On the business barometer, the forecast is temps.

Consulting firm PwC have released their glimpse into what the working world might be like in the coming years, and in it, they’ve proposed a telling statistic: 46% of HR professionals believe that at least 20% of their workforce will be made up of temporary workers by 2022.

It might come as a surprise at first, but when we consider the subtle paradigm shifts that have been steadily occurring over time, it’s a logical – and appropriate – next step. Here’s our take on why.

There’s a shift towards ‘portfolio careers.’

Technology has been steadily bridging the gap between work and home life, creating a sense of increased flexibility and autonomy. And now, this attitude is filtering through to careers on a wider level. Rather than being seen as “career temps,” for example, PwC notes a shift in mentality.  These – at first glance, itinerant – professionals will position themselves as freelancers, taking on temporary projects to add new skills to their repertoires and fill holes in their learning. Rather than being considered “job-hoppers,” a traditionally pejorative term, these workers will in reality be anything but: each new project is a tightly-calculated next step towards a sharper, higher-performing future.

Employees want flexibility.

With this creeping invasion of work into private life comes the consequent value shift towards work-life balance. Money is precious, but so is time – and in many cases, an employee with a multi-faceted life will struggle to fit his or her many increasing demands into a traditional 9-to-5 structure. The ability to be flexible with working days and times – inherent in taking temporary assignments – will be a rapidly-growing drawcard.

Recruitment strategies will need to be highly-targeted, and follow a B2B approach.

With candidates in the talent pool losing the mantle of ‘job seeker’ and replacing it with ‘contractor,’ to attract key talent to fill a lack in an employer’s current team, he or she will need to position it as more of a mutually-beneficial partnership. Employers will need to adopt the mindset that every hire is temporary, whether explicitly stated or not: after all, as HR Advisor Liz Ryan told Forbes, “We only grow when we step into new ground.” This goes for employers, too.

A potential employee’s personal brand will have increased impetus when it comes to recruiting talent, and attempts to connect with potential future employees will need to follow a finely targeted approach, as candidates diversify and add new skills to their portfolios.

So what does this mean for you, the employer?

It will probably mean a shift in mindset towards temporary workers. As PwC predicts, supply chains will more often be comprised of complex networks of highly specialised providers. So rather than viewing your workforce as an office full of career temps, you would do better to think of yourself as a project manager, recruiting teams of highly-specialised individuals, allowing you opportunities to react to industry changes and diversify as per your needs. And if you’d like to keep them for longer periods of time, keeping their employee experience in mind (including streamlined on-boarding processes, for starters) will pay dividends.

Despite the changing times, there is one constant truth: everything is temporary. Perhaps it’s time to think the same way about your workforce.

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