Week 4 Project

Contingent Workers

Business necessities and employee work preferences have created a work environment �lled with more contingent workers than in the past. With each generation, a new need arises. In previous years, employees were content with a forty-hour week, working for an employer for many decades and then retiring by the age of sixty-seven. Now, employees are seeking �exible hours, and work-life balance has become an important factor in their lives. The HR professional must be cognizant of the de�nition of a contingent worker and the laws and bene�ts that apply to these employees. Contingent workers can be classi�ed as part-time employees, temporary employees, independent contractors, consultants, freelancers, or employees with a leased-employee arrangement. A part-time employee works less than thirty-�ve hours per week. A temporary employee is contracted mainly through a temporary employment agency. An independent contractor, consultant, or freelancer is not considered an employee. Lastly, the individual with the lease-employee agreement is hired through leased companies. With the contingent workers de�ned, it is now time to turn to the laws and determine how the HR professional will ascertain what constitutes an employee. The �rst thing the HR professional could do is use the Common-Law test (guidelines can be found under the Internal Revenue Service [IRS] website). The HR professional can also use the economic realities test. There are several state and federal regulations that apply to the contingent worker. The contingent worker is entitled to limited bene�ts. After reviewing the chapter for this unit, consider the following:

What are the pros and cons of having a contingent workforce? 

What percentage of employees should be contingent workers within an organization? 

Why are unions opposed to companies having a contingent workforce?

Contingent Workforce

What Is Contingent Workforce?

From the South University Online library, read the following case study:

Creating a New Contingent Culture   (https://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp?

sch=suo&turl=http://search.ebscohost.com.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ent&AN=79057851&site=eds-live)

Part-time employees

Temporary and on-call employees

Leased employee arrangements

Independent contractors, freelancers, and consultants

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Additional Materials

From your course textbook, Strategic Compensation: A Human Resource Management Approach, read the following chapter:

Compensating the Flexible Workforce: Contingent Employees and Flexible Work Schedules

From the South University Library, read the following articles:

Lower Cost or Just Lower Value? Modeling the Organizational Costs and Bene�ts of Contingent Work (https://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp? sch=suo&turl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu%2�ogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue&db=bth&AN=123754829&si live)

Without Proper Planning, Contingent Workers Pose Serious Legal Risks to Employer Bene�t Plans (https://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp? sch=suo&turl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu%2�ogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue&db=p6h&AN=61999016&sit live)

The Contingent Workforce: A Challenge for Bene�ts Managers (https://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp? sch=suo&turl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu%2�ogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue&db=bth&AN=15537950&site

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