conduct COBRA audits (and enforce penalties), so this is not something you want to get wrong.  The IRS is actually making it easier to comply by publishing a checklist of items it reviews during its COBRA audits, according to Infinisource, which is the third party COBRA administrator that Top Echelon Contracting uses.  This checklist, which is called “Audit Techniques and Tax Law to Examine COBRA Cases (Continuation of Employee Health Care Coverage),” explains:

• Which documents the IRS typically reviews during an audit.
• How the excise tax for noncompliance is calculated and applied.
• How election waivers work.
• Key definitions.

If you’re running your own back-office and are required to offer continuation coverage under COBRA, you may want to check this out.  You may also want to point this out to your clients who have to comply with COBRA.

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888.627.3678
DFledderjohann@TopEchelonContracting.com
Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.
Follow Debbie on Twitter.

(Editor’s Note: This is the next in a series of guest blog posts about contract staffing, courtesy of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.  Similar posts will appear in future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.)

While some employers have intentionally, and most likely illegally, shed their older workers in an effort to reduce costs, some companies are struggling to find experienced talent and are finding creative ways to find and retain it, according to a recent Washington Post article.

Older workers come with leadership and maturity that simply cannot be taught.  As they reach retirement age, they often want to cut back on work, but they don’t want to quit altogether.  Companies that can find ways to retain them or bring them back can benefit from their knowledge and experience.

One agency that has done this successfully is the U.S. Agriculture Department, according to the article.  Working with the National Older Worker Career Center, the department is hiring these workers on a temporary or part-time basis, often to complete specific projects.

As more retirees put off retirement, either due to the economy or their own desire to stay active, these types of retiree re-staffing arrangements are becoming more and more common.  We have even seen some recruiting firms focus their efforts solely on finding contract assignments for retirees.

If you have clients struggling to retain experienced talent and/or older candidates needing more flexible work, this is a niche you might want to look into.

— — —

888.627.3678
DFledderjohann@TopEchelonContracting.com
Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.
Follow Debbie on Twitter.

(Editor’s Note: This is the next in a series of guest blog posts about contract staffing, courtesy of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.  Similar posts will appear in future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.)

A recent article by Harvard Business Review focuses on how employers can retain their Generation X talent, but it appears that many workers from this generation may be better suited for contract assignments.

According to the article, 70% of Gen Xers surveyed by the Center for Talent Innovation stated that they prefer to work independently.  Consider the following quotes from workers interviewed for the survey:

• “Once I’ve learned my job, I like to move on.”
• “I need something new to keep things fresh.”
• “If it’s the right thing, I’d jump. I won’t stop learning or growing just to have a job.”

The article recommends that, in order to retain these employees, employers should invest in mentoring programs and allow employees to rotate through different types of jobs.

Another option is for these workers to consider contract assignments.  Contracting would allow them to try different companies, projects, industries, and job functions.

Do you have Generation X candidates who have a lot of talent but seem restless and easily bored?  If so, you may want to encourage them to consider contract assignments.

By placing them in positions that meet their career goals, you could find yourself a quality pool of contract candidates that will come to you again and again for more contract opportunities.

— — —

888.627.3678
DFledderjohann@TopEchelonContracting.com
Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.
Follow Debbie on Twitter.

(Editor’s Note: This is the next in a series of guest blog posts about contract staffing, courtesy of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.  Similar posts will appear in future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.)

Do your clients know how to hire for attitude?

According to Mark Murphy, author of Hiring for Attitude, employers’ inability to successfully assess candidates’ attitudes during the hiring process is the reason why so many fail so quickly.

In a recent Forbes interview, Murphy said that of the 200,000 new hires his research company recently tracked, 46% failed within the first 18 months.  Attitudinal reasons, such as lack of coachability, low levels of emotional intelligence, motivation, and temperament, accounted for 89% of those bad hires.

Attitude is harder to assess than skills because candidates can easily be tested for skills.  But if a candidate doesn’t possess all the necessary skills, they may be able to gain them through training.  However, training can’t change a candidate’s attitude.

So how can employers find candidates with the right attitudes?  Murphy recommends asking better interview questions and getting referrals from their star employees.  But the only way to truly know if a candidate’s attitude meshes with the company culture is to see them in action.

Your clients can do that by initially bringing workers in on a contract-to-direct basis.  That way, they can assess a candidate’s attitude for a certain amount of time before making the risky, and often costly, direct-hire commitment.

There are some things that the traditional job interview just cannot tell an employer.  By allowing your clients to try-before-they-buy, you can help them reduce their bad hires and become their valued partner as a result.

— — —

888.627.3678
DFledderjohann@TopEchelonContracting.com
Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.
Follow Debbie on Twitter.

(Editor’s Note: This is the next in a series of guest blog posts about contract staffing, courtesy of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.  Similar posts will appear in future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.)

Most people in recruitment expect that when the economy recovers from a recession, there will be a spike in the use of contractors.  But is contract staffing’s current growth just a knee-jerk reaction to the recession, or is it something more?

Well, a recent Washington Post article suggests that it could actually be “a fundamental change in the way Americans work,” one that both companies and workers are driving.  Companies plan to increase their use of contractors by 26% in the next two years, according to Staffing Industry Analysts.

