Growing Your Business Cautiously Using Part-Time Professionals

In our last blog of the year we’re wondering if the worrying messages from the recent budget statement are making you feel more cautious about your growth ambitions? Perhaps, growing your business cautiously with part-time professionals could be the answer to these concerns?

Well, the latest business confidence survey indicates many UK businesses remain buoyant about the year ahead. UK business confidence has fallen to its lowest level in 13 years according to the latest Accenture/S&P Global UK Business Outlook Survey. However, as reported on the thisismoney.co.uk, ‘while much of the picture may appear somewhat gloomy, businesses in the UK remain ‘net positive’ when it comes to improving output.

‘41 per cent of UK firms surveyed said they expect output to rise in the coming months, while 23 per cent, or less than a quarter, said they were forecasting a drop in business output. In fact, 12 of the 14 UK sectors surveyed predicted growth.

Simon Eaves, of Accenture UK and Ireland, said “Many British companies continue to demonstrate resilience in the face of economic difficulties. Hiring plans remain positive and overall optimism, whilst muted, is higher than many of our European counterparts.”

This is good news but a little caution is never a bad thing.

With employee costs exacerbated by rising salary levels, growing businesses are looking for ways to control hiring and employee costs without forsaking their growth plans and the people needed to make them happen.

Growing your business cautiously with part-time professionals can be the solution.

Part-time offers businesses the opportunity to attract the high calibre of people they need without paying 100% of the salary costs.

It’s ideal when the role is new and may not immediately require a full working week to be effective. Ten2Two’s clients have used part-time in many scenarios. For example, when a business needs more experienced and capable marketing talent than they’ve previously needed or been able to afford. Or perhaps a CFO finds themselves still managing operational finance and needs an experienced Financial Controller to give them the space to develop the finance and investment strategy.

Let’s look at a couple of examples.

If your requirement is new and the commitment required is light then one or two days a week saves 60% – 80% of salary costs. Hours can often be increased over time to grow with the job.

If the time requirement is already significant but the right person could do the role in a little less time, then four days a week or even a nine-day fortnight saves 10% – 20% of salary costs.

But that’s not all. There are more benefits. Part-time professionals are often more committed and loyal so there’s lower risk of losing them and the experience you attract offers wider benefits to the company beyond their specific role.

So don’t compromise on talent, assess the real time requirement and access hidden cost-effective part-time professionals.