Christopher J. Dwyer, Author at The Future of Work Exchange

The Future of How We Work Includes…Naps?

Business Leadership General Insights by Christopher J. Dwyer on 10/24/2022

Raise your hand if you’ve experienced burnout at work sometime over the past year. Worker burnout (notice that it’s worker burnout, not just employee burnout; external workers face this issue, too) has become a critical issue in the new world of work, with more professionals than ever before dealing with overwrought anxiety, stress, and both mental and physical exhaustion from their careers.

A study by job board Indeed, released earlier this year, found that 52% of all workers are feeling burned out, which was a near-10% increase from a pre-COVID study. While this increase doesn’t seem like much on the surface, just imagine the cross-section of workers this represents in terms of sheer volume…that’s millions and millions of business professionals, blue-collar workers, white-collar workers, freelancers, contractors, gig workers, etc. that are currently mired in a burnout epidemic.

Too, Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research found that 72% of executive leaders anticipate transforming the way they manage their teams by centering their understanding of workers’ perspectives, feelings, and, yes, stress and exhaustion. This shift in business thinking (a key element of the Future of Work movement) translates into leadership knowing that burnout has become an issue to tackle in an increasingly-evolving world of work.

Nearly two weeks ago, The New York Times ran a feature on Tricia Hersey, the so-called “Nap Bishop” who preaches the value of rest, recovery, and reflection on the human body…and mind.

“Thus the Nap Ministry was born, and Hersey anointed herself its Nap Bishop. She urges followers to use time they might otherwise devote to extra work to sleeping instead, the stretches they’d spend staring at a screen to staring into space. Tense moments given over to worry about disappointing others would be better spent reflecting on our own needs and comforts, Hersey said. It’s about collectively refusing to run ourselves into the ground.”

The most powerful statement in that excerpt? “Collectively refusing to run ourselves into the ground.” Too many of us (the vast majority of us, I would believe) work well past the 40-hour mark each week, dedicating ourselves to our craft, our professions, and our passions. And, just because something is a passion doesn’t mean it can’t burn us out. Even the best-fit, best-aligned roles that make us complete can also make us haggard and exhausted.

When I first read the feature on Hersey and her Nap Ministry, I was a tad confounded myself; after all, taking a snooze at 2pm in the afternoon when you’re supposed to be behind a laptop, on the surface, just seems wrong. And it’s here where Hershey just nails this idea of “rest as privilege”:

“Rest can also feel like a privilege, and many people tell Hersey they can’t afford to lie down when there are bills to pay. She acknowledges that many see walking away from obligations as unrealistic, but counters that devoting even one spare moment to rest is worthwhile, and a practice that can be built on over time.”

Burnout has become an epidemic within the workforce over the past several years, particularly over the last two-plus years due to more and more professionals spending more time in a remote environment, in which the boundaries between “work” and “personal life” are often blurred. Those workers that cannot operate in a remote environment have also been pushed beyond their limits with staffing shortages abound.

I’ve worked remotely for a number of years and decided to experiment a bit with Hersey’s teachings. All of last week, I incorporated more rest, reflection, and yes, naps, into my daily work routine:

