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Christopher J. Dwyer

The Value of Total Talent Intelligence

Contingent WorkforceTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Back in early 2012, I began work on what would be perhaps the industry’s first large-scale research study on “total talent management,” an initiative that is also known as “total workforce management.” Back then, while businesses understood the true value proposition of such a program, the vast majority of enterprises could not picture a way to tightly-integrate core human capital and contingent workforce capabilities and systems in such a way to make the program viable. Eight years may have passed since I formulated those initial thoughts on TTM/TWM, however, the underlying principles remain the same: there is clearly a need for total talent management, but its components are akin to organizational and technological puzzle pieces.

Ardent Partners defines total talent management and total workforce management as the standardized and centralized means for engaging, sourcing, and managing all types of enterprise talent under a single banner program. The fundamental principles of total workforce management include integrated procurement and HR competencies and systems, prioritization of visibility into the total talent pool (FTEs, contingent workers, gig workers, freelancers, independent contractors, professional services, etc.), and streamlined and standardized means for engaging and acquiring all types of talent. As the contingent workforce continues to rise (43% of all talent today is considered non-employee or contingent, according to Ardent’s State of Contingent Workforce Management research study), total workforce management initiatives, of course, become more critical.

Thinking about integrations, cross-functional coordination, blending core HR and contingent workforce management competencies, etc. can be maddening, for sure. This is why, especially in today’s strange 2020, businesses should consider taking a much more streamlined path and prioritize total talent intelligence as an initial cornerstone for what could blossom into full-blown total talent management in the months and years to come. In essence, total talent intelligence gleans valuable worker-based insights from both FTEs and non-employees by harnessing collective data from Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS), Vendor Management Systems (VMS), time and attendance solutions, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), Freelancer Management System (FMS), and similar platforms to gain the deepest possible view into an organization’s total talent pool. There are several reasons to prioritize total talent intelligence today:

  • In an age when worker health and safety is paramount, businesses need to know where you workers are at all times. Although many portions of the globe are in much different situations now than they were months ago, the initial weeks of the pandemic caused many an executive to panic regarding where their workers were situated, what they were working on, and, most importantly, their relative health and safety. Total talent intelligence allows businesses to pinpoint which workers are currently sitting in hotspots (or geographical locations that might soon become high-risk zones) and act accordingly (shifting work to different regions, placing workers in remote work setups, etc.).
  • Total talent intelligence begets workforce agility. Sometimes lost in the overarching discussion of total talent management is the very underlying purpose of this program: driving towards the ability to make workforce- and talent-related decisions in near-real-time. Having intelligence into the business’ total talent pool allows business leaders and hiring managers to very quickly understand how to approach a new project or initiative given the depth of expertise and skillsets within the greater organization (including, yes, both FTEs and non-employees). This level of intelligence and its associated, enhanced reactions are paramount in the quest for true workforce agility.
  • Businesses can better understand the true complexity of its workforce’s expertise. Pertinent to the above bullet, we are living in a skillset-led world. Ardent’s upcoming Direct Sourcing Toolkit research study finds that 72% of businesses are fixated on new and evolving skills. Executives today understand that the next influential project or initiative may not be completely supported, driven, and/or managed by existing full-time workers or other in-house resources, especially considering the quick-paced advancements occurring in the world of technology and automation. Total talent intelligence enables business leaders to truly understand the depth of its total available resources and expertise, allowing them to begin developing an approach for the evolving skillsets that they may need in the future.
  • Total talent intelligence can enhance diversity and inclusion initiatives. Enterprises are (finally) learning that the deepest talent pool is a diverse talent pool. Diversity and inclusion initiatives often involve several pieces of the organization working in unison, however, a key strategy in understanding a business’ true diversity is harnessing total talent intelligence to understand the relative makeup of the organization’s total workforce (such as employee demographics). This intelligence, of course, must be leveraged into talent-based decision-making to enhance future D&I initiatives.
  • Businesses that have experienced (and will continue to experience) massive shifts in remote work will require deeper intelligence for workforce planning and performance measurement. Although the world will soon return to some semblance of traditional office life, today’s workplace environment is still mired in social distancing measures (some pundits peg that metropolis-level offices, such as those in New York City, are average 7%-to-10% capacity today, with those in suburban locales at twice that level). This can be incredibly difficult on managers and executives that are used to in-person interactions to gauge worker performance. As more one-on-ones and reviews shift to a remote setting, these leaders will have to become more reliant on “business outcomes” for performance measurement in lieu of traditional benchmarks. Total talent intelligence can provide excellent perspectives on total worker output and the work performed by both FTEs and non-employees.

Total talent management and total workforce management are still incredibly valuable concepts that will one day become widely-adopted. In fact, Ardent’s research finds that upwards of 75% of businesses today expect to implement such a program within the next five years. Businesses must look at total talent intelligence as a critical area from which to start and an arena from which to drive short- and long-term value independent of bigger total talent management initiatives.

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Total Workforce Management’s Place in the New World of Work

Contingent WorkforceTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Editor’s Note: If you’re interested in learning more about the progressive workforce model discussed in today’s article, download our latest report, The Modern Guide to Total Workforce Management, by clicking here, here, or here.

