Study gauges contingent-staffing complexity

June 1, 2016
Venezuela and the UK bracket the global market for contingent staffing complexity, according to an annual assessment by Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA), Mountain View, Calif.

Venezuela and the UK bracket the global market for contingent staffing complexity, according to an annual assessment by Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA), Mountain View, Calif.

The Latin American country is the most complex among 60 staffing markets across six continents in the SIA study. The UK is the least complex, according to 11 criteria.

Contributing to Venezuela’s complexity, SIA said, are heavy regulation on temporary work, low maturity of vendor management systems and managed service providers, labor market inefficiencies, and political instability.

India was the most complex of the Asian markets for contingent staffing. Indonesia ranked just below India.

Australia and the US shared the second-place ranking below the UK in the least-complex grouping.

“English-speaking markets are less complex overall and scored favorably across most criteria, deeming them easier places in general for employers to develop a contingent workforce,” SIA said in a press release.

Relative to study findings of a year ago, Argentina, Bulgaria, Estonia, Kuwait, and Malaysia appear less complex this year. Countries rated more complex include Egypt, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, and Turkey.

Included in the study for the first time this year are Algeria, Israel, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Venezuela.

Barry Asin, president of SIA, said complexity doesn’t make contingent staffing unfeasible.

“It simply suggests additional considerations may need to be taken into account when choosing to extend activities in a particular geography or region,” he said. “Conversely, those markets that are the least complex still require extensive market knowledge, along with strategic and cultural alignment as part of a successful approach to contingent work.”