Monday. An afternoon stacked with meetings and calls means I can’t sneak away for some shuteye during the second half of my work day. I decide to shut down my laptop for 45 minutes at 12pm, play some acoustic Smashing Pumpkins, and close my eyes. My alarm blares as I am in a deep dream state. Immediate insights: Don’t nap when you came home at 12:30am from a concert in the city (again, Smashing Pumpkins), still feel the effects of a COVID vaccine booster, and wake up at 6am to walk the dog. If my alarm didn’t ring, I could have slept for another few hours.
Tuesday. My day looks nearly as same as it did on Monday, with a heavier arsenal of meetings during the second half of the day. Without the aura of exhaustion that plagued Monday, I set an alarm for 3:57pm (three minutes before my 4pm meeting) and head for the quietness of the master bedroom at 2:45pm. Immediate insights: This one actually rejuvenated me and gave me enough of a boost to 1) get through the rest of my work day, 2) manage two overtired children for homework and dinner, and 3) be awake enough to catch up on some television with my wife.
Wednesday. This is a truer test for the power of naps, with meetings staggered throughout the day (every other hour beginning at 10am). I aim for a 30-minute snooze after lunch. Immediate insights: This was less a “nap” and more “reflection.” I didn’t truly all asleep, but the serenity of sitting on a comfortable bed with nothing but my thoughts helped me refocus on my breathing and thoughts. It was a nice addition to the work day.
Thursday. The calls are relentless today, as is my delivery schedule. I notice that my only real opening for rest (or reflection) is at 4pm. I take the opportunity to shut down the laptop a bit early, head to the master bedroom, and set a timer for 70 minutes. Immediate insights: This was, by far, the best nap all week thus far. I had enough energy to handle an extra hour of work while the kids did their homework. And, thanks to Freshly, I didn’t have to cook. And, Thursday Night Football (the entire game, for once) was a real possibility.
Friday. Some team meetings in the morning, as well as catching up with old friends in the MSP world. With (obviously) much work to do in a no-call afternoon, I consider skipping a period of rest and reflection today…but when I realize that the weekend ahead is filled with kids’ activities and sports, as well as some FOWX work to tackle, it bodes well for my body and mind to slow down and shut off my mind for a bit. Immediate insights: My final nap during this very, very interesting experiment is absolutely refreshing. Many of us feel exhausted on Friday afternoons, with that edge of burnout carrying into the weekend.

While most of my experiment revolved around naps during the workday, the underlying foundation of Hersey’s mission is not for all of us to shut down and sneak in a snooze, but rather truly rest and reflect during those chaotic hours in which we are toiling away as part of our professional personas. Replace any of the above naps with 45 or 60 minutes of self-reflection or mindfulness, and the result will be the same: some semblance of a solution to burnout in an era when it’s just too, too common. We are all very likely to open our laptops during non-work hours, so there shouldn’t be an issue with grabbing some rest or reflection (or just some quiet non-work time) during the business day.

Beeline to Acquire Utmost: Extended Workforce Tech as a Future of Work Nexus

Solution Providers Technology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on 10/19/2022

When Stone Point Capital acquired Vendor Management System (VMS) giant and extended workforce platform Beeline back in the spring, CEO Doug Leeby alluded to the fact that the transaction and new ownership would allow the most mature independent provider of VMS technology to be more active and more aggressive in the software acquisition market.

Today, that first domino fell for Beeline, as they have announced plans to acquire fellow extended workforce solution provider, Utmost.

Utmost, founded in 2018, became a growing force in the VMS solutions market over the past couple of years due to its progressive and strategic approach towards extended workforce management and the convergence of HR- and procurement-led functionality, buoyed by its dynamic technology architecture. The Utmost platform boasts a wealth of innovative modules, including an omni-channel talent sourcing solution (“Front Door”), Global Workforce Intelligence (enabling true total talent intelligence), a reimagined services procurement tool, and a burgeoning talent technology ecosystem. For Beeline, this represents a robust opportunity to capture small- and mid-sized extended and contingent workforce programs by tapping into the unique nature of Utmost’s progressive functionality.

“The Future of Work is built on the technology that delivers on the evolution of talent engagement, talent acquisition, and talent management,” said Doug Leeby, CEO of Beeline. “Bringing Utmost’s innovative offerings into the Beeline umbrella of solutions will complement our extended workforce technology and provide our clients with even more value as they optimize they ways they get work done.”

Utmost’s hallmarks, including its ease-of-use automation, frictionless integrations, and quick implementations, will enable Beeline with the ability to tap into the small- and mid-sized markets by offering a nimble foundation of offerings that link directly with these organizations’ key pain points. “Companies in the mid-market require more agile solutions at a lower cost with enhanced access points,” said Leeby. “Beeline is a fantastic “work engine” with massive functionality; Utmost will help us meet the evolving needs of this specific market while keeping our main vision in scope with the ways talent and work are evolving.”

