Many businesses are beginning to turn to skills augmentation as a solution to the skills gap or just for temporary expertise. However, this trend is changing the workforce, both now and in the future.
While we can help augment teams with our expertise, we also know this does affect how businesses hire and train. Overall, we feel it’s actually a good thing.
Create A More Gig-Based Workforce
According to one survey, 57% of businesses hire temporary employees. This can range from filler when an employee is on extended leave to just getting help with a one-time project. However, it showcases a trend known as the gig economy. As more businesses need specialized skills temporarily, we’re finding more employees are turning their specialized skills into side gigs. The same study found that 36% of employees currently have a side gig.
Increases In Outsourcing
Outsourcing is definitely a trend that’s re-shaping the workforce. Skills augmentation is just a form of outsourcing. As businesses seek more specialized skills, more people may work as freelancers or in companies that specialize in outsourcing. For instance, skilled IT professionals may work for us versus trying to find a place on IT teams at non-IT businesses.
Encourage More Life-Long Learning
One impact on the workforce that’s rarely mentioned is the potential increase for life-long learning. When businesses focus on skills augmentation, it encourages employees to learn more about these specialized skills. After all, if a business is hiring temporary help, mastering those skills could lead to pay increases or a new job completely.
Pew Research Center found that 63% of employed Americans consider themselves professional life-long learners as they work to gather more skills to improve their careers. Of course, they could also be using their new skills to land side gigs.
Make General Skills More Ideal For Employers
In order to reduce costs, employers could begin to focus more on hiring employees with general skill sets. Hiring a new employee is a costly process and hiring the wrong person can cost businesses up to $25,000 and sometimes more. The more specialized skills a business needs, the higher the costs and the longer the process.
To save time and money, businesses focus on general skills, which work for the majority of daily tasks, but turn to skills augmentation for specialized tasks and projects. They’ll use specialized workers much like pieces of a puzzle to complete their teams when necessary.
Want to learn more about specialized skills to grow your business? Contact us today to find out how we can help.