Supertemps, Boot Camps Reshaping High-Tech Workforce

In a fast-paced global economy, the workforce has to be nimble and easily adaptable to changing needs. The new workforce is being shaped by improvements in technology, cuts to higher education, and a new generation of workers who think differently about the labor market. Two emerging trends reshaping the high-tech workforce are the rise of highly-skilled independent contractors or "supertemps," and industry-sponsored boot-camp style training to quickly fill the specialized needs of employers.

Temps on the Rise in High-Tech Fields
A recent article in Harvard Business Review pointed to a growing number of supertemps and the increasing acceptance by corporations to embrace independent contractors for mission critical work that would have been done only by permanent employees in the past. Unlike the low-paying contract assignments people generally associate with temporary work, supertemps are high-paid executives that flee from large corporations and law or consulting firms for the autonomy and flexibility of project-based work. The shift, the authors say, is due in part to a growing number of professionals deciding this is the way they want to work and companies following the talent. The prevalence of lean management teams, the post-recession drive to cap costs, and the accelerating pace of change combine to make temporary solutions compelling, the article adds.

With several new companies focusing exclusively on high-end temporary talent the authors say that a few simple changes, such as making health coverage portable and rewriting tax rules that hurt independent contractors, would allow the market for professional temporaries to explode. A Harvard labor economist interviewed in the article likens the new workforce to artisans of the 19th century with a resurgence of the independent professional.

In Boston, local life sciences companies increasingly are hiring biotech workers on a contract basis, reports the Boston Business Journal. The growing reliance on contingent workers is traced to two specific trends in the biotechnology industry: capital constraints since the recession, and the rarity of successful initial public offerings. However, the article points out that tax breaks offered under the state's $10 billion Life Sciences Initiative won't be handed out to companies creating temporary jobs.

Growing Local Technology Talent Pools
Many areas of the country with an existing technology talent pool often provide incentives to bring companies to them, but for regions hoping to grow their own technology workforce, a different strategy is needed. In Detroit, a partnership between global consulting and technology firm Infosys and the Wayne County Community College District earlier this year resulted in the graduation of 73 students trained for entry-level software jobs to match the needs of local employers.

The 18-week boot-camp style program was offered to individuals in the Detroit-area looking for new career opportunities in the technology field. Classes were held five days a week for eight hours a day. The training program was developed in India by Infosys and offered for the first time in the U.S. to Detroit residents. Representatives from the program said Detroit currently has more than 3,000 entry-level openings for software engineers from companies such as Compuware, GalaxE. Solutions, Infosys and Kimberly Group. An employment fair that followed the program led to immediate offers for 27 of the new graduates.

Read the press release: http://www.infosys.com/newsroom/press-releases/Pages/celebrate-graduates-technology-training.aspx.