At the center of this major market acquisition are the core constituents of the new world of work: the HR, procurement, and talent acquisition executives that run extended and contingent workforce programs, the suppliers and partners that fulfill their needs for skillsets and expertise, and the talent that drives it all.

“Acquiring Utmost is a representation of the future of extended workforce management technology,” said Colleen Tiner, Beeline’s SVP Strategy. “The transformation of both platforms has been highly complementary from business and functionality perspectives. Combining our market experience with Utmost’s solutions will help Beeline to provide Future of Work-oriented and talent-centric technology to our clients and the market.”

Tiner added that one major result of the acquisition is harnessing the power of Utmost’s strong onboarding and provisioning workflows, as well as the solution’s unique services, and bringing those into Beeline’s extended workforce platform.

Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange analysis of the acquisition:

While there are several redundancies in functionality, the Utmost acquisition represents a way for Beeline to continue doing what is best known for: innovating. There were many logical acquisition targets for Beeline in the wake of Stone Point Capital’s purchase of the company earlier this year, including direct sourcing platforms and specialist solutions (such as AI-fueled software), however, the company chose to go big with the Utmost move. The core of this acquisition is actually quite simple: it will allow Beeline to continue its long track record of being a pioneer and innovator while expanding its existing scope of Best-in-Class extended workforce management technology.
“Total Talent Intelligence” becomes “Global Workforce Intelligence.” In the 2022 VMS Technology Advisor, we wrote: “Utmost offers the market’s deepest total talent intelligence through agile and dynamic dashboards that present users with the ability to pinpoint (with regional- and location-specific accuracy) the makeup of FTEs, contingent workers, professional services, independent contractors, etc. and make decisions and take action in real-time (i.e., anomalies regarding compliance, etc.).” Beeline will expand the realm of total talent intelligence through its powerful analytics, AI, and machine learning capabilities to bring its clients “Global Workforce Intelligence,” taking TTI a step or two further.
Beeline will have a clear pathway into the HR and talent acquisition markets. Contingent workforce management has never been a pure procurement play, but there was a time when the function dominated how the extended workforce was ultimately managed. Today, as the world of work and talent becomes more candidate-centric, technology platforms must place workers at the center of their models. The Utmost acquisition enables Beeline with crucial HR intellectual property and functionality, not to mention Utmost’s expected influence on Beeline’s greater product roadmap. The infusion of HR-oriented functionality into Beeline’s array of offerings, combined with a global workforce intelligence play that will surely draw the attention of C-suite leaders, make this deal a groundbreaking one for the industry.

Key Providers for 2022: Prosperix

Solution Providers Technology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on 10/18/2022

The Background:

The world of talent and work is on an upward trajectory, with a vast majority of businesses actively anticipating the adoption of revolutionary strategies, platforms, and solutions to truly optimize the way they get work done. According to Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research, not only do 72% of enterprises expect to implement a “total talent acquisition” strategy before 2024, but 76% of businesses also anticipate extending HR- and talent-acquisition-like competencies and experiences into their extended workforce management programs within the next 18 months.

What does this mean? Enterprises across the globe crave innovation from their workforce management technology and services, essentially requiring an extra edge of progressive functionality that can transform contingent workforce programs into initiatives that resemble the Future of Work in terms of candidate experience, hiring manager experience, direct sourcing, talent intelligence, etc. In essence, what the business arena needs now is automation that enables agility, scalability, and flexibility.

Enter Prosperix.

Why They Were Selected:

During its near-decade run as Crowdstaffing, the solution now known as Prosperix revolutionized the technological concepts behind digital staffing, direct sourcing, and workforce management. Under the Prosperix brand, the company is doing the same with the Future of Work. Prosperix is known for its innovative VMS Network approach to Vendor Management System (VMS) technology and dedication to enhancing both the candidate and hiring manager experiences.

