New research from top recruiter Manpower has identified umbrella contractors as a key part of future global development, citing them as ‘a core component of the contingent workforce’ which will help companies to succeed in the ‘human age’. These research findings were presented at the World Economic Forum (WEF) by Jeff Joerres, Manpower’s Group Chairman and CEO.

In a speech, he suggested that businesses can do more with less by using what he describes as ‘contingent workers’, basically non-permanent staff such as umbrella contractors, who provide the benefit of having a keen project focus coupled with highly developed skills, available when required. As he explained, “Clients are telling us they need to be more flexible and agile to react to this environment. Manpower is seeing the global contingent workforce grow as a result.”

The report states that, in what it calls the ‘human age’, “It will be human potential itself that will be the catalyst for change and the global driving force economically, politically and socially. It will require business and government leaders to re-examine how they unleash and leverage human potential in an increasingly volatile and shifting world.”

This new concept will undoubtedly present a great opportunity for contractors who operate through an umbrella company, with flexible yet highly skilled workers being at the heart of what Manpower calls ‘talentism’ – this means putting a higher level of value on human talent as the key driver when it comes to business success.