How Coronavirus has impacted staffing solutions industry?

According to the updates from World O’ Meter, 383,389 cases of COVID-19 infection have been confirmed so far, and 16,582 deaths have been documented. With the situation worsening with every passing minute, industries from all the sectors, all around the world, are facing a beating like never before – and staffing solutions industry is no exception.

To survive the pandemic, businesses are quickly adapting their infrastructures to keep their head above the water. It is quite possible that the legacy of COVID-19 will forever change the landscape of recruiting and staffing industry.

Shutdown of travel companies
Staffing solutions organizations whose major clients include travel companies have taken the brunt of it as most travel companies have shutdown completely for the time being and put the recruitment process on hold. Companies like TUI and Virgin Atlantic have frozen their recruitment process due to a sudden drop in the number of bookings. The companies can barely even provide for their existing employees and as a result, are offering unpaid leaves to lessen the blow.

Falling number of applicants
According to a report by WaveTrackR, a data analytics tool, there has been a 19% fall in the number of applicants in January 2020 compared to January 2019 and a staggering 47% fall in February 2020 compared to February 2019. This goes to show that people are waiting for this wave of destruction to pass before they apply for a new job and are basking in the security of the jobs they currently hold.

Moreover, since the nature of the staffing solutions industry is such that face-to-face contact is required, it has been difficult for many organizations to manage the recruitment process. However, there are some companies that have resorted to online recruitment by using video conferencing tools like Skype and Zoom. This may even make the process quicker and more efficient.

An important thing to note here, though, is that while the online recruitment process is great for hiring Freshers and mid-level employees, the hiring of executive level employees still requires a face-to-face interaction, simply because of the nature of the position they’re applying for. As a result executive level hiring is going to be suspended in all the firms until the pandemic subsides.

Remote working and flexi-staff
To keep their businesses afloat, while also ensuring the safety for their staff, most companies have resorted to “work from home” policy. While this isn’t the most efficient way of doing work for some companies, it is the only option and is helping them keep their head above the water. It’s like they say, “Something is better than nothing.”

The companies who have been least affected are the ones whose majority of staff is flexi-staff – which means, a workforce that isn’t permanently bound to the company but is on hire for a certain amount of time. Even the staffing solutions company who are in the businesses of providing flexi-staff are faring much better. People who comprise the flexi-staff are seasoned freelancers and are excellent at working from home.

So, naturally, the companies that have a large portion of their workforce as flexi-staff are doing better than their counterparts. These contract workers are also relatively safer from being laid-off as the pandemic hasn’t affected their workflow too much.

It is difficult to predict, however, when this will all be over, it will still take quite a substantial amount of time for the global economy to get back on track. With the combined efforts and global collaboration, though, the gaping hole in the fabric of economy that has been caused by this pandemic can be sewn.

-- Abhishek Agarwal, Senior Vice President, Judge Group.