Beeline has long been a pioneer in the world of workforce management technology. The solution and its offerings have evolved to fit the dynamic needs of the global workforce and the enterprises that leverage the platform to find, engage, source, and manage the growing extended workforce. I had the opportunity to chat with Beeline’s Colleen Tiner, a visionary executive specializing in human capital management technology. She leads Beeline’s business, product, and partnership strategy functions to identify, assess, and drive collaborative development of new solutions that create value for every Beeline customer.
Christopher J. Dwyer: You’ve experienced first-hand how the past two years have played out for businesses regarding their workforce, talent, operations, etc. What has surprised you the most as you look back?
Colleen Tiner: The speed at which companies adapted to change successfully has been remarkable. Some companies, like those in logistics and technology, were faced with unprecedented demands for talent at unprecedented speed. We saw great resilience within our clients because they maximized technology, leveraged their mature supply channels, and implemented new innovative strategies like direct sourcing. The past two years, while a difficult time for many, has also been a catalyst for innovation and business transformation.
The imbalance of demand and supply for skills combined with wage inflation has also been a catalyst for significant bill rate increases. In IT, throughout 2021 we saw supplier bill rates increasing steadily about 2.5% to 3% over the prior year. In light industrial, we saw rates increase by double digits between 11% and 13% over the prior year. This really shines a light on how the processes of building rate card models is outdated. Many clients are examining how to shift to dynamic rate negotiations based on market trends, which makes real-time market rate analytics for bill and pay rates more important than ever.
CJD: We’ve seen so many accelerants over the past two years, from remote and hybrid work to the focus on talent quality. What does this say about the current “state of work”?
CT: Talent acquisition teams, procurement, and their business stakeholders are looking to technology to enable them to “do more with less.” We have not seen this let up. In this new state of work, finding quality talent, bringing them into the organization, and getting them engaged and productive as quickly as possible is the top priority. If you can’t support your business strategy with the talent you need, cost savings is moot. This is giving way to creativity in upskilling and cross-skilling, and to relaxing previously exclusionary requirements like specific degrees and certifications. I see a real “talent-first” approach to contingent workforce programs – of course compliance and cost control are still relevant, but they aren’t the only purpose. HR and procurement leaders have become strategic business partners to their stakeholders.
CJD: A year ago, Beeline introduced its Extended Workforce Management platform; how does it differ from the VMS functionality that the solution is known for?
CT: A typical VMS centers on the requisition, automating workflow and enforcing policy rather than fulfilling the skill needs of the business. Conversely, the extended workforce platform centers on talent and on enabling suppliers, clients, and MSPs to facilitate fulfilling talent needs through a myriad of processes, types of engagements and worker classifications given the skills needs of the business. So, while it does address all the necessary workflows and policy needs, the emphasis is on optimizing the contingent workforce as a strategic asset to the business. That includes providing access to more talent, redeploying proven talent, recommending where to find talent, engaging that talent, and measuring the impact of that talent, including on your DE&I strategies.
We’ve all seen this shift from process automation to talent-centered strategies coming for some time – and we had been evolving to be ready for that shift since 2018. I believe the acceleration of talent scarcity and workforce flexibility needs as an outcome of the pandemic, as well as greater focus on extended workforce diversity, made talent-centered strategies for extended workforce management a reality much sooner than anyone anticipated. The future of work is now.
Beeline’s Extended Workforce Platform solves the complexities of managing the entire extended workforce today, including both assignment-based and shift-based labor, and contemplates the needs of the future by incorporating latest innovation and premier partner products.
From a technology perspective, the platform drives greater ROI through exceptional end user experiences that decrease training time by up to 50% and by enabling efficiency so customers and providers can rapidly scale to contingent workforce demand. For example, one of the platform’s AI-powered features includes the CV/Resume Visualizer, which can make resume screening ten times faster and more accurate by analyzing, comprehending, and highlighting key decision criteria instantly.
CJD: I remember you and I having some wonderful discussions at Beeline’s user conferences over the years. One thing that has always been abundantly clear to me is your passion for the technology side of the industry.
CT: I love the technology side of the industry because technology is the great enabler. When we can use technology to better connect our clients, supplier and MSP partners to talent, everyone wins. You will hear us talk about our vision and mission: every person, given the right opportunity, is capable of greatness. Every business, given the right talent, is capable of superior outcomes. Our trusted platform connects businesses to the remarkable talent within the global extended workforce. Beeline lives this vision and mission. And this is why I’ve been in this industry and with Beeline for more than 17 years.
CJD: Direct sourcing has become one of the hottest topics in our industry. Where do you see this program, and, by extension, the technology, going in the months ahead?
CT: Direct sourcing is in an exciting growth stage fueled by the demand for skills and the technology that enables directly engaging extended workers. Direct sourcing enables you to supplement your trusted supplier lists with a direct channel to talent attracted to your brand. We’ve seen clients in pharma, banking, and high-tech realize tremendous success using a technology-enabled direct sourcing strategy. Probably the most notable benefit has been significant time savings, reducing time to fill by about 7 days.
What I see next is an opportunity to enable clients’ trusted suppliers with the technology and advantages that have enabled direct sourcing success. This gives them an easier way to interact with their worker populations, ultimately allowing them to bring in more of the right talent quickly. We can help them cut time and cost out of the process and everyone wins.
CJD: If there’s one big thing we’re not thinking of right now regarding the Future of Work, what is it?
CT: We need to dig deeper on the talent scarcity assertion. Is it really that talent and skills are scarce – or are the skills and talent there and we are just not opening our minds and processes to meet them where they are? Are the strategies being used to find, attract, and evaluate talent outdated? Do you treat your connections and channels to talent as “lead sources” or do you treat them as one-and-done processes? When you have 50 candidates for any position, do you choose one and let the others fall back to the competition or do you explore connections to other needs? Are the processes we use for communicating opportunities, interviewing, and engaging talent making companies clients of choice? Are your requirements for skills speaking the same language as the talent you are seeking or are you alienating great talent by having outdated requirements?
Connect with Colleen on LinkedIn and visit www.beeline.com for more information on Beeline’s solutions.
