By Mary Ann Lemon, Citrus Communications

If you’re interested in workforce trends, to follow you’ll find a few major ones from Ira Matathia and Marian Salzman’s recent book, Next: Trends for the Near Future, as summarized in an April article in Workforce Magazine. In short, the number of full time employees is dropping drastically, while contract workers and SoHos ­ “Small Office, Home Office” workers are on the rise. Many estimates indicate up to 35% of office work is being handled by contingency workers or contractors. These “free workers” will need a host of new services, from skill training to management coaching. “In the information technology industry, the percentage of contract workers versus permanent hires tends to fluctuate dramatically based on the availability of people, business urgency of the project, and internal budgets and processes for hiring” commented Kelly Gilmore, partner in CONNECT.

How do these trends apply in Colorado?

Jeanne Lomba, customer service manager at high tech placement firm CONNECT: The Knowledge Network comments that these trends are behind the fast growth of her firm, which works with a database of some 3,000 consultants in the IT industry. Lomba fields comments all day from high tech consultants in the IT trenches. What she sees is that with the corporate world’s rising dependence on consultants is rising frustration over poor personality matches. Employers are realizing that consultant hired strictly on skills may not fit into the team or the corporate culture, which wastes everyone’s time.

“Clients are telling us they don’t want just a set of skills, they want to make a good match in every way. If a consultant is someone who likes to make decisions, who likes to be creative, who likes to move at a steady pace, and the company’s culture does not support that, everyone will butt heads and the consultant will fail. We have to consider the company’s hours, flexibility, how the teams work, the hierarchical structure, the organizational structure ­ in short, what it is like to live there — before we place a consultant.”

On the flip side, Lomba said “die-hard” consultants have been lured to full-time jobs based on a great match their new-found employers corporate culture. “I know of three bona fide, diehard contractors, who within a month of telling me how much they enjoyed the flexibility and freedom of contracting, took perm positions with the clients we had matched them up with. In addition to a good benefit and compensation plan, they cited easy integration with company culture, pleasant working environment, capability

to maintain some of their ‘consultative’ demeanor and talented professionals on their projects as reasons they decided to make the switch.”

In more detail, here are some of the trends discussed by Matathia and Salzman:

Full-Time Employees decrease in Number

Rather than shoulder the financial burden of permanent, full-time employees, many companies are turning to part-time and temporary workers. In North America, temporary services firm Olsten Corp. found that more than a third of companies employ temporary workers in managerial or professional positions. Among companies using temporary workers, 53 percent utilize accountants, 32 percent retain information systems specialists, 28 percent utilize human resource professionals, and 27 percent use administrative professionals. Ninety-six percent of companies surveyed by Olsten plan to increase or maintain current levels of temporary workers. Recently the Human Resources Institute conducted a study called “The Changing Nature of Work.” In the 90 companies participating, 25 percent to 35 percent of their work was being done by contingency workers or outside contractors.

Hot Jobs for the Millennium

Which occupations will thrive in the next millennium? The following are likely to be on the upswing thanks to the rise in contract workers, SOHOs and temporary workers.

An increasing need for skills trainers. Rapid technological change, combined with the growth of contract workers, demands people who can train employees and freelance workers.

Onsite repair services for home office equipment.

Equipment lessors and business sites. Savvy entrepreneurs will lease equipment or rent a cubicle (or meeting space, as needed) from a business supersite.

Executive coaches: Isolated, home-based workers need help. Coaches will help clients prioritize their goals and better manage their businesses and their lives.

Small Offices and Home Offices Grow

As workers begin to rely less on corporate loyalty and more on their own skills, while also taking advantage of the opportunities new technologies afford, more and more of them are setting up shop on their own. “SOHO” which stands for Small Office, Home Office, is a chic code word for “free worker” and entrepreneur. Small offices and home offices are expected to increase from 34.7 million in 1997 to 40.2 million this year. Men and women work from home in approximately equal numbers, according to the Department of Labor, but women are more likely to work exclusively from the home.