You could call it Body Shopping version 3.0. The first wave was indentured labour (who were only marginally better off than slaves). The second constituted the waves of cyber-coolies, despatched to the US by some of the best names in the IT trade. These bonded workers were better off than indentured labour. Many were from the IITs and IIMs and well educated. But they served their time like their predecessors.

Version 3.0 ? temporary workers or temps ? is more respectable and it is largely a domestic business. The companies that provide such services, known as staffing companies, are growing in leaps and bounds. In India, the infotech sector (including ITeS) is still the place where most recruitment is taking place. But staffing is fast catching up. According to a report by HR and staffing company Ma Foi Management Consultants, temporary staff comprises nearly 11.8 per cent of the employee base of the companies surveyed in the study. This is expected to increase rapidly in the future.

One factor that makes India a happy hunting ground is the position of influence in policy making that the comrades of the Left have wormed themselves into. Because of their intransigence on labour laws, Indian industry has had to find another way out. You can’t sack people, so you never take them on in the first place. Hire temps.

What is a temp? It is someone who comes in to do a particular job and then exits the organisation. So the organisation he temps for does not have to pay long-term benefits. Normally, even after the staffing company’s cut, he would get paid more than a regular employee. Of course, there are no long-term benefits like provident fund and gratuity. So the organisation ends up paying less.

There’s been a lot of action in India. The Switzerland-based Adecco, the world’s largest staffing and HR company, has leapfrogged into the country with the acquisition of Peopleone Consulting India, a Bangalore-based staffing services provider. Vedior of the Netherlands has bought a 76 per cent stake in the Chennai-based Ma Foi Management Consultants. Another international major ?Manpower Inc ? has a subsidiary in India. It has also set up a joint venture with ABC Consultants. Abroad, there are boutiques like WoW (Women of the World) Corp, an Indian start-up based in Pittsburgh, and the Houston-based WiseMen Consultants promoted by Juhi Chawla. The biggest staffing company in India is TeamLease, which currently has 25,000 associates.

Who are the users of staffing services? According to a Ma Foi survey, the main sectors offering temps employment are hospitality; print, media and entertainment; energy; education; training and consulting; telecommunications; IT; chemicals; BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance), and pharma.

The temp business is worth $140 billion worldwide and involves 5 million people. So should you aspire to become a temp? Wait a while. Temp firms in India are still too defensive about their offerings. If you analyse Ma Foi’s list of benefits for employees (see box), you will reach the conclusion that a permanent job is best. In the West, however, people become temps because they want to and it suits their lifestyle. But the temp culture is coming to India too. The low esteem it seems to be held in today is only temporary.

A WIN-WIN SITUATION

A temp firm’s take on the advantages of temping

• Benefits to employers
• Just-in-time workforce
• Temp to perm possibility
• Easy recruitment and demobilisation
• Control over long-term costs
• Outsourcing of invisible costs
• Specialists with wide experience
• Benefits to employees
• Entry into blue-chip firms
• Work for respected company
• Dignity of employment
• Social security benefits
• Enhanced employability
• Temp to perm

Source: “Flexi-staffing, driving employment”, Ma Foi Management Consultants