Temporary workers in demand on good rains

An article in Economic Times talks about how plentiful rains this monsoon have boosted the requirement of temporary workers in the country’s agriculture and allied sectors; along with inputs from Sudeep Sen.
Plentiful rains this monsoon have boosted the requirement of temporary workers in the country’s agriculture and allied sectors.

Analysts put the demand for temporary workers at around 1.5-1.6 lakh this year, almost double of the drought-hit 2015. At topnotch companies in the sector, the demand has increased to 7,500-8,000 temp staff, compared with 2,000-2,500 in the past two years.

Companies such as Advanta Seeds, Coromandel International, Rallis India and others are roping in temporary staff more this year with an average salary of 12,000-14,000 a month. Most of the requirement has emerged from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka and Odisha that are major producers of kharif paddy.

“After two long years of deficit rains, monsoon seems to be back in India with full vigour. It is expected that yield of kharif crop will be better this year if monsoon behaves properly in the coming months. The better monsoon has given rise to higher requirement of temp staff from agriculture and allied sectors,” Sudeep Sen, assistant vice president of staffing firm TeamLease Services, told ET.

The need for the temp staff in the agri and allied sectors is for six months, starting from June when sowing of crops happens and until November when harvesting is completed.

“The requirement will be more during the harvesting period,” said SP Shukla, an agricultural sector analyst.

The temporary staff work as field assistants in most of the cases. There are some set of temporary staff who help in logistics and in administrative activities. Those who work as field assistants are generally graduates in agriculture science. “Companies generally want temporary staff from local areas so that they can communicate in the local language,” said Sen, who manages temp staff for a number of companies.

GV Radhakrishna, global HR business partner at Advanta Seeds, expects this year to be a better one compared with the past two years for agri business. “But companies are assessing the manpower needs with microscope and moving very carefully with the new additions … We are also taking a cautious approach,” he said. Advanta Seeds procures temp staff from TeamLease.

“Fluent local language communication skills, ability to convince farmers and the channel partners, learning ability, adaptability and mobility are some of the qualities that we look at while hiring temp staff. During drought situations, most of the companies have optimised the headcount in both full-time and temp. It has not gone up at a high scale, it is picking up slowly now,” said Radhakrishna

This article was publisshed in Economic Times

Author

Sudeep Kumar Sen

Business Head
TeamLease Services Ltd

Latest Blogs

Test Post

ecrvbtbtbybybyb ddecececec edececece edecece h1 tag h2 tag h3 tag h4 tag h5 tag h6 tag lsit 1 list 2 list 3 wsmw swwww efgh...

Read More

Revitalizing and Transforming Manufacturing Sector in India

Challenges Confronting India's Manufacturing Marvel Inadequate Tech-Based Infrastructure:The enhancement of competitiveness in the manufacturing sector relies heavily on innovation-driven infrastructure, particularly in areas such as...

Read More

Temporary Jobs Sees a Spike During Festive Hiring

The seasonal hiring landscape becomes more competitive A wider set of organisations is increasing the demand for temporary jobs. Employers looking to fill seasonal roles...

Read More

The Road Ahead: India’s FMCG Industry, Sector and Market Insights

Primary Forces Behind the Expansion of the FMCG Sector The Development of E-Commerce: The technological revolution impacted India's urban and rural areas. There has been...

Read More

Curious Case of Educated Unemployment Problem in India

Key factors contributing to India’s joblessness Population growth vs. job creation Quality of education Skill gap Job mismatch Economic slowdown Preference for government jobs Why...

Read More