Contractors dominating finance, accounting roles

Megan Alexander of Robert Half

While many permanent employees are worried for their jobs in the global downturn, finance and accounting contractors are still in hot demand, according to an international survey.

The research was carried out by recruitment specialists Robert Half.

The firm questioned finance, HR and senior level executives in 20 countries for its 2009 Workplace Survey, asking whether the economic downturn was likely to affect the number of contractors or temporary staff their department hired.

Eighty-five per cent of New Zealanders questioned said their department was likely to either maintain or increase its use of temps during the downturn - putting them on par with Brazil and the Netherlands.

New Zealand's executives said the main reason for using temporary staff during an economic downturn was that they brought flexibility to the workforce. More than a third of them also saw hiring temporary staff as a possible cost-saving measure, and almost a third said that temps were able to supplement core staff during busy periods.

"Many companies are nervous about hiring permanent staff because they don't know what the next 12 months will bring," said Megan Alexander, senior manager with Robert Half. "But the work still has to be done and, especially with teams becoming tighter, remaining permanent staff simply may not have time to absorb everything that needs to be done."

Hiring contractors to carry out the more mundane tasks during busy periods made sense on several levels, Alexander said.