Prosperix’s unique approach to the talent acquisition and workforce management technology market is further enhanced by the arrival of its new, bundled service offering, Prosperix Xponential. The idyllic blend of tactical and strategic elements of Xponential provide businesses with the necessary power to manage all facets of today’s dynamic workforce, from talent engagement and the candidate experience to managed services, payrolling, and access to the solution’s deep network of candidates and suppliers.

In Their Own Words:

Prosperix is accelerating innovation in hiring and workforce management, enabling every business to build an extraordinary workforce. Our end-to-end software incorporates network effects, automates processes, and simplifies human interactions, while delivering actionable insights and improved outcomes. With our best-in-class solutions, we fuel our client’s biggest dreams by elevating human, workforce, and business prosperity.

Prosperix’s innovations, including the industry’s first (and patent-pending) VMS network and the newest addition, Prosperix Xponential, are garnering attention and giving clients the ability to achieve exponential scalability, agility, resilience, and business outcomes. We serve clients from a wide range of industries such as financial services, insurance, technology, entertainment, and utilities. They engage tens of thousands of contingent workers in professional and non-professional roles including IT, marketing, sales, finance, HR, customer support, manufacturing, and healthcare technology.

Founded in 2012 in Silicon Valley by CEO Sunil Bagai, our company has evolved into one of the industry’s leading technology providers, but with a significant difference – we focus on the combination of technology and people to build a prosperous ecosystem. By balancing the needs of businesses, suppliers, and workers, we help every client establish and maintain a high-quality workforce that meets current and future hiring needs. Visit www.prosperix.com for more information.

The Outlook:

When the company announced its rebrand last year, the main focus was on the “prosperity” of workers and the businesses that employed them. The innovative approach was certainly a progressive marker of where the world of work was heading, as two-plus years removed from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, enterprises find themselves requiring fresh ways of attracting, engaging, and managing talent from various sources, whilst realizing that a talent acquisition and HR focus was the ideal means in leveraging today’s evolving workforce to truly thrive during challenging times.

Prosperix’s VMS Network is a Best-in-Class platform that effectively serves as an agile convergence of digital staffing technology and next-generation VMS functionality. The amalgamation of direct sourcing, candidate experience management, end-to-end contingent workforce management, and digital staffing, combined with the newly-bundled Xponential offering, position Prosperix as a powerful platform that represents the very best of Future of Work-era technology.

Upwork’s Work Without Limits: HR Builds Bridges Across the Organization

Events Solution Providers by Christopher J. Dwyer on 10/14/2022

Upwork, a global talent and work platform, recently held its Work Without Limits summit as an in-person and streaming event in Chicago The main stage was filled with customer and enterprise presenters, including Upwork’s Tony Buffum, vice president of HR Client Strategy, who served as moderator for the panel titled, “HR: Building Bridges Across the Organization.” Joining Buffum to discuss how HR leaders are earning trust, building awareness, and gaining alignment with key business partners to drive business results, was a panel that included:

Zoë Harte, Chief People Officer at Upwork.
David Harris, SVP of HR for PepsiCo.
Sarah Harse, Global Category Leader for HR Services and Professional Education, Johnson & Johnson.

The panel discussion covered a variety of topics. However, a central theme was HR’s cross-functional collaboration in executing the enterprise’s talent strategy. This article explores several areas around that theme. While HR is looked upon by the enterprise to drive talent and other critical initiatives, it cannot do this alone. There must be a partnership across the entire business with other functions like procurement, finance, legal, marketing, engineering, and the like.

Responsibility Lies With Everyone

When it comes to the role of sourcing and identifying talent, who is ultimately responsible? This was the opening question that Buffum posed to the panel. Harte believes everybody is responsible for bringing exceptional talent to drive the business initiatives that are the priorities for the organization. “HR has a powerful role in that. And so do the people managers and so does procurement. We all must do it together to be successful,” she said.

Responding with a procurement perspective, Harse says in the past the function took the upfront role of sourcing, finding the channel, putting it in place, and ensuring it operated. However, that’s not enough anymore.

