Professional services company and IT recruiter Parity has found that more and more organisations are hiding their spending on temporary or contract staff in office stationery budgets.

Parity found that a number of companies, some of which were prospective clients and others by word of mouth, had been forced to disguise their contractor fees in stationery budgets so they could take on staff during company-wide recruitment freezes.

One company Parity came across had employed more than 100 contractors without putting any of it through the HR budget.

Joe Kelly, managing director of Parity’s Resourcing Solutions Division, said: “Putting staff costs through on budgets that should be reserved for staplers, just to secure good skills at short notice, is not an advisable practice.

“Often contractors won’t know that their fees are being charged in this way, and the likelihood of future work for them is jeopardised by managers looking for a quick fix,” he added.