£3Billion IT Skills Waste Sparks Launch of IT Consultancy Talent Sharing Economy

London, 16 September 2025: A UK-based startup has created the first talent sharing economy for IT consultancies with the launch of BenchBee - a member-driven network that enables consultancies to monetise their ‘bench’ consultants, reduce recruitment costs, and respond faster to project demands.

The platform delivers a dynamic, skills-rich community where member organisations collaborate by subcontracting available talent within a trusted ecosystem and turning idle bench time into profitable revenue streams. This community-first approach provides a vital solution at a time when hiring freezes, budget cuts, and skills shortages are putting delivery under intense pressure.

“This isn’t just another job board – it's an entirely new category of talent sharing that disrupts the traditional recruitment model,” says Founder and CEO Hassen Hattab. “We’ve created a member-driven ecosystem where consultancies can connect, match available talent to project needs in real time, and access hidden talent pools that traditional recruitment simply can't reach. It’s a smarter way to fill skills gaps and unlock underused expertise that would otherwise remain invisible.”

The £Billion Bench Problem

According to IDC, IT skills shortages will affect 90% of organisations by 2026, costing the global economy an estimated $5.5 trillion (£4.18 trillion). As demand for niche expertise continues to surge, consultancies can no longer afford to let highly skilled professionals sit idle between projects. In the UK, the average IT consultant spends 15–20% of their time on the bench, fully employed but not generating revenue. For a consultancy with 500 consultants, this translates to £15.3 million in lost revenue per year. That figure reaches an eye-watering £3.06 billion in non-billable hours annually^[1].

Traditional Recruitment Channels Are Broken

Typically, agencies charge 15-20% placement fees on inflated salaries, but rarely deliver the niche skills companies need, when they need them. Meanwhile, the best talent isn’t on job boards; they’re already working and invisible to traditional hiring channels.

This leaves consultancies with impossible choices: pay extortionate recruitment fees, gamble on unknown freelancers, or watch projects collapse while perfect candidates sit unused elsewhere in the industry.

"After more than a decade in the industry, I kept seeing the same problem," says Hassen Hattab. "One organisation has brilliant people on the bench. Another is losing work due to a lack of skills. The old system doesn't work anymore. Consultancies need agile access to skills, not lengthy recruitment processes. BenchBee directly connects those dots, providing businesses with the skills they need while dramatically reducing costs.”

Introducing an Industry First: The Talent Sharing Economy

In a sector bleeding £billions in lost productivity, BenchBee’s collaborative, consultancy resource sharing model solves three of the industry’s biggest challenges:

• Monetising underused consultants
• Accessing hidden talent pools
• Eliminating recruitment inefficiencies

Instead of competing for scarce talent, BenchBee enables members to share and monetise underutilised consultants during bench periods, while accessing specialised skills from trusted peers when needed.

Vetted consultancies join a secure network and subcontract talent as required. A flat membership fee replaces costly commissions, providing predictable costs and real-time access to pre-qualified professionals already working in the industry.

As skills shortages intensify and economic pressures grow, BenchBee empowers consultancies to take control, maximise their existing talent, protect margins, and move faster in an increasingly competitive market.

“This isn’t better recruitment, it’s a completely different approach to uncovering unseen and underused talent.” summarises Hattab. “It’s an entirely new way for companies to work together and share expertise. This is talent sharing for the real world: faster, smarter, and built around how consultancies actually operate.”

[1] https://benchbee.io/blog

• IT Skills Shortage Expected to Impact Nine out of Ten Organizations by 2026 with a Cost of $5.5 Trillion in Delays, Quality Issues and Revenue Loss, According to IDC
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