“Just having the channel available is not enough to really solve the challenges that are ahead for our people leaders. The more we can do to partner with our HR counterparts, our finance counterparts, or our legal counterparts to connect those dots and really think about each of us having a unique role to play — with the hiring manager at the center helping to navigate all these different channels we have available — is really critical,” Harse said.

*The audience at Upwork’s Work Without Limits event listens in to insights regarding the evolving world of work and talent. (Photo credit: Upwork)*

Communication Is the Cornerstone

Because several business units contribute to the identification of talent sources, cross-functional collaboration is imperative. Harris described this process at PepsiCo, which included partnerships with finance (always a major role within large companies), procurement (to ensure all the contracts and partnerships are in place), and the internal talent acquisition team (securing the available people when and where they’re needed).

Of course, such collaboration couldn’t occur without effective communication. What projects are underway and the associated strategies? What are the different metrics or objectives among the functional lines? Harte says each individual team may be working toward different metrics. However, the role of the leader is to take a step back and look at the overall objectives they’re working toward. Knowing the business mission enables everyone to work together.

“It’s then easier to see how you can merge your objectives and key results together to ensure you’re making good compromises,” said Harse. “Communicate and really have a conversation about that so people understand the give and take of everyone involved. You’ll be able to find alignment and come to some level of agreement.”

Commit to Early Engagement

However, even the best-laid plans and communication can pose challenges. Harse spoke about her own experiences in procurement working through problem areas cross functionally and where opportunities exist to work toward a better goal. She said a common pitfall is the last-minute rush that can occur when a project is tossed over the wall to another function. Because both functions have not been on that journey together, there’s a lack of understanding around the purpose of the project and the work that’s been put into it.

For the individual or team suddenly holding the project, there’s a lack of alignment in terms of priority regardless of the urgency involved. Harse said much of the issue can be resolved with better early collaboration during the ideation phase.

“We have a number of subject matter experts across all our large organizations who can bring significant value to the table. Procurement shouldn’t be viewed at the table as simply the purchasing or supply chain person, but rather the beneficiary of these strategies as well,” said Harse.

She adds that the greatest learning coming into a new role supporting HR is that everyone can identify with the need for talent access. All are people leaders who understand the challenge of filling the seats to get the work done.

“It’s easy to get people on board with that message if you bring them in early and start to engage with legal and finance counterparts at the beginning of the journey to bring down some of those barriers that inevitably come up. This is crucial for those unique relationships we want to build to really be successful,” Harse explains.

Key Providers for 2022: Utmost

Solution Providers Technology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on 10/13/2022

The Background:

Heading into 2022, Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange identified, amongst other key pressures, two major issues for businesses across the globe: 1) the need to “reimagine” workforce management processes and strategies in the wake of worldwide disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic (as stated by 84% of enterprises), and, 2) a greater need to automate key elements of talent acquisition and workforce management with new and innovative technology (as indicated by over 70% o enterprises).

Today’s workforce management solutions cannot simply rely upon the automation required by organizations during pre-pandemic times, but must now offer a wide range of disruptive, intelligence-led functionality that can lead businesses into the Future of Work era.

Enter Utmost.

Why They Were Selected:

Utmost’s inception was positioned as an extended workforce platform that was buoyed by its seamless integration with Workday to provide users of that software with an agile means of managing both traditional and non-employee workers. Today, it is an end-to-end Vendor Management System (VMS) powerhouse that leads with innovation and talent-fueled functionality. In just four short years, the company blossomed into one of the market leaders in the extended workforce technology landscape, owed to its total talent intelligence capabilities, convergence of HR- and procurement-led functionality, and unique product vision that will enable its clients to traverse into a new era of total talent management and work optimization.

