Nearly a quarter (23%) of organisations in Australia and New Zealand now employ temporary and contract staff on a regular and ongoing basis, according to the latest Hays Salary Guide. This figure has risen from 16% in 2009.

It is estimated that around 30-40% of Australia’s workforce is now a temporary, a contractor or a freelancer. “Non-permanent employees are nothing new, but the recent rapid rise in this form of working is,” says Nick Deligiannis, managing director of Hays in Australia and New Zealand.

“Permanent headcount freezes in recent years, a rise in projects and the attractiveness of a flexible workforce that can be released at short notice without financial penalty are some factors behind the new popularity of this long-standing method of employment.

“The on-demand and as-needed nature of temporaries, contractors and freelancers also makes them far more cost-effective than keeping skills unessential to the day-to-day operation of an organisation in-house. As a temporary employee is only paid for the hours worked, employers keep a tight control on their staffing costs and productivity at optimum levels,” he says.

Organisations also use freelancers to access “difficult-to-find technical or functional expertise, speed, flexibility and innovation”, Deligiannis adds, citing Harvard Business Review research at the Agile Talent Collaborative.

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