A considerable number of employees in Britain are considering replacing their permanent contracts for temporary or interim positions in order to achieve a better work-life balance.
This is according to a recent study by staffing business Walters People, part of the Robert Walters Group, reported Recruitment International.
It found that 40 per cent of UK staff would think about taking up a temporary or contract position, with nearly half (47 per cent) of those considering this citing a better lifestyle as the reason why.
Higher hourly pay was the second most common factor behind this decision, with 29 per cent saying they would opt for a short-term arrangement to achieve a better wage. This was followed by more flexibility (26 per cent) and learning new skills (19 per cent).
Director of Walters People London Phill Westcott noted there are nearly five million people in Britain who are self-employed, which is a huge increase from a decade ago.
“This shift is not down to any one generation, but is an indicator of where the mindset of the UK workforce is moving,” Mr Westcott stated.
He added: “Work-life balance, reticence to be part of corporate structures, lack of training or progression, unpaid overtime, exposure to new industries and the desire to seek out interesting project type work are just a few of the common reasons we often hear professionals who have made the contract-role switch or would like to.”
The report found that contracting vacancies in the UK rose by 29 per cent in Q2 2019, with the biggest increases being seen in Birmingham (growing by 77 per cent), Manchester (increasing by 38 per cent), and London, where they rose by 37 per cent.
Professionals in IT are the most likely to request contract work, with nearly half doing so; this is followed by procurement and supply chain (46 per cent), and banking and financial services (45 per cent).
Mr Westcott added that more businesses are “now realising the benefits of contractors and a flexible workforce, rather than seeing it as a response to climate or business conditions”. These benefits include greater access to specialised skills and experience, a faster turnaround for projects, and reducing the recruitment time between full-time staff.
Whether being hired for temporary or permanent contracts, recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed 59.7 per cent of UK households had all residents aged 16 and over in employment.
This amounts to 12.5 million out of 20.9 million households where every adult is holding down a job, representing an increase of 1.1 per cent from last year.
The ONS figures also showed the employment rate for women with young children was 75.1 per cent for April to June 2019, which is higher than the 70.6 per cent of women without dependents who work. The employment rate for women also increases as the youngest offspring gets older, most probably because parents have more options when it comes to childcare when their kids start school.
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