Embedded contract work. A lot of places have seen the benefits of keeping a small labor pool and expanding capacity with contract workers only when needed. It’s a lot cheaper to contract a person to work for a year and have them figure out their vacation and benefits than it is to hire an employee you need to keep on. You can terminate the contract at anytime, no severance pay. They need to figure out coverage for their vacation and if they can’t it’s their problem. Same with them being sick, the contract says they’ll find someone to fill that position. If they get injured it doesn’t reflect on your insurance. Plus they need the job so they stay on year to year. You can even contract them for less the next year, can’t do that to an employee.