Any executive that takes a short peek outside of their business will notice something astounding: founded on innovative talent engagement methods, the world of work has evolved in just a short period of time. New demand for talent, along with the fading of archaic recruitment strategies and rise of real-time talent engagement, have revolutionized nearly every facet of work within the modern business:

  • Jobseeker behavior, now more than ever, is changing to reflect the desire for a more flexible lifestyle that promotes entrepreneurship.
  • Online talent platforms, labor automation systems, and digital staffing outlets (as well as social networks) have transformed how talent is found and engaged.
  • Everything, from data and intelligence to process delivery, is expected on-demand within the average business…and talent engagement is following suit.
  • Mobility and mobile applications are taking their cue from the consumer world and expanding into the business realm.
  • Skillsets and expertise (and their alignment with enterprise projects), not costs or budgets, have become the top requirements for new talent.
  • Management of an increasingly strategic element of business (the contingent workforce) has had to evolve such that the “great divide” between organizational functions like procurement and human resources/human capital management is starting to fade. More and more businesses understand that all talent, regardless of its source, must be managed under a standardized and centralized program that promotes visibility, skillset alignment, adherence to budget, real-time engagement, and an open network that can be tapped for talent in an on-demand manner.

The above attributes of the new world of work are magnified by a simple fact: the non-employee workforce shows no signs of slowing down in the coming years. Ardent Partners has, for the last four years, predicted that, by 2020, between 45%-to-50% of the world’s total workforce will be classified as non-employee, which includes freelancers, independent contractors, professional services (and consultants), temporary workers sourced via staffing agencies/suppliers, “gig” workers, and robotics. The time is now to bridge the gap between traditional and non-traditional talent management and truly define the means by which all workers can be managed under the same standardized and centralized program.

Total Workforce Management: The Time is…Now

Many of today’s business functions are either built on a foundation of holistic and seamless processes, or the desire to reach a similar state knowing the core benefits of such a model. It would only make sense, then, for the world of talent to follow suit. The very simple argument for building or developing a total workforce management (TWM) program (defined by Ardent as the standardized and centralized program for engaging, acquiring, sourcing, and managing all types of talent via linked procurement and human capital processes, integrated contingent workforce management and human capital management systems, and utilization of total talent intelligence) that can be stripped down to a primary advantage: the contemporary talent supply chain is diverse, multifaceted, and spread across numerous sources (both legacy and fresh). Thus, the businesses that can effectively find, engage, source, and ultimately manage this talent under a centralized program will be rewarded with the visibility to execute far superior business decisions in a real-time manner. Relative to the adoption and implementation of TWM programs, it is no wonder that while only 16% of organizations have this type of program in place today, a majority (58%) expect to make total workforce management a reality within the next two years.

The crux of any total workforce management is deep and complex. The underlying structure of such an initiative is usually wrought with functional, technological (i.e. integration), cultural, and strategic shifts, all of which contribute to a development plan that is near impossible to implement within a short time span. Unlike larger, better “known” initiatives related to talent acquisition or even contingent workforce management (CWM), TWM is a new area, and industry-wide standard practices have not yet been fully-developed. Thus, many organizations are unsure of where to start and which functions to engage. Sixteen percent (16%) of businesses today have some form of a total workforce management program in place (9% in place for several years, 7% only just within the past 12 months), but the real value in this set of findings is not found in looking at the “haves” within today’s marketplace…it is knowing that many of the “have nots” do have something that proves that TWM’s place in workforce, labor, and talent management history is now: a desire to implement this forward-thinking concept sooner rather than later.

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Even in a Remote World, Workplace Culture is More Important Than Ever

Business LeadershipTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Many friends and family, upon hearing about my remote work habits, may not understand how I can be so productive. There’s often music playing in the background, or, sometimes, like this week, television simulcasts of popular sports radio shows. The truth is this: background noise isn’t just noise but serves a sometimes-interesting link between our business world and other arenas. Today’s article, in fact, was sparked by overhearing a sports radio show that was, up until that point, serving as a mere backdrop to pouring over new research data.

Last week, sports radio icon Colin Cowherd, on his daily “The Herd” show (simulcast on Fox Sports One), brought in legendary NFL wide receiver Greg Jennings (former standout wideout for the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings) to talk about the cultural fit between high-paid free agent players and their respective new franchises.

Cowherd brought up several examples of unique team culture, such as Green Bay’s “lunch pail” mindset of “show up everyday and work hard” to my hometown New England Patriots’ mantra of “do your job.” Jennings, a Super Bowl-winning wide receiver when he was with the Packers in 2010, signed a big money deal with division rivals (Minnesota Vikings) in early 2013. Cowherd pressed him on the balance between being a big-name, highly-paid free agent star and adapting to a new team’s overall culture.

Jennings’ response echoed the same sentiments as many of us in the business world feel when it comes to talent and culture: it doesn’t matter the depth of a player’s skillset nor their pedigree or experience; if the culture isn’t a proper fit, the player will not be productive. No, we need not traverse through the very, very long lists of sports free agents who were hailed as franchise saviors and ended up hurting their teams more than helping.

It is quite true that workplace culture plays a pivotal role in the ultimate success of a new worker or candidate. In-person onboarding, frequent chats with cubicle mates, and proximity collaboration around the water cooler or in the office kitchen are all very valuable elements in indoctrinating a candidate to an organization’s workplace environment and culture. Even though an anticipated “fourth wave” of COVID-19 cases is predicted for the spring, there seems to be a heavy balance between businesses that are slowly welcoming workers back to the office and those that continue to offer a fully-remote workplace structure.

