I live the changes that have come to the IT world in corporate America: I’m a contract consultant who goes where the demand is. What I mean by that is the market has changed over the last twenty years. It has gone from where employees could count on a job for life to where you’re hired on to perform a specific task within a given time frame. Once you have completed that task, you move on.
For instance, I work for a recruiting firm headquartered out of New Jersey. I’m assigned as a Project Manager to a major corporation in Deerfield, IL. The ratio of contract consultants to full-time employees is 75% – 25% and wants to change that ratio to 90% – 10%. Many companies today find it increasingly beneficial to hire contractors who specialize in what the company needs. MCI’s Dick Liebhaber pointed out that it is easier to buy scope than to recruit, train and mentor permanent employees (Fleming, 2003). Companies can instantly buy the brain power they need for the specific task at hand. The cost savings in training and benefits has to be enormous.
Global trends are also affecting how HR manages resources. The breadth of the available pool of talent opens tremendously when you have the world in which to look. Jeremy C. Bradley, in his article in the Houston Chronicle, notes how traditionally HR has been a somewhat isolated profession, but with globalization and mass communication the world is becoming a smaller place (Bradley, 2015). Training has to be a cross-cultural event; meetings are conducted using multi-technical tools like big screen television, WebEx and webinars. Many things have to be considered when putting a team together.
What is interesting, and it takes the opposite view, is a study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management in which respondents stated that the three biggest challenges facing HR Professionals was retaining qualified help, developing the next generation of corporate leaders, and creating a corporate culture that attracts the best qualified employees (Society for Human Resource Management, 2012). It looks to be an interesting task considering that many companies, and MCI, are moving in exactly the opposite direction.
References:
Bradley, J. C. (2015). Global trends that will affect human resources. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/global-trends-affect-human-resources-61643.html
Fleming, Q. W. (2003). Project procurement management: Contracting, subcontracting, teaming. Tustin, CA: FMC Press.
Society for Human Resource Management. (2012). Challenges facing hr over the next 10 years. Survey Findings.
Subramanian, V., & Ramachandran, R. (2010). McGraw-Hill’s PMP certification mathematics: project management professional exam preparation. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Verzuh, E. (2012). The fast forward MBA in project management, fourth edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Westland, J. (2006). The project management life cycle: A complete step-by-step methodology for initiating, planning, executing and closing the project successfully. London: Kogan Page.
