End-clients ‘underestimating’ IT contractors’ stock in work-life balance - Hays

End-clients aren’t grasping the main reason IT contractors come forward to freelance on their behalf and not for another organisation.

Uncovering a disconnect, Hays found that according to clients, a “challenging” role is the best way to attract IT contractors (44%).

The finding, from Hays’s Day Rate Guide 2024, coincides with clients saying a positive work-life balance is the second biggest hook (23%).

'Challenge'

But IT contractors say this is the wrong way around -- work-life balance is the top consideration when assessing a new opportunity (46%).

A gig that’s a ‘challenge’ is second, but only according to 30% of the contractors, despite almost half of clients saying it matters most.

Even more off is the finding that fewer than a quarter of the clients (the 23%) connected with why IT contractors are most likely drawn to the work.

'Mission Impossible contracts'

A niche recruiter of IT contractors, Natalie Bowers, says it’s all a bit at-odds anyway, as genuinely challenging roles tend to see work-life balance suffer.

So she fears “Mission Impossible” contracts may be being envisioned here; gigs that challenge yet somehow make room for optimal work-life balance.

“An ‘interesting’ role would be different, as it implies less imposition on Work-Life Balance,” Bowers Partnership’s boss also told ContractorUK.

“From speaking to investment management IT contractors, I’d say 50%-plus cite ‘WLB’ as the main driver in accepting a new role.”

'Work-life balance tipping more into the work-element'

According to First Point Group, it’s hard to understate how vital work-life balance has become for IT contractors in its specialist sector of telecoms.

But the firm’s senior delivery team lead, Pendy Hou, says overdoing the ‘challenging’ part can undermine the ‘work-life balance’ part.

And that’s probably why for IT contractors, it’s the other way around -- the work-life balance is sacrosanct, the challenge is secondary.

“There may be occasions when projects with immovable deadlines and tight turnaround times can result in the work-life balance tipping more into the 'work' element, temporarily,” Hou warns.

“Ultimately, some companies can offer both -- an interesting project and work-life balance, through hybrid-working.

“[And] when candidates [prioritise] work-life balance in a new opportunity, then ‘hybrid-working’ is the first [term] they look for in a job description.

“It's at interview stages where this part of the role should be discussed in further detail.”

'Vital that end-users provide contractors the freedom to work'

In a section of its rate guide entitled “Recommendations” -- seemingly aimed at end-clients, Hays says offering a “competitive” day rate is still “undoubtedly an important method of acquiring and retaining” IT contractors.  

But referring to the disconnect which it has uncovered, the FTSE-listed recruiter then advises organisations:

“To stand out in a competitive hiring market, it’s vital you can provide contractors the freedom to work on their terms -- ideally with the option of flexible working patterns.”

'Attractive and agile'

Covid-19 was a catalyst to headline rate potentially taking a back seat to work-life balance in considering work, says the Recruitment & Employment Confederation’s Kate Shoesmith.

“For some people…[flexibility so they can achieve an optimal work-life balance] has always been the driver [but] the pandemic accelerated [the need for end-users to provide it],” Ms Shoesmith, the REC’s deputy CEO told ContractorUK.

She added yesterday: “It is vital to the future success of businesses that [their contractual offers] remain attractive and agile to contractors”.

'Clients underestimate importance of work-life balance to IT contractors'

But in its rate guide, which in the agency’s own words says “clients are underestimating the importance of providing a positive work-life balance” to IT contractors, there is potentially another disconnect.

At organisations already engaging IT contractors, 7-12 months emerged as the most common average contract length (37%).

However, “more than 12 months” was voiced as the optimum time contractors prefer to work at an organisation before moving on (52%).

The longer contract duration than the historically popular term of three months could be explained by currently bleak market conditions.

As to tomorrow’s contractual offers which organisations should be preparing to make to IT contractors, Ms Bowers recommended: “The trick is, and has always been to strike a balance -- making the temporary tech job challenging enough to be exciting or interesting, but not so overwhelming that it feels like an endless marathon.”