2022 will be the year of contingent workforce for US businesses

Due to the nature of the pandemic’s effect on the job market, and the inevitable uncertainty that was created for so many businesses and individuals alike, resignation rates in the United States fell sharply in 2020.

In 2021 however, a very different picture began to emerge, with individuals resigning from their employment at historically high rates, with a workforce which was seemingly suffering a collective fatigue, prompting some to refer to the occurrence as ‘The Great Resignation’.

Considering this historically high resignations trend, the demand for contingent workers, within financial services in the US, has surged, and these numbers are reflected by those presented recently by the Bureau of Labour Statistics.

Their report stated that a record number of Americans – 4.5 million to be exact, left their jobs in November 2021 alone. This was on a par with September’s record levels, with 3% of the workforce quitting each month. According to estimates, 75.5 million people in the United States will retire in 2021. Furthermore, according to a poll conducted by ResumeBuilder.com, approximately 23% of the workforce will be looking for new jobs in 2022.

What has led to this mass-resignation trend?

This shift in the market can be accounted for by several factors, including burnout, working from home, having a better work life balance, and looking into new opportunities as more enticing roles have more readily become available as the world emerges from the depths of the COVID pandemic. Firms are now putting contingency staffing plans in place to try and keep up with the surge in resignations. This has been especially difficult for financial services firms who have been battling to keep up with additional regulatory pressures placed upon teams, as well as continuing BAU.

The great surge in resignations means more time and money, for which many do not have or have not budgeted for. Firms will need to ensure that they don’t find themselves caught up in the great resignation of 2022, where losing staff during these next few months could have very detrimental impacts on bottom line results.

The Contingent workforce will need to become a central part of US business models

In a landscape with increased financial crime, increased regulatory demand and additional BAU work following delay periods during the pandemic, firms should be quick to adopt new hiring models that embrace the changing staffing landscape.

With new shifts in hiring and retaining staff, more and more firms are turning to the contingent model to help deliver on key projects, cope with influxes of work, and resume BAU. It solves a significant challenge of staffing in an efficient and cost-effective manner without the need of long interview periods, not to mention onboarding.

In a fast-moving marketplace, the recruitment process is slow. It takes months to source good, qualified candidates.

Validation processes are lengthy and costly. There is a risk of hiring the wrong candidate which can set the company up for reputational damage, project delay/financial loss. Equally there is risk to the candidate of career damage and loss of income from working with a company that is misrepresenting themselves.

Hiring contingent teams offers multiple benefits – cost reduction is one of them. Firms are opting to keep their overheads low but are struggling to do so with the rising labour cost due to the shortage of skilled professionals, thus they often turn to contingent teams to help fill this void.

Society has of course also changed, and the great resignation is indicative of this. Professionals are opting for flexibility and fulfilment, swapping a traditional ‘job for life’ mentality for freelancing and contingent working.

What is needed is an on-demand professional resource and services solution

Momenta have over 100 in-house team specialists who work directly alongside our clients to truly understand their business needs. This enables us to select and deploy suitable resources, quickly and efficiently.

Whether a project is straightforward or complex, small or at scale, Momenta handle each brief individually, delivering a custom solution to meet real-time needs.

At Momenta, we are continually building our ecosystem of validated, contingent financial services associates with the optimum industry skill sets, readily available when additional specialist support is needed.

Whether you require resources to assist with large scale remediation or front facing customer service roles, our associates’ extensive experience deliver results, on time and cost effectively.

With an enviable record for placing the highest calibre of personnel, Momenta is trusted by both top-quality candidates and clients for:

  1. Specialist knowledge of current financial services industry insights, understanding client needs and delivering the relevant professional skill sets.
  2. Consistency delivered through our robust and scalable financial services professional resourcing process, ensuring you receive the same high-quality standard whether you require 1 or 100 associates.
  3. Cost effective solutions using our contingent resourcing model or our specialist offshore capabilities with full vetting, validation and quality control standards applied to both.
  4. Global availability, ensuring you have a single point of contact to provide high calibre associates for your specific resourcing requirements.

Get in touch with our expert team of consultants to discuss your contingent workforce requirements.