I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a stubborn, stubborn person. You could ask anyone I’ve worked with over the past two decades, or even the numerous partners of Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange. Or, alternatively, you could ask Sarah (my wife) and she’ll give you a high-five and agree wholeheartedly.
A couple of months ago, it was prime season for spring cleanups, leaf and yard debris removal, and the ever-dreaded, annual mulching project. Unfortunately, inflation, while curbed somewhat since its peak, affects consumer services, not just consumer goods; the three quotes we received were more than double what they were a little over a year ago, sparking me to utter a phrase that I too often speak:
“I’ll just do it myself.”
Sarah shook her head slowly. “I understand you want to do it yourself, but I don’t think you should do it yourself.”
@officialseinfeldtv You gotta mulch. And you gotta have a great long weekend. Stream on Netflix or check your local listings. #gardening #USA #sitcom #Seinfeld ♬ original sound – Seinfeld
While I feel that I’m an experienced homeowner (15 years of owning homes across two towns in Massachusetts), I didn’t realize that mulching isn’t just shlepping the mulch from a big mound and tossing it onto our garden beds and other areas in front of our house…it requires watering the areas, pulling out weeds and debris, loosening the soil, placing the mulch, spreading the mulch, and periodically removing additional rogue weeds in the weeks that follow.
So, no…now I didn’t want to do it myself.
The realm of extended workforce management may not share anything in common with yardwork or mulching, but there certainly is a link somewhere here when we address the great debate of 1) whether or not to outsource all operations to an external solution like an MSP, 2) manage the entire program in-house (with or without technology such as VMS), or 3) leverage a hybrid model that borrows elements from the prior two. Many businesses may outwardly have a sense of “stubbornness” in regards to extended workforce management and prefer the in-house approach, however, with efficiency, automation, strategic prowess, and other Best-in-Class variables, it works wonderfully.
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