If there’s one thing that we’ve learned over the course of the past year, it’s that workplace culture permeates within even those organizations that maintain a work-from-home environment. In fact, we could even argue that culture is more important than ever given the unique circumstances of today’s work setups, the majority of which are following a remote-lead environment:

  • Businesses that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion are more apt to drive true innovation…even remotely. DE&I initiatives aren’t just limited to supplier diversity, but rather a larger movement that pushes for equity across the entirety of the talent supply chain. Businesses must spark innovation across all functions and roles, and the only way to do that is by instituting boundaryless structures that are inclusive and open to voices of all genders, cultures, and backgrounds. The deepest talent pool is a diverse talent pool…and because we are (mostly) working remotely today, that shouldn’t change a bit.
  • The “moments” that we relied on in-person, even transferred to video- and conferencing-led collaboration, are still critically important. Imagine being a new worker (FTE or contractor) at a new organization during pre-pandemic times. You’d wander the halls, the kitchen, the break rooms, the conference rooms, etc. and run into a variety of voices, with each positive interaction, be it a smile or some words of encouragement, helping you feel more comfortable with your role in the organization. It is critically important that businesses push a culture of openness regardless of it is in-person or via a remote infrastructure. Even the best and brightest workers can feel their productivity drain if they don’t feel like they’re a valued player on the team. Fostering a culture of connection, communication, and collaboration is the key.
  • Culture permeates along the lines of every facet of management, so, leaders take note. As I noted much earlier in this article, culture in sports boils down to a teamwide “feeling” that is experienced across the board. Some teams have their own unique spirit that players either buy into…or not. This is why it is so crucial for business leaders, no matter their functional role, to promote a positive “talent experience” for all of their workers (both FTEs and non-employees). The further on down the line that culture and positivity is experienced, the better off the business will be. And, that shouldn’t be paused because of a remote work environment. An enterprise’s workers are essentially its brand ambassadors. Just like a major sports team doesn’t want a current or ex-player complaining about a toxic environment, not does a business when it pertains to the overall level of employee experience and engagement of its workforce.
  • The adoption of work models that promote productivity, growth, and balance will be the ones that are ideal in a remote environment. Business leaders must be flexible in how they push their workers to be productive; work/life balance has never been more complicated than it was over the past year. It is important for executives to create an environment, even in a remote setting, in which their workers feel like they are enabled to take the personal time they need while also having the space, equipment, and communication necessary to get work done. Similarly, there must be opportunities for growth. Just because traditional performance reviews have been on pause does not mean that hardworking individuals shouldn’t have a clear path to the next steps ahead. Self-directed learning, reskilling, and upskilling should all be critical elements of the remote workplace handbook.
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The Workplace of the (Near) Future

Business LeadershipTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

During the course of my professional career, I’ve worked in both remote/virtual and traditional office environments. I’ve spent time in seemingly-endless conference room meetings and hours-long conference calls. Water cooler talk about Game of Thrones, office kitchen conversations about whether the Patriots were still a dynasty, and mid-hallway “hellos” to peers were all typical parts of my work days over the past two decades, as have been writing research at 2:00am, whiteboarding ideas at my home office, and silently hoping that the dog wouldn’t bark at the UPS driver while I was on a webinar.

In short: I’m one of many business professionals that understands and respects the many forms of workplace structure, be it traditional office settings or fully-remote, home-office-led environments.

Several months into a pandemic and a cursory scroll through a LinkedIn news feed will uncover swaths of articles and how-to guides on being productive while working from home and the best ways to effectively manage a newly-remote team (Ardent, of course, is no stranger to contributing to these displays of thought leadership).

Based on over 15 years of covering, research, and analyzing how businesses engage, acquire, and manage their talent and how that talent addresses how work is done, I’ve come to a stark conclusion about the “office vs. remote” debate that has now been raging for weeks and months.

The workplace of the (near) future needs both structures to truly thrive.

In essence, the workplace of the future blends the core benefits of an in-person model with the flexibility enhancements and productivity gains of the remote environment. Today, obviously, it isn’t the safest bet to bring back any more than 25% (or less) of a workforce to traditional office environments given health and safety concerns and out of respect for social distancing guidelines. Businesses that can continue to drive productivity from a remote workforce must do so until the pandemic begins to fade. In the greater discussion of how to approach the future workplace given what we have experienced and will continue to experience in business over the next several months, however, there is inherent worth in balancing a hybrid workplace structure to drive the most value from both traditional and remote setups:

  • Bi-weekly or monthly team meetings are often catalysts for new and innovative ideas. A research organization like Ardent Partners is heavily reliant on my team and I hunkering down to develop, organize, and write research and content, sometimes without meeting in-person for a week or two at a time. The pandemic’s forced remote work structure has resulted in many business leaders struggling to recreate “proximity collaboration” that only happens in-person and losing the “spark” of a room filled with eager voices, something I often crave after two consecutive weeks of home office work. Hybrid work structures should require some frequency of in-person team meetings to capture those new and innovative ideas and ensure that collaboration between leaders, workers, and stakeholders can drive fresh concepts.
  • Workers are human, and, rightfully so, crave human connection. Today, we are ensconced in video meetings and conference calls. Many of us have had to, in an age of social distancing, cancel birthday parties and family gatherings in favor of FaceTime conversations and Zoom meetings. From both the business and personal perspectives, none of these outright replace the face-to-face, human connection that is made in an in-person environment. Simply put: humans need human connection. It’s energizing when we can see someone standing in front of us, smiling and receptive to our thoughts and ideas. Remote work has been transformative over these last several months, but the biggest missing element has been that level of human connection.
  • Sanity! There are various points throughout the year when I am working on a large-scale research project and spend a week or two confined to my home office. I can take quick breaks to recharge, eat lunch while listening to a podcast, and pop downstairs to say hello to my kids before getting back to work later in the evening. After 10 or 11 business days within this routine, it is incredibly beneficial to “step outside” of this environment to be around like-minded individuals who share my passion for this profession. Fatigue is a real factor for fully remote workers who find that everyday home office routines often grow stale, resulting in a lack of motivation or drive. Likewise, traditional office workers can feel the same without a standing “work-from-home day” or something similar. Changing up the routine and the environment can help prevent mental fatigue.
  • The spirit of camaraderie. Many business leaders are passionate about their professions and how they approach their goals and objectives. Sharing that energy with like-minded colleagues is what builds true camaraderie between functional groups and teams. Although a weekly team video call may be efficient in today’s new normal, holding an in-person meeting (when it’s safe to do, of course) can help team members level-set on expectations, ask questions, and address concerns in a close-knit environment in which everyone is striving for the same outcomes.

