8 HR firms form Indian staffing industry apex body

Eight leading HR firms, have come together to form an industry body aiming to make the country's fast growing staffing sector more organised.

The members of the apex body -- the Indian Staffing Federation (ISF) -- includes eight HR majors: Adecco, Allegis, GI Group, Global Innov, Kelly, Ma Foi Randstad, Manpower and Teamlease, which together represent close to 50% of the Indian organised staffing market.

Announcing the launch of ISF, its President Pandia Rajan said the association will work with the government(s) to facilitate a suitable, legal and regulatory environment that is positive and supportive for the development of employment (in India) at large and the staffing industry specifically.

Planning Commission member Arun Maira welcomed such a move and complemented the founding members for this initiative. He invited ISF to be part of the working group on labour laws in the 12th plan.

In India the employment landscape is mainly dominated by the unorganised sector which constitutes nearly 90%. The federation would work towards bringing more people to the organised sector and empowering them with social securities and other job-related benefits.

The Federation said that the staffing agencies will have to create "employability" for fast growing industries like ICT, healthcare, hospitality, real estate, retail, media and entertainment, banking and manufacturing.

According to industry predictions around 1.6 million new jobs will be created in 2011. But Indian companies are increasingly finding it difficult to find the right talent for the right job.

As many as 67% of employers are struggling to meet their critical-level hiring targets.

The Federation is allied to International Confederation of Private Employment Agencies (CIETT), which promotes better regulatory policies, flexibility in the global staffing market and legislation.