A 2026 survey from RSM US and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that 52% of middle-market executives expect moderate to significant hiring needs over the next year. Among those planning to recruit, 84% expect difficulty filling open roles, with talent availability and labor costs among the leading concerns.
The same research points to growing interest in outsourced support across customer service, payroll, financial accounting, IT, and cybersecurity.
This suggests that external support is no longer being considered only when companies want to reduce costs. It is increasingly being used to fill capability gaps, absorb changing workloads, and give internal teams access to skills that may be difficult to recruit quickly.
That is relevant to promotional products businesses, where demand rarely moves in a straight line. Seasonal programs, large account wins, rush orders, catalog updates, customer inquiries, and month-end financial work can place sudden pressure on small operational teams.
Hiring permanently for every peak is expensive. Waiting several months to recruit and train employees can also leave the existing team carrying an unsustainable workload.
A more flexible workforce model allows companies to combine permanent employees with specialist external capacity. Internal teams can remain focused on customer relationships, commercial decisions, and work that depends heavily on company knowledge. External teams can support recurring operational activity or provide additional execution capacity when volumes rise.
The RSM and U.S. Chamber findings also show that businesses are investing simultaneously in hiring, employee development, AI, and external support. These are not necessarily competing choices. They are different ways of building the capacity required for growth.
For promo leaders, the practical task is to determine where permanent internal expertise is essential, where workloads fluctuate, and where access to trained support could help the existing team operate more effectively.