There is incredible merit to the engaging discussions happening in businesses across the world. The so-called “biggest remote work experiment in history” happened out of necessity and has taught so many lessons about business trust, productivity, and flexibility. Some businesses will find that they can move significantly larger numbers of their workforce to remote work infrastructures, while others will attempt to reclaim traditional office environments. The value, however, lies somewhere in the middle: the ideal workplace of the (near) future is one where businesses can enhance productivity, provide flexibility to their workers, and maintain some semblance of human connection and camaraderie.

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The Link Between Mental Health and the Future of Work

Business LeadershipTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Even though it seems as if time passed by both slowly and quickly during the past, very strange 12 months, it’s not that difficult to remember the days immediately preceding the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic (and, for us in the States, the days just prior to the President announcing a national State of Emergency). Many of us may have spent the weekend beforehand spending time with loved ones in a restaurant or movie theater, or perhaps enjoying a night out with friends at a crowded bar.

Within a matter of days, those activities were shelved and the world as we knew it was changed nearly instantaneously. For individuals with mental health issues (which affect 26% of all adults in the United States, according to the National Institute of Health), the toll was much greater: unheralded anxiety due to uncertainty, loneliness, and a constant barrage of negative headlines of the unfolding calamity.

Compounded by global economic disruption, massive layoffs and furloughs in specific industries, and a general sense of vagueness regarding the progression of the pandemic, talented workers with mental health issues needed flexibility more than ever over the past year. While it is only human to support these individuals with care and support, there is a greater link between mental health and the Future of Work…one that is founded on the limitless potential of empathy in how businesses address how work is done.

Empathy and Flexibility as Critical Future of Work Attributes

If there’s one thing that we learned over the past year (and let’s be honest: we’ve learned MANY things, from how to bake bread, the importance of video conferencing mastery, and much more), it’s that the pandemic’s disruptions lead to an interesting development: many of the Future of Work movement’s evolving principles, including remote work, digital transformation, and non-technological strategies, were accelerated.

Businesses quickly learned how to collaborate across distributed workforces/teams, while others experienced first-hand the value of automation in business locations that couldn’t allow for more than a small percentage of on-site work at a given time. In looking at the less obvious accelerants, however, there is one that has taken on greater meaning and impact in the face of the myriad changes the business world has collectively experienced: the rise of empathy and flexibility.

The collective trauma left in the pandemic’s wake affected nearly every individual in some profound manner, a joint sense of struggle that opened pathways for business leaders and managers to employ different modes of leadership. For example, working parents faced with a sudden lack of daycare or school needed both the actual and emotional support of their leaders to contend with a series of new challenges, while the dramatic shift to remote work ruptured the once-delicate work/life balance and required those same leaders to be more flexible in how they managed their staff.

Mental Health’s Role in the Future of Work

The issues detailed above sat on top of the already-critical issues faced by the tens of millions of workers with mental health issues. A worker with anxiety or depression (or both) could now contend with burnout due to taking on additional new roles in the age of social distancing, as many more workers with more severe mental health challenges are still forced to traverse the complicated pathways left behind by how to be productive while various modes of worry plague their minds, even now a year later. Too, the pandemic itself triggered a new “wave” of individuals who experienced mental illness for the first time, compounding the greater issue at-hand.

What does this mean for the Future of Work movement, you know, the set of attributes that describe how a business optimizes its talent, technology, and strategy to best get work done? Well, it all boils down to fusing mental health and employee wellbeing into greater workforce, staffing, and work optimization strategies, much like how diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are becoming table stakes for how business address projects, staff roles, and find top-tier talent.

Addressing mental health, as well as employee wellness and wellbeing, must be melded into other foundational workforce strategies, similar to how new technology and new talent acquisition approaches (such as direct sourcing) have become key pieces of the Future of Work puzzle. The very essence of the Future of Work movement is to optimize how work is done and enhance the productivity of both talent and technology. Mental health is a critical factor in just how productive, creative, and innovative the workforce can be in how work is addressed and ultimately optimized.

