CONTRACT hire of older, specialised professionals could help mitigate the talent crunch in the short run, according to Robert Walters, founder of the recruitment firm of the same name. But companies and workers will have to change their mindsets about temporary work. 'It may be the 50 to 70-year-old bloke that will save the day, combined with flexible working,' said Mr Walters, in town to look over the firm's operations here.
In Singapore, temporary work is often seen as a means to an end, such as a permanent position, he said. But in other countries, people choose to work on a contract basis and earn a premium over permanent staff.
They are often professionals with specialised knowledge, such as a 50-something lawyer who no longer wants a corporate position but is an expert on joint ventures, employment laws or patent laws.
Companies elsewhere are used to hiring contract workers to ease pressures on permanent staff, Mr Walters said. Cyclical sectors like banking or telecoms are reluctant to take on permanent staff too quickly, after going through significant downturns in 1991 and 2001.
Foreign companies also use temp staff as 'off-balance sheet hiring', he said. They may cut staff but hire the majority back as contract workers, who are expensed under a different line in the financial statements.
Robert Walters Singapore managing director Mark Ellwood said Singapore's contract market has evolved but a mindset change is still needed.
'Traditionally, the contract market in Asia is restricted to secretarial and IT functions,' he said. 'The professional sectors have yet to develop a contract market. We're looking at that and promoting it.'
Regulation is slowly catching up, Mr Ellwood said. He praised the Ministry of Manpower's recent Work Holiday Programme, which allows foreign students or recent graduates from certain countries to work in Singapore for up to six months so they can explore opportunities here.
This mirrors policies in the UK and Australia that allow so-called working holidays for up to two years, which have been a great source of job candidates in the two countries, he said. Mr Walters said he has 'never seen anything like this shortage' in his 30 years in the HR business.
The strongest factors are the demographics of an ageing population and a shortage of people.
