Startups Take the Flexi Route to Attract Skilled Workforce
A
FAR CRY Gone are the days when new enterprises looked to hire talent on a
permanent basis. Welcome to the world of part-timers who are valuable enough
and at the same time come with a cheaper price tag. Their breed is only growing
by the day
Rohtash
Mal, former CEO of Escorts and Bharti Airtel,
is four weeks away from launching his startup, EM3 Agri Services, which would
look at providing technology services for small and medium farmers. He likens a
startup to a sapling and says that while one would need high quality talent to
kick-start it, one cannot pay well enough and one would not have enough work to
occupy the resource on a full-time basis.
He has hired 20 people till now, of which 11 are permanent employees. He has hired senior level talent on a part-time basis for product development, HR, finance and funding and even roped in his secretary from his Bharti Airtel days, who works part time. Maldoes not rule out the possibility of hiring CXOs like a part-time chief marketing officer in future. “Getting a permanent chief marketing officer would set me back by about . 1 crore a year. It makes much more sense to get niche high quality part-time talent,” he adds. The need to attract skilled and experienced talent to help in overhauling or streamlining existing strategies and different operations is driving even established startups to the flexi route. TaxiForSure hired a VP and director for the first time this year on a part-time basis, who comes in four days a week. “It gives access to very high quality people and leaders who do not want to restrict themselves to working for just one firm. A lot of high quality talent is keen on making an impact across multiple firms,” says co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna. Not just senior talent, about 10-15% of their 200 call centre employees are part-timers.
“Flexible staff has designations identical to our full-time employees. This ensures they and the people they work with feel they are part of the firm with more than a passing interest,” he added.
At Flexing It, a platform launched by ex-McKinsey consultant Chandrika Pasricha for companies and individual professionals seeking flexible opportunities, startups account for close to half the companies posting needs for short-term resources. Flexing It has a database of 380 clients with startups ranging from the Internet/technology space to energy to education. “There is a lot of demand for content writers/editors, graphic and logo designers on the creative side. In addition to the need for web developers/designers in technology, we are seeing demand for senior talent such as part-time chief technology officers, chief marketing officers and chief financial officers,” says Pasricha. “Startups are also seeking part-time consultants for landscaping new segments, refining business strategies, and fund raising strategy and support.”
Aditya Narayan Mishra, president, staffing and director, marketing, Randstad India, says the firm helps hire experts in financial areas, procurement, quality control and compensation on a flexible basis for startups. TeamLease helped hire talent familiar with ASP.Net, Java and Android for startups. Vishal Gupta’s Mycity4kids works as a one-stop resource for all child-related services ranging from finding tutors to the best movies at a theatre closeby in six cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. From September 2013 to February 2014, the firm roped in an established consultant to revamp their technology operations. “Initially, the idea was to keep budgets low and the whole business was based on outsourcing technology to external parties. But, last year, we looked at in-house technology for specific areas. We needed a fresh pair of eyes to overhaul existing processes and could not afford a permanent employee with senior level expertise,” says the IIM alumnus.
Their business model also reinforced the need for flexible talent. “It is best to rope in those who are parents to best understand what kids would need, so we have part-time moms in six cities who serve as correspondents to help us design and conceptualise content for the portal,” he says.
Parul Ohrie who works as the editor for the website is a mom who works part-time herself. Yepme.com hires part time bloggers who write on fashion for the portal and wants more to come and work part time. It has 20 professionals working on a flexible basis, two marketing consultants who work three hours, three days a week, in addition to a legal consultant, and photo shoot stylists. Yepme.com plans to get 20 part-time professionals in the next six months. “It’s a combination of costs and the need of certain skills at specific times that make us look at flexible staff,” says Sandeep Sharma, one of the co-founders and COO for the company. Chennai-based Money Wizards, which seeks to provide financial literacy, has hired over 25 freelancers across training, content design and sales over the past two years. “It helps us keep our fixed costs low as many of the hires are on a project basis. We will continue to hire flexi staff for the foreseeable future for such roles. It’s an effective way of growing a bootstrapped business,” says Venkatesh Chari, co-founder.
In addition to getting flexible staff in domains like technology and branding, Anuja Mathur, product marketing manager of Shopclues, works on a flexible arrangement for the firm. “Anuja has extensive work experience in the corporate world with companies like Microsoft and Cisco. This arrangement allows us to leverage the expertise as we would not be able to afford her otherwise,” says Radhika Aggarwal, chief marketing officer and co-founder Shopclues. Last year, Shopclues also roped in a project manager with extensive work experience in the US to help overhaul their customer support and catalogue modules. “If we find quality talent, we will be willing to work around their restrictions.”