As business leaders continue to prioritize the “basics” of supporting worker mental health (via empathy and flexibility), the following actions will be critical in the year ahead:

  • Push employee wellbeing up the priority list for 2021.
  • Offer an open and inclusive culture for those workers that need to speak their minds.
  • Cultivate an environment in which all workers, regardless of position, feel “physiologically safe.”
  • Prioritize the human connections between leaders and their staff (such as scheduling more video conferences).
  • Institute flexible policies that discourage worker burnout and allow for enhanced productivity.
  • Restructure paid time off (PTO) policies to ensure that workers can take the time they need to maintain a healthy work/life balance.
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Why Diversity and Inclusion Should Be Core Future of Work Tenets

Business LeadershipTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Years ago, the concept of “diversity” in contingent workforce management (CWM) was unfortunately too often a supplier-related aspect that was meant to certify specific suppliers as part of wider federal or business mandate to include organizations that were owned by groups in the women, minority, veteran (or service-disabled veteran), LGBT+, neurodiverse, and disabled demographics. Although “supplier diversity” dates back to the 1950s, for far too many organizations, it was merely another box to check and another quota to meet when it came to supply management.

Over the past several years, however, diversity and inclusion have (thankfully!) broken out of the box of mandated initiatives and thrust into a truly strategic stratosphere. That is not to say that there weren’t many businesses that already considered these initiatives as strategic and impactful (and kudos to those organizations, of course), it is that the conversations around D&I have broken out of supplier-based discussions and into the Future of Work movement. In fact, there are several key reasons why D&I initiatives must be considered core tenets of the Future of Work today, in 2021, and beyond:

  • Businesses building progressive corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives benefit from D&I strategies. Whether it is the drive to support local businesses or contribute to enterprise CSR strategies, D&I initiatives help boost the overall allure of a business when it comes to attracting new customers AND new talent. A commitment to not only sustainability, but also dedication to cultural, gender, and racial equality, bolsters the enterprise’s devotion to ethical causes and positions it highly amongst the competition.
  • “A diverse talent pool is the deepest talent pool.” I’ve often repeated this phrase when speaking at industry conferences, on webinars, and frequently on the Contingent Workforce Weekly Talent pools have revolutionized the way businesses structure their recruitment and hiring strategies, curating segments of candidates that are typically more “known” (i.e. silver medalists, alumni, retirees, etc.) for inclusion in greater enterprise recruitment streams. Diverse talent pools that are inclusive in nature are more apt to offer the top-tier level of skillsets and expertise required to complete complex projects and manage intricate initiatives. A diverse talent pool is most certainly the deepest talent pool (there, I said it again!).
  • The Future of Work movement thrives on innovation, and diverse workforces bring exactly that to the modern business. As business competition becomes more fierce (especially in 2020 and 2021), innovation is what will drive organizations to truly thrive in an increasingly globalized corporate world. How this relates to D&I is quite simple: the more diverse voices within a business, the more opportunity for new ideas, new strategies, and new approaches towards product development, sales and marketing, internal operations, and, of course, innovation.
  • Inclusion is the foundation of the 2021 workforce. Inclusion also includes the concept of flexibility. Companies have learned that remote workers and the “work-from-anywhere” approach foster just as much productivity and output as traditional workforce structures. As the global pandemic taught us, this type of environment can be advantageous when faced with uncertain circumstances. What it means for 2021 (and beyond), however, is that businesses can (and should) be more inclusive of candidates that require flexibility within their roles. At the end of the day, if strong and robust business outcomes are the key objective, then inclusion is the pathway to getting there.
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The Workforce Trends that Will Shape 2021: Part Two

Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Over the past several weeks, I’ve written about the various contingent workforce, staffing, and Future of Work attributes that could contribute to the way businesses will operate a year from now. Taking into account the very strange days of 2020, combined with the anticipated growth in the utilization of non-employee talent, businesses now understand that there are many dynamic forces at play that will shape their outlook and success in 2021 (and beyond).

I once again had the opportunity chat with various contingent workforce, staffing, and HR technology leaders about the key trends that will shape the year ahead:

Kathy Hardy, Vice President, Kelly Discover (KellyOCG)

“Over the past several years, D&I has been talked about as an HR goal, or project and the initiatives surrounding it have been largely internally focused. Since COVID-19 and the social unrest, D&I ideation has become more of a company-wide conversation than an HR objective alone, and the general level of empathy has seemed to increase as well.  It is easy to engage any number of c-suite and leadership members in a conversation regarding their thoughts on what their organization needs to do in regard to change in this area. Their answers are thoughtful, empathetic, and full of reflection. Organizations seem to be interested in making incremental changes in their hiring practices as well as discussing long term holistic changes to their systems.  They are coupling current business challenges with potential diversity hiring practices rather than looking at them separately, and that change may make the real difference in 2021.  When we incorporate the unique skills and availability of all the under-utilized talent with our current business challenges, we are not only moving forward, but we are also jumping ahead.”

Donna Wilczek, SVP of Product Strategy and Innovation, Coupa Software

“A key part of our customers’ strategic goals for 2021 is the ability to flex their workforce based on continually changing supply chain demand signals. We will ensure their success through best-of-breed contingent workforce capabilities wrapped around AI-supported decision modeling using trillions of dollars in community data to help our customers be smarter together.”

Kevin Poll, Global Head of Strategic Partnerships, D&I Champion, WillHire

“We have been working with procurement and HR leaders in organizations of all sizes as they are beginning to recognize the importance of having a diverse workforce and inclusive culture, not just because it’s good for business, it’s good for their workforce. Overwhelmingly, they are realizing that they need to broaden their focus on DE&I; beyond just supplier diversity for procurement and employee diversity and inclusion for HR.  By looking at D&I of just their full-time employees, they are missing a very large segment of their workforce, thus not recognizing as much impact as possible. As they consider the importance of total talent diversity to their business, they must set a clear direction starting at the executive level and carrying that throughout the organization to every level and category of worker for it to be the culture of the company.  They then must put action into place to attract, engage, and retain diverse talent in all categories and continually measure and monitor the impacts of their diversity and inclusion strategies. By building bridges throughout the organization and understanding this is a journey, companies have the opportunity to truly make an impact on their business, their workforce, and their community.”

