OSHA Term Paper: Use of Contingent Workers

Use of Contingent Workers
Student's Name
Institution
Use of Contingent Workers
Executive Summary
The people aspect of an organization is a fundamental component in the success and failure of a company. Human Resource Management (HRM) has become part and parcel of strategic planning in the organization of the modern era besides being a lucrative career path for those with skills in managing people. HRM brings together policies, practices, strategies, philosophies, processes, and programs to manage people, who are often considered the most important asset in an organization, with the main aim of attaining overall organizational success (Michael, 2019). The duties ad responsibilities of an HR manager in an organization are wide-ranging, and among the most fundamental HR practices is the concept of employee recruitment. Employee recruitment is a robust process that goes beyond hiring an employee. Underlying factors such as identification of the appropriate skillset, interviewing and selection, and onboarding make up the recruitment process.
HRM in organizations has undergone major transitions since the industrial revolution. The major hurdles that the HR departments in major organizations have had to battle include the trade unions, social responsibility, and human relations, all of which have disrupted human resource management in one way or another. In the most recent decades, coupled with disruptive technologies and rampant transformation in the labor force, the concept of a contingent workforce has become inescapable. Unlike the traditional recruitment HR process where individuals were employed on a permanent or long-term basis, the contingent workforce is an HR practice where the labor force is acquired on a fixed-term basis. Often, to accomplish a particular project, they are released. This paper intends to explore more about the concept of the contingent workforce, the associated costs and benefits, and the implementation process.
Literature Review
The use of a contingent worker is not entirely a new term. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS] (2020), there is a distinction between contingent workers and alternative work arrangements, placing the likes of independent contractors, on-call workers, and temporary help agency workers under the alternative work arrangement. The BLS' definition of contingent workers implies that they are not issued with any form of a formal contract. Their engagement with the organization is bound to end at any given time. The other broad definition of the term is associated with Audrey Freedman. She referred to a contingent worker as an employee acquired by an organization on a demand basis and is scheduled to work for the organization for a specified period at a specified place (Christensen & Barker, 2019). Most professionals engaged in HRM do not clearly distinguish the two terms outlined by the BLS, classifying independent contractors, agency workers, consultants, and even freelancers as contingent workers. The lack of a clear definition of the term contingent worker implies that there is much work to be done regarding the fairly new concept.
The driving forces towards the adoption of a contingent workforce are wide-ranging. As observed by Chrstensen and...