ANUMEHA CHATURVEDI & DEVINA SENGUPTA ET140429
He has hired 20 people till now, of which 11 are permanent employees. He has hired senior level talent on a part-time basis for product development, HR, finance and funding and even roped in his secretary from his Bharti Airtel days, who works part time. Maldoes not rule out the possibility of hiring CXOs like a part-time chief marketing officer in future. “Getting a permanent chief marketing officer would set me back by about . 1 crore a year. It makes much more sense to get niche high quality part-time talent,” he adds. The need to attract skilled and experienced talent to help in overhauling or streamlining existing strategies and different operations is driving even established startups to the flexi route. TaxiForSure hired a VP and director for the first time this year on a part-time basis, who comes in four days a week. “It gives access to very high quality people and leaders who do not want to restrict themselves to working for just one firm. A lot of high quality talent is keen on making an impact across multiple firms,” says co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna. Not just senior talent, about 10-15% of their 200 call centre employees are part-timers.
“Flexible staff has designations identical to our full-time employees. This ensures they and the people they work with feel they are part of the firm with more than a passing interest,” he added.
At Flexing It, a platform launched by ex-McKinsey consultant Chandrika Pasricha for companies and individual professionals seeking flexible opportunities, startups account for close to half the companies posting needs for short-term resources. Flexing It has a database of 380 clients with startups ranging from the Internet/technology space to energy to education. “There is a lot of demand for content writers/editors, graphic and logo designers on the creative side. In addition to the need for web developers/designers in technology, we are seeing demand for senior talent such as part-time chief technology officers, chief marketing officers and chief financial officers,” says Pasricha. “Startups are also seeking part-time consultants for landscaping new segments, refining business strategies, and fund raising strategy and support.”
Aditya Narayan Mishra, president, staffing and director, marketing, Randstad India, says the firm helps hire experts in financial areas, procurement, quality control and compensation on a flexible basis for startups. TeamLease helped hire talent familiar with ASP.Net, Java and Android for startups. Vishal Gupta’s Mycity4kids works as a one-stop resource for all child-related services ranging from finding tutors to the best movies at a theatre closeby in six cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. From September 2013 to February 2014, the firm roped in an established consultant to revamp their technology operations. “Initially, the idea was to keep budgets low and the whole business was based on outsourcing technology to external parties. But, last year, we looked at in-house technology for specific areas. We needed a fresh pair of eyes to overhaul existing processes and could not afford a permanent employee with senior level expertise,” says the IIM alumnus.
Their business model also reinforced the need for flexible talent. “It is best to rope in those who are parents to best understand what kids would need, so we have part-time moms in six cities who serve as correspondents to help us design and conceptualise content for the portal,” he says.
Parul Ohrie who works as the editor for the website is a mom who works part-time herself. Yepme.com hires part time bloggers who write on fashion for the portal and wants more to come and work part time. It has 20 professionals working on a flexible basis, two marketing consultants who work three hours, three days a week, in addition to a legal consultant, and photo shoot stylists. Yepme.com plans to get 20 part-time professionals in the next six months. “It’s a combination of costs and the need of certain skills at specific times that make us look at flexible staff,” says Sandeep Sharma, one of the co-founders and COO for the company. Chennai-based Money Wizards, which seeks to provide financial literacy, has hired over 25 freelancers across training, content design and sales over the past two years. “It helps us keep our fixed costs low as many of the hires are on a project basis. We will continue to hire flexi staff for the foreseeable future for such roles. It’s an effective way of growing a bootstrapped business,” says Venkatesh Chari, co-founder.
In addition to getting flexible staff in domains like technology and branding, Anuja Mathur, product marketing manager of Shopclues, works on a flexible arrangement for the firm. “Anuja has extensive work experience in the corporate world with companies like Microsoft and Cisco. This arrangement allows us to leverage the expertise as we would not be able to afford her otherwise,” says Radhika Aggarwal, chief marketing officer and co-founder Shopclues. Last year, Shopclues also roped in a project manager with extensive work experience in the US to help overhaul their customer support and catalogue modules. “If we find quality talent, we will be willing to work around their restrictions.”
ANUMEHA CHATURVEDI & DEVINA SENGUPTA ET140429
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