Forget the job - give me a short term contract

My friend Julie at Churchillbrook posted a discussion recently on the trend towards short term contract employment. A real prospect in the current business climate.
It immediately triggered a thought back to the 80's and early 90's when Total Quality Management ...Business Process Re-engineering ....Management Delayering were all  collaborating to change the shape and reduce the headcount of businesses.

For those of us that were "downsized" with no job to go to it was a traumatic experience! Many were a product of the good old days, when you could leave one job and find another with ease. And I think we also had an evolutionary issue to handle (inserting a quick disclaimer on any credentials as an anthropoligist) in that we are of a culture that expects  employment to be provided! Certainly, the suggestion once made by a famous politician of that era that to find work we should  "get on our bike!" was felt to be alien to say the least!
So not surprisingly the change in employment attitudes was evolutionary rather than revolutionary ...and perhaps tribal too.
But over time - sometimes after further redundancies -people accepted that things had changed.  We had our epiphany moment and decided that being part of an establishment headcount wasn't for us! And we came to discover how good it was:
- Feeling that what we did was for ourself and getting such a buzz out of it.
- Being appreciated more for our objectivity, expertise and contribution.
- Getting the refreshing variety of a new industry or company. 
- Having that great sense of independence and control over our own life.
- And because of that - and rather unexpectedly - feeling more secure than ever before.
But it did take us a while to recognise all these benefits - where was OnWeGo when we needed it??
Commerce and industry is however more accustomed to outsourcing these days.
Even smaller enterprises where much of the hope for growth must be centred, have a more businesslike attitude when it comes to outsourcing work to freelancers. They know that they need to flex their manpower requirements up and down as they plot a path to recovery and growth out of the recession.
So the quicker we recognise how much we get out of offering the same flexibility the better.
And then everyone is a winner!