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Employers are under pressure to boost productivity while carefully controlling cash flow, and in a tight labour market this means the way people work is increasingly flexible.
The talent shortage means flexible work arrangements are gaining momentum. Businesses are now willing to outsource projects to mothers wanting to work on a casual basis, or employ contractors over retirement age.
Jason Walker, managing director of Hays New Zealand, is seeing more organisations having the technology to enable them to be flexible. "It was always about, 'how can you guarantee that the people are actually doing the work?' Businesses now have the technology to monitor the work and it can be done at home or in the office."
Recognising business owners are struggling to find labour resources for specific assignments or contracts, Jane Robson has launched a new agency, TalentedMums, to bring together skilled mothers looking for work and employers.
From a corporate background at Telecom, after having her second child, Robson realised through "school-gate conversations" the extent of the talent untapped in the "forgotten workforce" of mothers who want to work in an ad-hoc or project-based way.
Mothers wanting to work like this are registering on her database daily - there are more than 40 already, and marketing has only been via word of mouth. Talent varies from lawyers to PAs and food technologists, but not all of the women want to resume working in the same field they were in before having children.
Feedback from employers, says Robson, is that outsourcing work to talented mothers is less costly and risky for businesses than recruiting permanent staff.
"They only have to pay for the hours needed." And with today's technology, they don't need to provide office space and tools for those who prefer to work from home.
Nicola van der Peet has done two projects through TalentedMums after being out of the corporate world for eight years. One was sourcing a promotional product to be branded for a company, the other a product sales promotion for a large corporate, which gave her training beforehand.
She had "fun" mingling with customers to discuss the product at the half-day event.
Going back to work in the "real world" also gives mothers a welcome chance to move out of their comfort zone. "It's a change from getting the kids ready, dropping them at school, doing the housework and shopping - it's good to get out there and be busy doing something different," says van der Peet.
"You learn things along the way as well and it gives you more confidence. You actually lose confidence once you have been out of the workforce for a while."
Robson says employers who have outsourced work through her agency have been so pleased with the results they have sent more projects her way.
They have reportedly found the maturity talented mothers bring to their businesses to be a breath of fresh air. "You have so many other things you're juggling that you're pretty efficient when you're working," says van der Peet. "Mothers are renowned for their ability to successfully multi-task," Robson laughs.
Another employment trend Walker is seeing is many more contractors over the age of 65 across all industries and sectors because, he says, so many baby boomers are moving out of the labour market.
"We have 72-year-olds out there contracting who are getting great feedback; they are mentoring younger staff; they're getting the results in terms of the output they're producing."
Demand for older workers has meant his agency has set up a new division in Australia called Hays Age Advantage, which focuses on placing over-50s in employment, and Walker says it's having great success. "Older workers have a lot of intellectual property to contract and consult back into the workforce."
