In the final weeks of 2023 and just recently here on the Future of Work Exchange, we highlighted a variety of predictions and insights into the coming months. Not only did we unveil our own thoughts on trends, but also commentary from numerous executive leaders across the greater workforce solutions industry.
While there are many trends and corresponding predictions that generate headlines and steal thunder, there are several other trajectories that may not be front-page news, but nonetheless, are deserving of business leadership attention as we move further into January and, of course, into 2024.
- Services procurement (and SOW management) are still the “next frontier.” Way back when (let’s not date ourselves here except to say it was a long time ago), I presented on a webinar regarding big contingent workforce management trends. With a headline that read, “SOW and Services Procurement: The Next Frontier,” and a picture of a desert with a gorgeous sunset and mountains in the background, I spoke of how businesses needed to better manage professional services and better tie this complex form of non-employee labor into greater enterprise strategies. Well, over a decade later, and…it’s still the next frontier. Professional services represents upwards of 45%-to-60% of an average enterprise’s total extended workforce spend; in 2024, too many organizations do not include services procurement and SOW under the scope of their contingent workforce programs, which not only leaves millions of dollars in cost savings on the table (via enhanced efficiencies, automation, outsourcing to MSPs, etc.), but a general failure to apply Future of Work-era and “work optimization” strategies to this intricate type of non-employee labor.
- Long COVID concerns will continue to affect the workforce. COVID-19 is, by-and-large, an afterthought outside of the winter seasons in today’s post-pandemic, “nearly-back-to-reality” world (even though wastewater samples across the states indicate rising levels of the virus due to colder weather and more indoor gatherings). However, in a study released in August, the Workers Compensation Research Institute found that 6% of workers comp claims for COVID illnesses ended up in long COVID situations. While that seems like a small number, the stat is compounded to the total number of COVID-specific compensation claims across the United States…a figure that represents tens of thousands of workers across various industries that will have significant gaps in their resumes (and, in parallel, valuable lost time in honing skills). This could have some major ramifications in verticals that rely on consistent, up-to-date skillsets.
- Enterprises strengthen the link between artificial intelligence and business leadership. Much of the focus on AI as a business disruptor centers on several discussions: 1) its application as a tactical automation engine, 2) its potential as a strategic, next-generation process enhancer, and 3) its near-boundless, budding power for model- and scenario-building within specific organizational initiatives. What’s oft-missed is just how AI will impact business leadership and corporate problem-solving. AI is the most powerful technology tool that many of us have seen, leveraged, and experienced in our collective lifetime; it only makes sense that business leaders enact optimal configuration to better understand how artificial intelligence will influence core decision-making and how it will help them reimagine how they manage the workforce, long-term enterprise planning, and greater talent acquisition strategies.
- The next generation of the candidate experience is designed. The earliest concepts behind the “candidate experience” revolved around how candidates progressed through engagement and hiring processes. In recent years, and especially in the wake of post-pandemic business evolution (specifically around bigger ideas like “humanity”), more of that experience tended to correlate with candidates’ perceptions of their future employers, particularly aspects like workplace culture, inclusive environments, and the non-financial attributes of the company brand. We will see a shift in the candidate experience as 2024 unfolds; with the power of converging AI and human-based candidate experience strategies, businesses will be able to better-tailor messaging to talent prospects, hone communication with candidates, and revolutionizing engagement processes to consider workers’ preferences, skills, and career aspirations.
