Answer extracted from the Digital Construction Podcast — listen to the full episode below.
How do you balance full-time and contingent workforce to preserve culture during rapid growth?
Maintain a 70-30 ratio of full-time employees to contingent workforce to preserve organizational culture during scaling. When this balance reverses and contingent staff becomes the majority, culture erodes. The key is treating contingent workers as genuine team members, not as disposable labor.
Why the ratio matters more than headcount alone
Culture doesn't scale automatically when you hire more people. The foundation of organizational identity rests on a stable core of full-time staff who embody and reinforce company values over time. These employees become the cultural anchors, modeling behavior, mentoring new arrivals, and maintaining continuity through busy cycles.
When you rely too heavily on contingent workers, you lose this continuity. Temporary staff rarely stay long enough to internalize company norms, and they often have divided loyalties between multiple employers. As Devon Middleditch explains in the episode, once contingent workers outnumber full-time employees, the cultural fabric weakens because there's no critical mass of people committed to reinforcing shared behaviors.
The contingent workforce must feel integrated, not peripheral
The 70-30 ratio only works if contingent staff are genuinely integrated into team operations. Simply hiring temps to fill workload spikes while excluding them from team meetings, decision-making, or informal social moments undermines the strategy entirely.
As discussed in the podcast, treating contingent workers as full members of the team—with voice, visibility, and respect—transforms the dynamic. When they feel valued, they contribute more effectively, pick up cultural cues faster, and actually strengthen team cohesion during high-demand periods rather than diluting it.
Devon Middleditch — Head of Digital Engineering and Technology at Varys. Devon has led teams at Tier 1 engineering firms like AECOM and served in government roles including Technology Architect on the Doha Expressway Program. He has repeatedly faced the challenge of scaling teams on major infrastructure projects while protecting organizational culture and values.
For organizations managing growth during high-workload periods, the strategic implication is clear: this approach ensures that culture remains intentional and protected, even when headcount doubles in months. Without this guardrail, rapid scaling becomes a risk to the very identity that made the company attractive to new hires in the first place.
See also
How does Devon Middleditch approach leading innovation teams versus project delivery teams differently?
People inventing the future operate differently from those delivering projects. Innovation teams do not like controls or constraints; they need autonomy and freedom to experiment, whereas delivery teams require clarity on timelines and constraints.
How should leaders define and maintain culture across teams experiencing rapid growth?
Culture means people feel valued, have a voice, enjoy coming to work, operate in an inclusive environment, and have autonomy. Leaders must be consistent in reinforcing these values even as teams expand.
What is the key difference between leadership in government agencies versus private engineering consulting firms?
Government agencies operate with more compliance-driven processes and political agendas influencing decisions, whereas engineering consulting firms make choices driven by market competitiveness and client needs.