India's manufacturing industry is one of the biggest employers of contract workers in the country. Yet, there's an interesting dichotomy at play. On one hand, most manufacturers are trying to figure out how to increase the output of their contract workforce on a consistent basis and sustain the productivity momentum.

On the other hand, (strangely enough) most large manufacturing organisations don't often consider contract workforce management as a key organisational priority!

As a result, manufacturers run the risk of ending up with ‘tunnel vision' when managing this increasingly critical base of employees. How can India's technology prowess help the manufacturing industry get smarter, and convert this challenge into a strategic growth opportunity?

India's labour laws and compliance mechanisms have always triggered numerous, interesting debates! In recent times, a VUCA (acronym for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) world has driven many organisations towards a lean workforce strategy, with a significant chunk of them employed as contract workers, delivering the much needed flexibility to adapt to asymmetrical business cycles and also drive down permanent workforce costs. 

With the regulations for contract workforce less strictly defined than those of a permanent workforce, the Indian manufacturing industry has navigated the challenge of labour compliance deftly by increasing the ratio of their contract workforce over the years.

In this milieu, the management of contract workforce becomes a critical cog in the wheel for any progressive manufacturing company that not only cares about profitability, but treats (all) its employees as strategic assets. Industry estimates peg the size of the contract workforce in Indian manufacturing at 46 percent, and this will only increase with time!

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The author is Country Manager - India, Kronos. Views are personal.