You’ve heard the adage that the only constant is change. It’s arguably never been more applicable than in today’s hiring market. 

One way to proactively shield against sudden market and talent shifts is to adopt a mixed staffing structure which adapts to changing demand without sacrificing speed or quality.

“It’s still relatively early in 2025, but initial signs show that staffing demands are picking up fairly quickly, with an increase in both FTE and contract hiring. The increase in contract needs correlates with market uncertainty and its budget impact. This will likely lead to an increase in attrition, as well, with workers pursuing new opportunities with greater confidence this year.” – Dan Sullins, Vice President, Cypress

What does this mean for organizations? Many will find themselves needing to fill skill vacancies and ensure uninterrupted operations, without detracting from the pursuit of 2025 project and business goals.

The Benefits of a Hybrid Staffing Model 

The key to thriving in 2025 lies in building a more responsive, adaptable workforce—and that starts with taking a new hiring approach. 

“Organizations are struggling with an overabundance of poor-quality candidates or mis-matched applicants at a time when many talent acquisition teams face reduced headcount despite entering a hiring acceleration,” says Vinnie Levine, Managing Director, Cypress. “This creates a perfect storm of tension between hiring managers and TA teams, and ultimately results in an excess of time wasted on filling just one role.” 

By rethinking the type, and quantity, of roles within their workforce, companies can take a more targeted approach to filling open roles. Letting specific skills or project scopes define an ideal hire leads to a narrower focus and streamlined recruiting process.

But that’s just the beginning. While companies can never completely avoid unexpected developments, a mixed staffing model fundamentally makes it easier to respond to shifting market conditions and workforce realities in real time.

This enhanced flexibility leads to other beneficial outcomes:

Right-Sized Resourcing

Optimizing resource allocation across your organization helps avoid the extreme “skill deserts” or “skill imbalances” that can negatively impact productivity and project success, allowing you to more nimbly react to market demands.

Enterprise Stability

The right mix of workers creates an environment where, regardless of the need to rapidly expand or urgently downsize, the organization as a whole can better preserve and protect enterprise-vital projects and roles.

Workforce Consistency

Maintaining historical operational knowledge while infusing your workforce with the ability to excel in emerging proficiencies, leads to consistent, high-level output and greater client satisfaction.

What Types of Roles are in the “Mix”?

A mixed staffing model typically includes a combination of contract, temp-to-hire, and full-time employees, making it easier to balance stability with scalability over the long term. 

Each brings a unique set of benefits to the mix:

Contract Roles 

Contractors, by default, are a flexibility-forward workforce option. Hired for a specific project or role, these external resources can fill critical skill gaps for a set period of time (days, weeks, months) or on a more open-ended, ongoing basis. Because contractors are tapped to work precise hours for each assignment, it’s easy to scale their use up or down as project or client demand dictates.

Main advantages include:

• Cost Efficiency: Avoid long-term employment expenses related to benefits and taxes by hiring short-term or project-based talent.
• Specialized Skills: Fill a need for specific technical or industry knowledge in a role or project that can’t justify a full-time hire.
• Faster Results: Onboard talent and drive results more quickly, with a faster, less complex hiring process, and talent familiar with short-term roles. 
• Reduced Risk: Adapt to resource priority shifts without the risk of unnecessary salary expense. 
• Core Team Development: Utilize contractors for specialized tasks and keep your core teams focused on mission-critical goals requiring deeper organizational knowledge.

Temp-to-Hire Roles

Temp-to-hire talent strikes a balance between contract and full-time employees. Like contractors, these employees are hired on a temporary basis, usually at an hourly rate. But unlike contractors, they are hired as an internal employee with the intention to be considered for full-time employment once their shorter-term contract is up.

Main advantages include:

• Trial Period: Reduce risk of bad hires by assessing fit within the team and the ability to meet role requirements without a permanent commitment.
• Less Hiring Pressure: Fill positions quickly, especially for looming project deadlines, without the lengthy decision-making process associated with permanent hires.
• Budget Flexibility: Postpone the financial commitment of a FTE until and unless they prove a good fit (FTE benefits/perks often not provided during contract phase).
• Larger Candidate Pool: Attract highly qualified candidates who prefer the flexibility of part-time roles, providing access to a broader range of skills vs. FTEs alone.
• Less Turnover: Achieve better retention with those converted to full-time, as they’ve already been deemed highly compatible with the role and company culture.

Full-Time Roles

Full-time employees are highly invested in the success of the company, and in building relationships to further that success. They are also more invested in personal growth within the organization, making them more likely to seek managerial roles or future roles that are beneficial to both their career trajectory and the company as a whole.

Main advantages include:

• Reduced Attrition: Leverage permanent hires for the foreseeable future, without the “revolving door of talent” more common with contract roles.
• Knowledge Library: Maintain historical knowledge related to the company, how it operates, and specific roles, which can be passed down to new employees without the delay to operations or productivity that can happen when that information is lost.

Advice for Achieving a More Adaptive Workforce

“Companies across all industries can benefit from a blended staffing mix if they carefully consider their current resource allocation and weigh the advantages of both contract and permanent talent against their projected goals,” explains William Christe, Lead Account Executive, Cypress

After all, the right staffing mix can empower companies to near instantly scale up or down as needed. And in this market, that’s a super power that becomes a competitive differentiator.

Working with an experienced recruiting partner to create a unique plan that accounts for your hiring challenges and 2025 goals can help you harness that super power even sooner. In doing so, you’ll:

Arrive at a general consensus faster, ensuring those with internal hiring responsibility can move quickly to attract high-end talent to fit your “mix.” 

Gain a better understanding of the market.

More accurately identify which roles should be contract, temp-to-hire, or full-time. 

Determine what’s driving your need for a certain candidate type—whether urgent vacancies, project-based vacancies, or skill uncertainties.