An overwhelming 92% of Australian chief information officers plan to increase hiring of contract IT professionals by an average of 21% in the next 12 months, according to a recent survey by consultancy firm Robert Half.

Demand is strongest in IT security (34%), systems administration (34%), networking (29%) and database management (28%), software/ application development (27%) and business analysis (26%).

“There is a change taking place in the way businesses staff their IT department,” says Andrew Morris, Director of Robert Half Australia.

“Industry growth and the changing workplace are driving employers to adopt a combination of permanent and temporary IT staff with the right mix of skill sets, making contract workers an intrinsic part of the IT department in Australian companies.”

Per company size, big companies (25%) are most keen on hiring temporary IT workers, followed by medium-sized (23%) and small companies (17%).

The reasons behind the growing popularity of IT workers in the gig economy are: lack of financial resources to hire permanent employees (44%), cost efficiency (43%), faster hiring process (42%) skills shortage and flexibility (39%).

“As companies understand the role temporary workers can play in filling the skills gap, upskilling existing staff and optimising cost efficiencies in relation to staffing, IT employers are increasingly rebalancing their workforce in steady and challenging times,” Morris said.

“Many are discovering that a year-round mix of core in-house employees and temporary workers is an efficient and flexible way to meet business demands and remain competitive.”

Morris added that IT professionals will have the potential to gain experience within many different types of organisations and the chance to upskill by exposing themselves to multiple areas of new skillsets.

“The flexibility and variety offered by contract work also makes for a more substantial CV, highlighting the career potential offered by temporary work in both the short and the long run.”

Morris added: “It is certainly not uncommon however that working as a temporary worker can lead to a permanent job. If organisations wish to convert a temporary worker to permanent, they have the advantage of already knowing the person’s strengths first hand.”

The study was conducted in June-July 2017 among 160 CIOs/ CTOs from companies across Australia.

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