Management guru says contractors are future UK workforce

Charles Handy, the author and social commentator, told the recent Recruitment Industry Resource conference at the Institute of Directors that the UK job market "would increasingly comprise independent and contract workers."

Mr Handy, once voted the UK's only world-class management guru, said the UK employment landscape is "undergoing many changes that the recruitment industry needs to recognise."

He said: "The business lifecycle for all industries is getting shorter. Workers, employers and recruiters need to adapt to a growing culture of 'flea' workers," which he described as, "the independents and creatives that keep the traditional 'elephant' organisations from stagnation. Whether by choice or otherwise, workers, recruiters and employers need to re-evaluate the relationship between the core business and ancillary workers and ensure that independents are given the flexibility to innovate that will keep organisations on their toes."

Mr Handy challenged the recruitment industry to re-assess its role in society and said those wider social responsibilities also present new business opportunities. He identified four types of 'flea' worker who will increasingly shape the future UK employment scene and whose needs are poorly served for the most part.

• 'Occasional fleas' - such as student workers;
  
• 'Involuntary fleas' such as those who have been made redundant;
  
• 'In-house fleas' or 'maverick' creatives; and
  
• 'Professional' fleas, such as consultants.

He told the conference: "'Professional fleas' are already well-served in the employment scene. However, the new types of flea are still finding their feet in a changing society and they present many opportunities for new business services."

Handy pointed to four key areas that need urgently addressing. He told managers from top recruitment agencies from around the UK that the recruitment industry stands to gain new business opportunities by facing up to the social responsibility of "addressing corruption" and "lobbying the Government to face up to overbearing regulation."

"The Government doesn't like fleas, despite its constant publicising of the need for them within the UK economy. The Government must get this right. It says: 'We don't like them because we can't find them and can't keep tabs on them. We're unsure about the taxes they should pay.'"

He warned that if the Government continued in its treatment of 'fleas', or independents, "it could destroy the future of UK Plc."

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Richard Powell, UKTECH