Guide

A Guide to Contingent Staffing: Risks & Rewards

Employer of record

Global expansion

Contractor management

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Optimize your contingent workforce while mitigating risks

Contingent staffing enables workforce agility and access to specialized skills. However, without strong governance, it can introduce compliance, financial, and reputational risk. Fragmented approaches to managing EOR employees and contingent workers across multiple providers increase total cost of ownership, reduce visibility, and strain internal resources.

Deel’s hiring services provide a standardized execution layer for contingent staffing to ensure proper worker classification, compliant contracts, and payroll accuracy across jurisdictions.

Guide overview

Contingent workforce fundamentals: Gain insight on how to strategically leverage contingent workers vs EOR employees
How to maximize outcomes: Governance and execution tactics that reduce risk, improve visibility, and strengthen contingent staffing programs at scale
Key risks to manage: Common compliance, classification, and and intellectual property risks associated with contingent staffing

Who will benefit from this guide?

This guide provides insight for talent acquisition professionals across various roles:

Global staffing agencies expanding their workforce strategy with contingent workers to deliver flexibility and specialized talent to clients
Head of Global Workforce Operations who are designing and scaling contingent staffing programs across multiple countries
Chief Financial Officers focusing on optimizing total cost of ownership and maintaining cost visibility across a distributed workforce

FAQs

What is contingent staffing?

Contingent staffing involves hiring non-permanent workers to address short-term needs, such as project-based tasks or seasonal demands.

What are the key benefits of contingent staffing?

Contingent staffing offers several key benefits, such as:

Cost efficiency: Contingent staffing helps cut costs associated with full-time employees, such as bonuses, benefits, and payroll taxes
Increased staffing agility: Hiring contingent workers enables rapid workforce scaling to meet changing client demand without the overhead and delays of hiring full-time employees
Access to expert talent on a global scale: Leverage global talent to broaden coverage and deliver more competitive client solutions

What are the main risks of contingent workers?

The risks of contingent staffing include:

Misclassification risks: Incorrectly classifying workers as contractors can lead to penalties and legal issues
Compliance challenges: Local employment laws for contingent workers vary, increasing non-compliance exposure
Liability concerns: Staffing agencies and clients may face costly liabilities if contractors experience workplace injuries
Intellectual property disputes: Ownership of work created by contingent workers can become a legal gray area