The SurePayroll Small Business Scorecard for August found 22 percent of small-business owners would prefer to hire a contractor over a full-time, permanent employee. Three-quarters of those who would prefer contract workers said they simply would not need a person with the particular set of skills all the time, whether in information technology, marketing or other departmental areas. Contracting out for tasks not integral to the business' core competence makes sense to this majority. Other cited reasons include the desire to reduce tax and benefits costs, and to stay below the Affordable Care Act's 50-employee cap.
The reasons these small-business owners have for preferring to hire temporary workers match those given by organizations of all sizes. Though SurePayroll surveyed 40,000 small businesses with an average of eight employees each, many of the same sentiments exist throughout the business world. Of course, it's impossible for large enterprises to stay below 50 employees, but the benefits of the contingent workforce remain fairly consistent. Small-business owners are beginning to take notice of these good reasons to employ workers on a temporary or contract basis.