Rich Oakes, President, GigSmart

“The current labor market is showing that alignment is increasing between companies and workers. Last year, over 50 million Americans completed a “gig” or a “side-hustle.”  More and more workers are seeking flexibility and control in their work. Companies are also looking for more flex labor solutions. These two wants/needs between workers and companies is the very reason the gig economy is one of the fastest growing segments of the labor market.”

“The days of only embracing the W2 hiring model are over. To remain fully staffed, companies need to embrace multiple types of labor: W2 employees, 1099 contractors, as well as third-party outsourced solutions to assist in their labor strategy.  Missing deadlines and falling short of customer expectations are consistent results of companies not implementing a comprehensive talent strategy. Companies with a total talent staffing strategy will save money, fill positions faster, experience less turnover, and out produce their competitors who haven’t adjusted to the current times.”

Marlon Rosenzweig, CEO and Co-Founder, WorkGenius

“Companies became comfortable with remote work during the pandemic and they became uncomfortable with fix-costs, such as payroll.  Now companies consider freelancers for more roles than before. This trend existed pre-pandemic but was significantly accelerated and will drive demand for technology solutions to source and manage this part of a modern agile workforce.”

“Remote workforces in combination with merit based performance data, allow for more diversity in the remote workforce as talent from other parts of the country can be considered, without the previous regional bias which often correlates with other biases due to homogenous neighborhoods.”

Diana Doro, VP of Sales, Workspend

“It’s always been the case that companies with diversity and inclusion strategies are more admired and have better culture, but now that may also include being more successful, especially as it relates to talent – a diverse pool of talent is the widest pool, and in the changing landscape of hiring we’re seeing today, this strategy could be the “win or lose” for businesses to get through and beyond COVID. This is especially true as it relates to contingent work, which is the most flexible but also becoming the most competitive workforce available – without including the contingent workforce in these diversity strategies, companies could make a huge miss. Creating a contingent workforce strategy that has those risks in mind will set companies up for success in reaching the best talent and avoid the pitfalls of only thinking about diversity once it’s too late.

The non-employee workforce was always growing, but the exponential growth we’ve seen in such a short time is really telling in the way employees want to engage employers, and the employer response to that change. This shift tells a story of workers wanting more flexibility in how they use their skills, and the dramatic shift to work-from-home brought on by stay-in-place orders simply accelerated that shift. It will be interesting to see if that shifts back post-COVID, but it’s likely here to stay for a few reasons: First, a contingent workforce can quickly flex up or down, and companies, once they realize they have this new-found agility, likely will not let it go. Second, employees are now growing accustomed to the convenience of being able to do their jobs from anywhere, which is in part why there have been so many articles on the evacuation of cities in recent months, and many of those workers likely won’t return if they don’t have to, so companies that are prepared to work with employees who prefer remote are going to win that talent.”

Nina Vaca, CEO and Founder, Pinnacle Group

“As we began to realize in March/April, the quarantines and social distancing represented the first stage of a significant realignment of the global workforce. Today, many sectors continue to struggle, while others prosper. Automation and data analytics have become even more critical; and virtualization combined with cyber security has become table stakes.”

“Demand for IT professionals continues to be relatively strong.  While labor demand overall declined from its pre-pandemic peak, the declines have been less significant within the IT sector, particularly for those with skills in virtualization, cyber security, and anything cloud-related. Any roles that can be performed remotely have been largely unaffected.”

“The third quarter represented a significant recovery for many after the historically low second quarter results. Major events always carry with them both risk and opportunities. It is the job of every business leader to find and invest in those opportunities. For CEOs and other industry leaders, now is the time to demonstrate confidence, embrace new ways of working together, and continue to make critical foundational investments in what appears to be yet another “new normal.””

Sandeep Dhillon, CEO, Talmix

“We’re probably not alone amongst platforms for non-employee talent in seeing growth during recent months as companies needed to keep the wheels turning, while being nervous about committing to full-time hiring. This has really been another flavor of talent on demand, as a fast way to solve a problem for a hiring manager. What we’re now seeing is that companies want to move away from ad hoc usage, and into a more structured plan to get the best talent mix, particularly as transformation initiatives are accelerated. Within the Talmix customer base, we’re seeing the first stage of this planning, as companies centrally build talent pools for the profiles that will be required across their business. The pressing focus is still speed, needing to rapidly build and deploy this talent into more flexible teams. A secondary trend is the desire to upskill/reskill, again heavily influenced by the transformation agenda, but as one client put it, reskilling/upskilling  the existing workforce frequently needs leadership from outside the organization to drive these programs through at scale. Overall as we move into 2021, we’re seeing plenty of examples that the non-employee workforce is going to be more embedded, shifting from talent on demand, to adoption of the extended workforce.”

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The Workforce Trends that Will Shape 2021: Part One

Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Over the past several weeks, I’ve written about the various contingent workforce, staffing, and Future of Work attributes that could contribute to the way businesses will operate a year from now. Taking into account the very strange days of 2020, combined with the anticipated growth in the utilization of non-employee talent, businesses now understand that there are many dynamic forces at play that will shape their outlook and success in 2021 (and beyond).

