During a recent FOWX podcast, Christopher Dwyer, senior vice president of research and managing director of the Future of Work Exchange for Ardent Partners, spoke to Orli Becker, executive vice president and managing director of contingent workforce solutions for AMS, Orli Becker, on the impact of direct sourcing, the power of skills-based hiring, how AI is transforming extended workforce management, and more
In part one of our three-part series, we highlight the major discussion points and a link to the full event.
The contingent workforce industry has reached a pivotal inflection point. What was once viewed as a tactical labor solution has evolved into a core component of enterprise workforce strategy, driven by demographic shifts, changing worker preferences, and persistent skills scarcity. As discussed in a recent Future of Work Exchange podcast conversation between Arden Partners’ Christopher Dwyer and AMS EVP Orly Becker, today’s labor market realities are exposing deep cracks in traditional contingent workforce models—particularly long-standing MSP and vendor management approaches that have failed to evolve alongside the workforce itself.
A Labor Market Redefined by Flexibility and Scarcity
At the heart of this disruption is a fundamental change in how workers choose to engage with employers. Stability and long-term tenure, once the gold standard for career success, have given way to flexibility, autonomy, and work-life balance. Younger generations increasingly favor contingent, project-based, or independent work models, while experienced Baby Boomers are exiting the workforce altogether. Compounding this shift are declining global birth rates, which are shrinking the overall labor pool. The result is a persistent imbalance between talent supply and demand, especially for specialized and in-demand skills.
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