Meanwhile, more workers are considering themselves “free agents,” jumping from project to project.  While many may have turned to contracting out of necessity when they couldn’t find traditional, full-time jobs, many now prefer it because they feel like they have more control.

The article echoes what we have been hearing from recruiters and what Top Echelon Contracting has been experiencing as a business.  Last year, we saw a 22% increase in the number of commercial contractors placed through our back-office.  We have written extensively on employers’ shift toward contractors and why workers want to be contractors in our quarterly newsletter, Contracting Corner.

Only time will tell, but it certainly does seem that the traditional workforce is changing.  If you are only taking direct-hire job orders, you may want to keep an eye on this issue and how it may affect your business.

— — —

888.627.3678
DFledderjohann@TopEchelonContracting.com
Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.
Follow Debbie on Twitter.

(Editor’s Note: This is the next in a series of guest blog posts about contract staffing, courtesy of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.  Similar posts will appear in future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.)

Despite government funding, Healthcare organizations are struggling to obtain the Health IT staff needed to automate their processes.

The federal government is funding several initiatives to help Healthcare organizations invest in IT.  For instance, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is providing funding for implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) through the The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.

But according to the HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) Leadership Survey, money is not enough.  Twenty-five percent of respondents said that the main barrier to IT implementation  is inadequate staffing resources.  Additionally, two-thirds said that their IT staff will increase in the next year.

Sounds like this is an area that is in major need of Health IT recruiters!  In fact, we have been hearing from recruiters that we work with that Health IT is a very hot area right now for both contract and direct job orders, so much so that some recruiters are even switching niches to take advantage of this need.

If you’re considering switching niches, this may be an area to consider!

— — —

888.627.3678
DFledderjohann@TopEchelonContracting.com
Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.
Follow Debbie on Twitter.

(Editor’s Note: This is the next in a series of guest blog posts about contract staffing, courtesy of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.  Similar posts will appear in future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.)

These days, you may not have to talk candidates into taking contract assignments because more candidates are actually seeking out contract work.  But if you do encounter a candidate who is reluctant to consider contract staffing, you may want to point them to a column titled “Why Temporary Work is Worth It” in Forbes magazine.

According to the column by Kerry Hannon, more than a third of American companies are operating with smaller staffs than before the recession.  No surprise there.

But what might surprise your candidates is that 36 percent of companies plan to hire contract/temp workers this year.  For candidates who have been out of work for a long time, this represents a whole new crop of job opportunities . . . IF they are willing to think outside the normal direct-hire box.

Hannon’s column gives candidates plenty of reasons to consider contract staffing (nine of them, to be precise):

1. Try different careers, industries, and companies.

2. If a candidate is unemployed, contract staffing gives them something to do, which builds confidence.

3. Contract work may eventually lead to a direct-hire position (temp-to-direct).

4. Make good money.  Hannon says many companies pay generously for contractors because they can solve a problem quickly without the usual “hand-holding and learning curve.”

5. Build a professional network.

6. Get new references.

7. “Keep resume alive.”  Contract work can fill the gaps in a candidate’s resume in between direct-hire jobs.

8. Keep skills current.

9. Get excited about a project without long-term expectations.  Hannon points out that knowing the job is temporary “can be tremendously freeing.”

— — —

888.627.3678
DFledderjohann@TopEchelonContracting.com
Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.
Follow Debbie on Twitter.

(Editor’s Note: This is the next in a series of guest blog posts about contract staffing, courtesy of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.  Similar posts will appear in future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.)

One of the most popular industries for contract staffing is Information Technology.  It is also one of the trickiest to navigate in terms of overtime requirements.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that most employees have to be paid at a rate of 1.5 times their regular pay rate for any hours worked over 40 during a work week.  However, the FLSA allows for certain job classifications to be exempt from these overtime regulations.  In most cases, in order to be exempt, employees who fall into those classifications must be paid on a salary rather than hourly basis.

Not so for those in “Computer-Related Occupations.”  The FLSA does allow qualified workers to be exempt from overtime even if they are paid on an hourly basis, as long as their hourly rate is at least $27.63.  To confuse matters further, the required minimum rate is different for those employed in California, and it can change annually.  The required minimum rate in California increased from $37.94 to $38.89 on January 1.

Changes may also be on the horizon for the federal law.  According to Business Management Daily, the Computer Professionals Update Act (CPU) has been introduced in the Senate with the goal of updating the FLSA in light of professions that have emerged as the Internet has grown.  Previously, the FLSA specified that those employed as a computer systems analyst, computer programmer, software engineer, or another similarly skilled position were eligible for the Computer-Related Occupations exemption.

The Act would more broadly define computer professionals as “any employee working in a computer or information technology occupation (including, but not limited to, work related to computers, information systems, components, networks, software, hardware, databases, security, internet, intranet, or websites) as an analyst, programmer, engineer, designer, developer, administrator, or other similarly skilled worker.”  They will still have to be paid at a rate of $27.63 per hour or greater ($38.89 or more in California) to be considered exempt from overtime.

If you place IT contractors, you may want to be familiar with these developments and keep a close eye on the progress of the CPU.

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888.627.3678
DFledderjohann@TopEchelonContracting.com
Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.
Follow Debbie on Twitter.