I had the opportunity chat with various contingent workforce, staffing, and HR technology leaders about the key trends that will shape the year ahead:

Brian Hoffmeyer, SVP of Market Strategies, Beeline

“After the crazy year that was 2020, it’s hard to predict what 2021 will hold, and, if I could do so accurately, I’d likely be a talking head on a network news show! Anyway, that said, I do think that we will continue to see growth in the contingent workforce, that’s already happening now and there’s no reason for that not to continue; companies realize that they can get the talent that they need faster and in a less-risky way; that’s incredibly important right now. The other trend that we’re seeing – and one that is imperative – is the need to create a contingent diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative. D, E, and I matter – and drives better business performance – so you need to set goals for your contingent labor program (including workers on your statements of work!) and measure your performance against them.”

Neha Goel, VP of Marketing, Utmost

“I think most people in HR, Procurement, and IT realize that COVID has been a disruptive force that has accelerated workforce trends that were already in play: greater digitization and automation, more demand for external workers, a growing prioritization of diversity, and an increased reliance on remote work. These themes, combined with (likely) continued market uncertainty, mean that organizations need a more holistic view of their workforce options, i.e. their entire talent base (skills, capabilities, locations, costs, availability) so they can make informed decisions about the best resources to get work done. I think in 2021, enterprises will make investments in these areas to drive, in the short-term, agility, resilience, operational efficiency, and cost savings. In the long-term, these investments will have the potential to deliver better experiences for the workers themselves and increased productivity for the business.”

Allison Robinson, CEO and Founder, The Mom Project

“Obviously the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has changed the landscape of the modern workplace indefinitely. Employees have more flexibility than ever before, and it’s the responsibility of the employer to continue to support and facilitate productivity and communication across all facets of the organization in this new remote workforce.”

“The increase in remote work has been a welcome shift for many, but has also added burdens to some, especially for those juggling a myriad of responsibilities ranging from childcare to virtual schooling. Organizations must remain empathetic and supportive of this ‘new normal’ by creating clear and effective means of communication, so all employees are encouraged to speak up and feel supported having their voice heard.”

“The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is something no one predicted, and no one has experience trying to navigate, so it’s more important now than ever that organizations and business leaders lead with empathy first and foremost. Employees are balancing an endless list of responsibilities all within their homes, so organizations and managers need to remain flexible in order to allow employees to meet all of the demands amidst this ‘new normal.’”

Fang Chang, SVP of Product, Coupa Software

“Procurement organizations around the world are working with their valued service providers and contingent labor pools to prepare for 2021. We are seeing elevated levels of empathy for factors such as increasing spend to diverse service providers and the need to work from anywhere. While empathetic, customers also recognize the importance of being diligent throughout 2021 and beyond in the continual assessment of risk factors that may negatively impact their business brand or bottom line.”

Kevin Akeroyd, CEO, PRO Unlimited

“There will be a continued preference of knowledge, specialized-skilled, white-collared workers to work on a contingent basis and not FTE. In most industries, this is already at 40% of the total workforce, and most Fortune 1000 companies have strategies to get that to 50%-to-60% in the next several years. This will be a career choice for millions of high-end members of the workforce, which will radically accelerate the complexities and importance of this segment. Companies will need to not only navigate these evolving areas at a rapid pace, but to also expertly address localization, globalization, changing regulatory and labor laws, remote work, and D&I, among others.

The notion of things like the “Gig Economy” are going to dramatically expand across virtually all categories of the skilled workforce, and in many industries, those leaders will have more contingent workers than FTEs. In addition, as the spend under management continues to expand, representing hundreds of billions of dollars per year with double-digit inefficiencies/over-payment, it will be mission critical for the C-suite to be more involved. This literally already is, and will become more so, a massive Earnings Per Share driver. Historically, the selection and management of outsourcing a company’s contingent workforce management program has been relegated as “tactical” and pushed fairly far down the organization’s org chart. This is radically and rapidly changing as the CHRO, CFO, CPO, and CIO are now playing a much greater role in the decision to not only outsource the non-employee management function, but also to deploy a technological ecosystem to harness software, machine-based learning, data, and intelligence to drive their businesses forward as part of their overall Future of the Workforce and Human Capital strategies.”

Catherine Candland, President, nextSource

“Since COVID, we have seen approximately 30-to-40% freelancer population increase in our client accounts. While our clients tell us that they originally engaged these individuals to achieve more flexibility and reduce costs in a period of uncertainty, they also cite a higher level of up-to-date skills and ready availability as reasons for continuing to drive towards a higher mix of freelancers in their overall workforce composition.”

“The notion that individuals accept temporary work as a means to get their foot in the door has been proven to no longer apply. In this unsettled environment, non-employee professionals, such as IT workers, are frequently engaged on multi-year assignments. Recent research indicates that a quarter of traditional employees remain with the same firm for less than that. Surveys of our EOR Associate employees indicate that many choose to work as non-employees for higher pay while their spouse works for healthcare benefits and lower pay.”

Jody Greenstone Miller, Founder and CEO, Business Talent Group

“Workforce agility and a holistic approach to talent management are more important than ever before, as companies pivot from ad-hoc solutions put in place at the start of the pandemic toward long-term recovery and growth. Establishing and easily accessible and reliable pool of skilled talent at the ready—like BTG’s marketplace of on-demand management consultants, subject matter experts, and project managers—positions companies to take advantage of fleeting opportunities and tackle urgent short-term needs while staying focused on the bigger picture.”

