The Flexible Future  

If you're looking for some hugely negative reporting of Ireland's economic climate, then look no further than the article published in the Irish Times last Friday. It covers all the 'low hanging fruit' such as the construction industry, commuter towns, financial services and the retail sector. It was appalling planning and sheer lack of business acumen that saw phenomenal growth in most of these sub-economies in the first place - inflated house prices and its poorly conceived subsequent urban/rural sprawl along with the larger than life home decor sector were never sustainable. The financial services sector encouraged these practices. So yes, it's not that it's all doom and gloom, we're just back to basics - sound business. It reminds me of the post .com bubble bursting of 2000 when funnily enough smart business came to the fore and people stopped investing in spotty teenagers' 'ideas' rather than sound business plans and projections. So, of course there are lay offs and redundancies and the damage that goes with that, but on the other hand - there are still plenty of businesses (small and large) thriving today - unable to keep up with demand and these are Ireland's unsung heroes who weren't offering supernormal profit and an opportunuty to get extremely rich very quickly, no they're profitable enterprises adding value to our economy and society and long may they prosper. And really it's not all doom and gloom, Ireland is hugely entreprenurial and we're going to see lots of new businesses popping up offering services to 'cut costs' and 'work smart' because we have to. Start by using Flexitimers and cut costs and work smart by using a flexible workforce.

The title of the above article is the same title that appeared in The Irish Times last week http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1122/1227293431696.html and its becoming more and more apparent as we enter a global recession how true if companies want to remain competitive. Prof Cary Cooper (http://carycooperblog.com/)who is an expert in organisational psychology spoke to the Irish Times ahead of delivering a paper to the 21st Annual James Smiley Lecture to the faculty of occupational medicine at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. In a recession some employers may be tempted to give less autonomy to their employees but he believes this is wrong and that most jobs are service based and can be done away from the office at varying times which reduces stress and anxiety leading to better productivity. We at Flexitimers could not agree more!!!

Labels: NovaUCD Start up Awards

Flexitimers attended the Big Debate in City Hall last Wednesday and were fortunate to put a question to the panel. The panel, which was chaired by by respected broadcaster John Bowman, consisted of Jay Bourke (Cafe Bar Deli), Martin Murray (Interactive Return), Brian Carey (Sunday Times), Marc Coleman (Newstalk), Mark Fielding from ISME, Damian Young Head of Small Business, Bank of Ireland, Paula Fitzsimons, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor author and Pat Lynch, Chairperson of Dublin City Enterprise Board.

Q: Did the panel think that companies (under pressure to cut headcount) were more likely to outsource activities or use part-time, freelance and contract staff in order to remain competitive during these challenging times?

Summary: there was unanimous agreement that companies must outsource and use flexible staff to stay in business.

Quotes:
Marc Coleman - 'there is no doubt, no option that companies will have to outsource / use agency staff'

Pat Lynch 'your largest overheads walk in to your company on two feet....businesses must control these costs', 'It (outsourcing and using flexible staff) is a good business strategy'

Jay Bourke - If you're not letting people go, you'll go out of business, outsource right away'

Brian Carey 'It's a growing trend in Irish businesses'

This is good news for Flexitimers and particularly good news for employers out there facing the challenge of headcount cuts yet who still have projects to complete. Flexitimers offers these employers access to a pool of highly skilled and experienced professionals who are available for part time, contract and freelance positions and projects.

For some reason there is still the few held that part time or flexible work is not 100% serious or committed. This view is changing because it is becoming more and more obvious that it does make sense - in fact it makes more sense than full time for certain jobs or tasks (it was obvious to many of us before!).

An article in the Irish Times recently made some very good points: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2008/0606/1212677071079.html

The article outlines a report by Cranford School of Management http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk)/ and a British charity, Working Families. It found a positive relationship between flexible working practices and employee performance. "These findings are important because they show both performance-related and longer-term benefits from flexible working" said Report co-author and strategic human resource management specialist, Dr Clare Kelliher". The article finishes with the line: "Flexibility seems to run both ways: a flexible workforce will also demand flexible organisations and employment patterns".

This is exactly the raison d'etre for Flexitimers.com.

Flexibilty makes sense and helps employers maintain or increase productivity, increase loyalty, retain good employees and reduce the payroll bill. Who can argue with that??

In today's Irish Times there is an article about the CEO Forum that is on next week in Dublin. CEO's from some of Ireland's largest companies are meeting to discuss how to operate in challenging times ahead.

A comment by Brian Long, chief executive of venture capital firm Atlantic Bridge struck me as relevant to Flexitimers "during periods of recession, opportunities tend to open up in the outsourcing space as large corporations pare back, reduce their workforce and then realise that they don't have the "bandwidth" to carry out certain activities such as the development of non-core products. This creates opportunities for smaller players to step in and offer their services". This is also the case for freelancers, contractors and anyone offering themselves 'flexibly' to companies. To read more check out: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2008/1107/1225925537336.html

Labels: freelancing, Opportunties for contracting

Another interesting article featuring the National Productivity Centre and the Irish Management Institute on productivity in a recession says "in the midst of the financial upheaval enveloping the economy at present, the onus is on companies to react quickly and decisively. They must increase their productivity and become more innovative in order to stay competitive and, ultimately, increase their bottom line".
The knee jerk reaction has been to look at cutting employees left, right and centre but once this is over and there is still work to be done hiring full time/permanent staff is daunting to say the least. Enter Flexitimers - a way to hire excellent, experienced staff with no pretence - you are hiring them for a flexible job or project. You have hired them to get X job done in Y time. Simple as that. Using a site like Flexitimers - quick and low low cost is the only way of hiring skills in a market like today. For more on this article see: http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/jobs-careers/executive-promoting-performance-1511609.html