Flexi-staffing growth slows for second consecutive quarter on trot

Earlier, in Q3 the industry had registered a growth of 0.8 per cent.

The slowdown in flexible (flexi) staffing continued for the second consecutive quarter, as new flexi jobs witnessed 0.4 per cent growth quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) in the fourth quarter of 2022-23 (FY23), said the Indian Staffing Federation (ISF) in its annual flexi staffing industry report on Tuesday. 

In the third quarter, the industry had registered a growth rate of 0.8 per cent.

However, the flexi staffing industry logged 14 per cent annual growth in new jobs in FY23, as members of ISF collectively added 177,000 flexi jobs, driven by a surge in employment, particularly in sectors such as e-commerce, logistics, manufacturing, tourism and hospitality, consumer durables, and health care.

The report looks at the hiring trends in jobs involving short-term contracts for specific tasks. The reported figures for new flexi jobs by ISF represent the combined contribution of both the general flexi staffing and the information technology (IT) flexi staffing industries.

The report highlighted that, as of March 2023, the total flexi workforce employed by members of ISF had reached 1.44 million.

General flexi staffing observed robust growth of 15.3 per cent in new flexi jobs during FY23, adding 147,000 flexi jobs across general staffing roles.

The IT flexi staffing segment experienced a decline of 7.7 per cent year-on-year and 6 per cent QoQ in new flexi jobs by the end of FY23.

“The drop in new employment generation within IT flexi staffing mirrored the global slowdown in IT hiring and the ongoing process of employment rightsizing across markets,” the report observed.

The ISF, comprising more than 100 members, represents flexi staffing companies and is formed to provide a platform for recognised employment, work choice, and social security benefits for the temporary workforce that constitutes a sizeable segment of India’s total workforce.