In Their Own Words:

Utmost transforms the VMS by managing the entire extended workforce lifecycle from sourcing to paying all workers in one global talent network for high-growth, dynamic companies. A network of enterprises, workers, and suppliers ensures speed of sourcing/deployment, and Utmost Front Door provides a single place for managers to request workers or work to be done across every channel of sourcing. Utmost supports all talent categories (staff augmentation, service providers, freelancers, SOW, consultants, etc.) in a single module with flexible workflows to cover complex and changing business needs. Utmost was founded in 2018 by industry leaders Annrai O’Toole, Dan Beck, and Paddy Benson, and is backed by Greylock Partners and Mosaic Ventures. Visit www.utmost.co for more information.

The Outlook:

Utmost offers a variety of robust functionality that bodes well for its future in the VMS technology market; its “Front Door” offering is an omni-channel portal (augmented by a seamless user interface) that serves as a dynamic module for finding, engaging, and sourcing Best-in-Class talent, while its native integration with major HRIS platforms is a boon for those business leaders seeking to harness the relative power of total talent intelligence.

Utmost represents the next evolutionary step in the journey of VMS software, as its integration-friendly platform and intuitive functionality position the solution as a powerful offering for organizations seeking a next-generation source of agile workforce management automation. By placing “work” and the overall “talent experience” as the nexus of the platform, Utmost remains a Future of Work-led VMS platform that will only continue to thrive in the months and years ahead.

On-Demand Webinar: The Five Things You Must Know About the Future of Work

Events by Christopher J. Dwyer on 10/12/2022

Last week, Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange hosted an exclusive webcast, The Five Things You MUST KNOW About the Future of Work. During the event, we discussed how the Exchange defines the Future of Work movement, the innerworkings of work optimization, the technology-fueled and non-technological attributes of the Future of Work, and so much more. If you happened to miss the event, we’ve got you covered. Check out The Five Things You MUST KNOW About the Future of Work on-demand webinar below, and stay tuned for details about our next exclusive event.

Key Providers for 2022: LiveHire

Direct Sourcing Solution Providers Technology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on 10/11/2022

The Background:

Over the next two years, nearly 70% of business leaders expect to implement an “integrated” talent acquisition strategy within their organizations, according to Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research. This mode of approach towards worker engagement, in essence, translates into the ability to blend traditional measures of talent acquisition with new and innovative means to foster better relationships with candidates and drive recruitment success.

An integrated talent acquisition strategy doesn’t just render the intermingling of “old” and “new” together, but rather involves a fresh approach towards talent engagement and candidate sourcing that 1) drives better time-to-fill rates, 2) improves the overall success of projects led by both FTE and non-employee candidates, and 3) infuses the greater organization with top-tier skillsets and expertise that can be deployed and retained for both current and future initiatives.

Enter LiveHire.

Why They Were Selected:

LiveHire was the first true direct sourcing technology platform to disrupt the market well over a decade ago, buoyed by its unique mixture of ATS, CRM, and talent community management functionality. They have long been a market leader in this industry, and rightfully so: a truly global software entity, LiveHire has redefined what it means to technologically-enable “total talent management” through an innovative array of powerful recruitment solutions.

In Their Own Words:

LiveHire is the most proven technology for direct sourcing and total talent acquisition with more than 200 clients across 20 industries globally. Independently awarded for exceptional candidate experience, product design, innovation, and client outcomes, we enable our clients to universally attract and engage all worker categories, including direct-hire, contingent and independent workers, for a true total talent solution. We are proud that LiveHire is not only the most proven but also the most loved technology by candidates and recruiters alike, with almost a decade of top NPS scores and industry ratings.

Our mission is to empower the flow of the world’s talent, so we consider candidate experience our superpower and know that it leads to unmatched outcomes in speed and diversity of hire. In direct sourcing, we are known as the battle-tested, heavyweight technology to achieve hiring scale through our powerful candidate relationship management (CRM) and applicant tracking system (ATS), unique talent pooling, intelligent matching, 2-way text messaging and candidate journeys through “moments that matter.”

Our leaders combine deep experience in technology and staffing, as well as some of the world’s most admired thought leadership firms for talent strategy, workforce solutions, and the Future of Work. Continuing to innovate and evolve our product is a top priority for LiveHire, and we frequently seek market feedback to identify improvement opportunities that will deliver measurable results for our clients.