“The combination of project-based work, remote work, and on-demand talent provides a faster way to impact diversity within your organization. We are seeing that a remote work environment allows companies to access a wider candidate pool while reducing location bias. Project-based engagements focus heavily on the specific skills needed for success and provide a lower-risk way to bring talent on board, and, thus, can be an effective part of a diversity and inclusion initiative.”

Praneeth Patlola, Chief Product Officer, WillHire

“In recent years, the HR tech industry has gone through a huge transformation to adopt people analytics and bring a data-driven approach. The latest technologies of internal talent mobility have enabled organizations with better intelligence to increase retention and enabling the workforce to shift roles internally. While enterprises have invested in DE&I strategies, and also build metrics from sourcing to offboarding and re-engagements, most of it seems to have covered only for the full-time employee workforce and completely leaving out the contract workforce. Not surprisingly, many organizations still have challenges for accuracy around headcount and have never tracked talent diversity in the non-employee workforce. Even a bigger challenge is the non-employee workforce masked under SOW; there is less information on skill and other metrics. In 2020, we have seen enterprises recognizing the importance of total talent analytics, which includes the non-employee workforce to address this gap on metrics and centralized talent pools, while building the pathway for total talent intelligence. Given the pace at which the HR tech industry is moving, and the contingent labor space has picked the heat on direct sourcing, there is a definite possibility for seeing several uses cases in 2021 for total talent intelligence.”

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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) Lessons That We Can Learn from Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Business LeadershipTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

In early December, my wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas. Being an avid gamer, I have had my share of the “typical” games on PlayStation or Xbox, like first-person shooters or open-world role-playing adventures, so I was looking for something different. Animal Crossing: New Horizons, I said, which elicited a “Isn’t that a kids game?” response from my wife.

It took a couple of months, but in due time, I was sucked into its laid back, island-living, sunny, and, most of all, relaxing, video game journeys. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a different game than what most kids or adults would play: there’s no “end boss,” no quests to fulfill, no objects or treasures to hunt, no grinding for experience points, and no enemies to shoot. It’s a spirited adventure on a tropical island that puts you, as a getaway ambassador, in control of how your island looks and feels.

Naturally, with most things in life when you’re passionate about your career, the worlds of Animal Crossing and business collided. Tom Nook (your island’s head honcho), an anthropomorphic raccoon, meets the Future of Work. Sounds weird, right? Well, after months of obsessively playing this game and, during the day (and most nights!) research and analyzing the evolving world of talent and work, I’ve found that there are major lessons to learned from Animal Crossing regarding a key Future of Work tenet: diversity, equity, and inclusion:

  • Your main character (which is YOU) isn’t tied down by gender or appearance. In the game, your initial setup involves picking a gender, hairstyle, facial features, clothing, etc. In most games, these initial character settings set the stage for how you build experience points, which tools you have access to, and how the game ultimately is framed from a story perspective. In Animal Crossing, your appearance or gender has no ramifications on gameplay, story, or access to in-story objectives or items. As in the real world (aka business world), no talented individual should lose access or consideration to a job role due to anything besides their skillsets and expertise.
  • The game encourages equity-minded collaboration with all of the island’s residents. Part of the game’s achievement center, “Nook Miles” can be used to purchase new clothes, decorations, furniture, tools, etc. Players earn miles by completing tasks, much like other video games. However, one key component in earning Nook Miles is collaborating with all of the island’s residents, including anthropomorphic camels, monkeys, cows, chickens, lizards, and more. Animal Crossing wants its players to chat with other island residents and help everyone with their tasks, missing items, etc. It’s a perfect representation of how businesses should look at the composition of its workforce: equity abound that drives collaboration between diverse groups of talent to spark innovation, growth, and discovery.
  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons promotes empathy-led interactions that take into account each island resident’s emotions and character-specific traits. If a character is sad, frustrated, or confused, they are marked with a specific emoji-like icon. Your character can discuss what’s wrong, help with their issues, and, most importantly, show emotional reactions that can help other island residents feel like they are heard and seen.
  • The game’s island ambassadorship goals are centered on building an inclusive environment. Your character’s main objective is to invite other residents to the island. You have the option to travel to various other islands, meet diverse characters, and invite them to experience your locale. There are no limitations on the types of characters that can be invited, nor are there restrictions on the “character makeup” that leader Tom Nook wants your character to build and develop. The main focus is creating an inclusive environment in which all feel welcome and at home, and, new characters often unlock new ideas, new ways of building the island, and assist your character in many modes of play. This mirrors business thinking in that leaders that promote inclusivity are more likely to build deeper teams of top-tier talent that can showcase their specialized expertise and skillsets. Inclusivity benefits the business.
  • The game’s foundation was borne of diversity, as its predecessor entry, New Leaf, was designed by a diverse team. Animal Crossing: New Leaf, the prequel to New Horizons, was developed by a diverse team of video game engineers. At a video game conference in 2014, game producer Katsuya Eguchi stated that the diverse team behind the entry “had an effect…communication was smoother, and the team was more social, more collaborative, more creative, and less stressed out.” Eguchi also said that having younger designers, as well as more female voices, contributed to more innovation and helping the larger team learn and realize how to make a game that would appeal to more people. This is a pure representation of why DE&I need to be core Future of Work tenets: the end result, the end business outcome, and the ultimate products and results all benefit from having deeper and more expansive voices from different cultures, genders, and backgrounds.
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