HR, Gigs and Job Surveys in the News

Here's a quick roundup of some interesting job and HR surveys that caught our eye.

The rise in importance of temporary jobs during the pandemic has been undeniable as businesses look to navigate an unpredictable climate. A new survey out today from staffing leader PeopleReady finds that many companies (40%) are planning to make temporary jobs a permanent part of their post-pandemic workforce model.

In the past year, 52% of companies have increased their use of temporary workers and cited the need to scale their workforce as the top reason. The PeopleReady survey of both hiring managers and workers found that most workers (65%) are considering temporary or part-time work to earn more income amid a rough economy. Additionally, the number of those taking full-time jobs has declined by 56% since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. In comparison, those taking temporary jobs has increased by 66%, and those accepting part-time employment has risen by 13%.

“Temporary jobs have become vital to both businesses and job seekers over the past year and our research indicates that will only increase in the future,” said Taryn Owen, president of PeopleReady. “As temporary jobs become increasingly integrated into workforce models, we are focused on making it faster and easier to connect people and work.”

High Enthusiasm for Remote Work

Topia, the leader in Global Talent Mobility, today released the results of its annual "Adapt" survey, which finds that remote work has created massive tax compliance risks—and strategic opportunities—for enterprises. The 2021 survey finds that since the COVID-19 pandemic began, 28% of employees have worked outside their home state or country, but only one-third reported all those days to HR. Consequently, their employers may have failed to withhold payroll taxes appropriately but didn't realize it. Unless HR monitors where employees work—something 94% of employees are open to—enterprises risk hefty penalties in the event of an audit.

Employees said the flexibility to work remotely is now the second most important attribute in an employer—behind high pay and ahead of both professional development and culture.

• 91% of employees agree that they should be able to work from wherever they want as long as they get their work done.
• 82% of employees now agree that "Teams should be built based on experience and skill sets needed, not location." 90% of HR pros concur.
• 94% of HR pros believe that increased remote work will enable them to build more diverse teams.

Tax Compliance is a Blindspot

Despite this enthusiasm for remote work, enterprises are unprepared from a compliance standpoint. Some employees forget to report days worked outside their home state or country. Others appear to hide their location to avoid cost-of-living adjustments to their salaries. The risks are hard to overstate:

• 93% of HR professionals are confident they know where the majority of their employees are working, and 78% are confident their employees self-report when working in another state or country.
• However, in reality, only 33% of employees report all those days, and 24% reported none at all, even though 61% are aware of the tax compliance implications.
• HR professionals were more likely to have worked in a different state or country (42%) but still struggled to report these work days, suggesting that self-reporting is a challenge, even for those that know the rules.

Location Tracking is Welcome

Although the compliance situation is dire, there is a potential solution: technologies that log employee work locations while respecting their privacy. With better location data, finance departments could, for instance, comply with payroll withholdings for employees, and HR teams could manage immigration risk, no matter where employees choose to work.

• 94% of employees are comfortable with an employer tracking their location at the country, state, and city level.
• 81% would even be comfortable with location tracking down to the street level.

Millions of Gig Workers Added in 2020

A new national gig economy study released by daVinci Payments, found an explosion of growth in the gig economy in 2020, with an estimated increase of 23 million participants vs. 2019. The study identifies how to grow loyalty and engagement with gig workers who are identified as taking short-term work engagements for income.

Gig wages and participation grew 33% in 2020 to represent 93 million U.S. adults earning $1.6 trillion compared to the 70 million adults who earned $1.2 trillion in 2019. The growth of gig work is driven, in part, by the dynamic shifts in demand for gig services accelerated by COVID-19. daVinci’s study, conducted in November 2020, garnered responses that reflected workers’ motivations to participate in the growing gig market, including supplemental income, flexibility, and stability of work sources.

Diversity Study

A new survey from The Harris Poll, commissioned by Express Employment Professionals, reveals more than 3 in 4 hiring decision-makers (78%) say their company has taken action on DEI, most commonly in these areas:

•     Provided training for employees: 40%
•     Offered safe ways for employees to report discrimination and harassment complaints: 31%
•     Revised policies and procedures: 29%
•     Changed recruitment and hiring practices: 28%

Nearly half (46%) say their company currently has a DEI policy with 11% reporting they don’t have one but plan to implement one by the end of 2021 and 14% plan to implement after 2021. Around 1 in 3 (31%) say one of the most important priorities for their company right now is expanding the diversity of their employees.