We would love to hear from you. For more information, visit us at www.livehire.com/us or contact karen.gonzalez@livehire.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

The Outlook:

The Future of Work Exchange has maintained, since its inception nearly 16 months ago, that the realm of direct sourcing is positioned to transform the ways businesses think about talent, work, and workforce management. However, no longer does simple automation for talent curation and talent pool development portend an effective direct sourcing technology platform in today’s frenetic, volatile, and dynamic business arena.

LiveHire is well-positioned to not only continue as a dominant force in the direct sourcing market, but also become a revolutionary solution due to its laser-like focus on the candidate experience, innovation within the integration of ATS, CRM, and direct sourcing functionality, universal talent engagement and talent nurture capabilities, disruptive recruitment automation, and frictionless total talent management offerings.

Key Providers for 2022: Toptal

Solution Providers Technology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on 10/07/2022

The Background:

One of the key attributes of the Future of Work movement revolves around the concept of “talent evolution.” Businesses across the globe have realized that, in a world that requires agility to be truly competitive, they require real-time access to top-tier talent and skillsets. Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research has routinely discovered that the utilization of alternative talent channels, particularly digital staffing and talent marketplaces, have experienced upwards of 10x adoption over the past several years.

Why such an extreme uptick in utilization? The answer is quite simple: in order for enterprises to tap into a global market of Best-in-Class talent without the restrictions of archaic talent acquisition capabilities, they need to tap into solutions that offer on-demand talent that reinforces the Future of Work-led world we live in…especially attributes such as remote work.

Enter Toptal.

Why They Were Selected:

Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research has found that nearly 70% of executives leaders anticipated increasing their reliance on talent marketplaces and digital staffing platforms over the next two years, an astounding fact that reflects the dynamic benefits of such models. For over 12 years, Toptal has been a market leader in the digital staffing space, owed to its top-tier network of skillsets and expertise, as well as an on-demand foundation that allows business users to scale their workforce remotely in near-real-time fashion.

Toptal’s Enterprise offering is a services-oriented solution that enables a wide range of agile talent acquisition models. Toptal is well-known for leveraging its deep talent marketplace, talent community, and expanded freelancer network to enable true workforce agility and flexibility in its client base. And, what sets this solution apart from others in the industry is its ability to offer its clients the ability to build a fully-scalable team of distributed talent.

In Their Own Words:

Toptal is an international network of highly skilled freelancers in technology, design, and business that enables companies to innovate, meet business challenges and scale their teams, on demand. The company serves thousands of clients from hyper-growth start-ups to the Fortune 500, connecting them with top software engineers, product and project managers, designers, and finance experts from more than 100 countries. Founded in 2010 by CEO Taso Du Val, Toptal has the world’s largest fully remote workforce. Toptal is also regularly recognized as one of the world’s top companies hiring for work-from-anywhere jobs.

The Outlook:

Toptal continues to be a pioneer in the talent marketplace industry; as such, their years-long commitment to remote work was an idyllic means of combating the many challenges during the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a trailblazer in assisting business leaders and hiring managers across the world with building and developing fully-scalable teams of top-tier, remote talent, Toptal has positioned itself as a continued market leader in the digital and on-demand staffing realm.

Toptal’s long track record of success in delivering on-demand, top-shelf talent and expertise to clients across the world position the solution as an ideal platform in a world driven by Future of Work accelerants.

The Future of Work is not Static, So Where Is It Heading?

Events by Christopher J. Dwyer on 10/05/2022

The latest episode of the Future of Work Exchange Podcast (listen here) discussed how the Future of Work movement is and will never be “static.” In essence, the continued evolution of talent acquisition, the unrelenting pace of new innovations and technology, and the complete transformation of business leadership will always be moving forward in some sense, especially considering the breakneck pace of the economic, political, and social aspects of the corporate arena.

Sometimes leaders will ask the question, “What IS the Future of Work, really?” However, the question we should all be asking ourselves at this very moment is “Where will the world of talent and work go in the months and years ahead?”

To this end, the Future of Work Exchange is excited to host an exclusive event tomorrow (Thursday, October 6 at 1pm ET) focused on the five things that every leader must know about the Future of Work. I’ll be joined by Ardent Partners’ Chief Research Officer, Andrew Bartolini, as we discuss what’s ahead for the extended workforce, the technology that supports strategies such as direct sourcing and remote work, the impact of non-tech attributes like DE&I and conscious leadership, and so much more. Register below…and I hope to see you there tomorrow!

Key Providers for 2022: WorkLLama

Solution Providers Technology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on 10/03/2022

The Background:

There are many slivers of the Future of Work movement that traverse beyond the concept of “work optimization.” In recent years, the very idea of “the evolution of talent” has translated into businesses harnessing the power of new and alternative talent sources while also tapping into the robust functionality of direct sourcing and digital staffing platforms.

Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research has found, over the past two years, that the 1) development of talent communities/talent pools and 2) the initiation of direct sourcing programs are two of the top five priorities for enterprises as they think about how they address work and talent. To effectively achieve these goals and implement robust strategies and processes for direct sourcing, organizations require innovative technology and automation that can revolutionize the ways they engage, source, and manage top-tier talent.

Enter WorkLLama.

Why They Were Selected:

Before entering the enterprise market a few years ago, WorkLLama was battled-tested in the world of staffing; this time spent in that arena allowed the solution to hone its functionality and quickly become a dominant player in the direct sourcing technology marketplace. Through their continued progression, WorkLLama has become a major purveyor of the “Direct Sourcing 2.0” movement, in which advanced functionality, artificial intelligence, access to superior talent, an enhanced candidate experience, and the enablement of repeatable and scalable direct sourcing processes all contribute to a more advanced program.

“Direct Sourcing 2.0” follows the next generation of direct sourcing strategies and is fundamentally rooted in the linkage between key technological arenas, a renewed focus on the candidate experience, a seamless connection between talent pools and the projects and roles that require specific expertise, and a retooled “hiring manager experience” that takes into account Future of Work-era innovation.

Through its dynamic mix of ATS, CRM, and progressive direct sourcing tools, WorkLLama is a pure a reflection of Direct Sourcing 2.0. In addition, the platform has proved that it has the capabilities to transform the ways businesses find, engage, and manage talent through its total talent-ranging functionality and automation.

In Their Own Words:

WorkLLama is a total talent acquisition and engagement suite. Our platform harnesses the power of AI with a complete suite of applicant tracking system (ATS), candidate relationship management (CRM), and direct sourcing tools to help companies build communities of highly engaged talent for all hiring needs. Visit us at www.workllama.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

The Outlook:

Although WorkLLama has become one of the market leaders in the direct sourcing technology arena, there is so much more to the platform than just functionality related to talent curation, talent pool development, and candidate management. Innovative offerings such as its AI-fueled, conversational bot (Sofi), simple and automated referrals, and in-mobile-app candidate assessments are examples of how the platform will thrive in the coming months and years.

In addition, WorkLLama has partnered with three major solution providers over the past several weeks; these partnerships will extend the vision, capabilities, and ultimate value of the WorkLLama suite of offerings:

The company’s partnership with global workforce solutions giant Randstad Sourceright as its preferred direct sourcing platform is a hallmark union that will push WorkLLama’s powerful functionality into the global market.
WorkLLama’s recent partnership with background screening platform Checkr will enable faster time-to-hire and improve the overall candidate experience by integrating screening with its already-robust talent acquisition functionality.
By partnering with EverHive, the relationship between the two providers will meld the direct sourcing offerings across WorkLLama’s technology suite with EverHive’s contingent workforce management offerings, resulting in a boost to extended workforce programs that require direct sourcing automation to enhance access to top talent.

WorkLLama’s bright future in the workforce solutions market is buoyed by its dynamic offerings and commitment to the Future of Work.