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Contingent Workforce

The Extended Workforce is a Piece of the Total Talent Puzzle

Contingent WorkforceTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

For years, the very topic of “total talent management” (“TTM”) was an eye-raising and polarizing discussion, given the fact that the very underlying concepts around TTM involved several distinct sets of processes and capabilities (i.e., procurement, spend management, contingent workforce, HR, etc.) that did not historically mesh given their focuses on “commodities” versus “talent.” However, as the growth of the contingent workforce continued to expand within the total workforce (now sitting at 47% of all talent), strategies to have standardized, centralized, and aligned approaches and competencies for managing all types of talent, no matter the source, became ever more critical. And, with contingent workforce utilization continuing to grow and approaching nearly half of the average enterprise’s total workforce, it is incumbent on procurement leaders, HR executives, and contingent workforce management program heads to maintain clear visibility into the entire collection of organizational talent to execute better-informed and more intelligent decisions regarding the future use of labor.

Future of Work Exchange research finds that nearly 70% of businesses want to address key technological gaps in the greater coverage of the total workforce. This includes having full visibility into total talent, a state we refer to as “total talent intelligence,” which enables organizations with the ability to make real-time hiring decisions as new needs and project arise. Based on available talent and their skillsets and expertise, be it FTEs, staffing suppliers, or known/vetted candidates in talent pools, hiring managers can harness the power of total talent intelligence to make real-time talent judgments. This attribute is perhaps one of the strongest links to true business and workforce agility.

With the contingent workforce evolving over the past several years to encompass additional channels of non-employee talent, the language best used to describe it has also changed. This natural progression has led to another term: the extended workforce.

Shakespeare’s famous line, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” is apt and appropriate here – no matter what we call the evolving contingent workforce, its underlying impact is still that of a powerful, market-shifting force that drives competitive value and supports overall business agility. AS the contingent workforce, size scope, and strategic impact has expanded, new terminology that captures this evolution makes sense. “Extended” is yet another natural progression for this industry; contingent workers are sometimes thought of as mere line-items or “faceless” workers across the greater organization. Calling this spectrum of non-employee talent the “extended workforce” reflects the symbiotic link between an enterprise and all of its workers and how that relationship enhances the very idea of how work gets done.

As businesses navigate the so-called “next normal” ahead, they will require strategies, solutions, and technology that can effectively manage the full facet of its extended workforce in order to maximize the inherent skillsets and expertise offered by non-employee talent.

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Talent, Technology, and Transformation are the Future of Work (Upcoming Webinar)

Contingent WorkforceGeneral Insights by Christopher J. Dwyer on

For the past several years, the simplest way I could define the Future of Work was the optimization of work via talent, technology, and transformative thinking. While the Future of Work has evolved mightily given specific accelerants and the advent of innovative new tools and strategies, the foundation is the same. This year’s Future of Work Exchange Report for 2021 (formerly titled The State of Contingent Workforce Management) found that:

  • The pandemic’s main effects on enterprise talent were squarely focused on a series of interconnected attributes related to the workforce, especially in regard to the type of worker required to meet fast-changing needs and requirements of the business and the means in which to manage it effectively.
  • Traditional workforce management required new approaches to assure ongoing operations, given the mighty (125%!) increase in the utilization of remote and hybrid work models.
  • Going into 2020, 43.5% of the average organization’s total workforce was considered “contingent.” In 2021, that number sits at 47% and there are strong indications that this percentage will grow as the transformation of talent and work continues forward.
  • 82% of businesses stated in our study that the agile workforce enabled flexibility and scalability at a time when it was most needed. As markets recovered, enterprises had the ability (via talent marketplaces, talent pools and communities, as well as traditional staffing suppliers, etc.) to ramp up hiring to meet growing demand.
  • The impact of workplace culture evolution in 2021 means that more workers, having experienced more individual control and responsibility over their work days, would like to retain some level of control over when and how they get work done – from the hours that they work to how they physically address their workspaces. As businesses push deeper into the realm of digital transformation, the remote work-specific facets of worker and workplace flexibility are not only better-enabled (via enhanced collaboration tools and unified communications), but more realistic pieces of the Future of Work movement, and, most importantly, a central asset to overall work optimization, and;
  • The enterprise’s renewed focus on its human capital and overall depth of skillsets across the greater organization (as 62% of organizations are prioritizing in 2021 and beyond, according to FOWX research) means that businesses require the necessary tools, solutions, and strategies for engaging, managing, and driving value from their extended workforce.

I’m excited to join Beeline’s Judy Bumgarner (their Director of Product Strategy) on an exclusive webcast TOMORROW at 11am ET to discuss the new research, the above bullets, and, of course, the Future of Work today and into 2022. Click here or on the below image to register.

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The Age of the Agile Workforce (Upcoming Webinar)

Contingent WorkforceTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Around a decade ago, the business world was in a full economic swing. After the darkest days of the Great Recession, enterprises were experiencing a surge for products and services that forced them to reevaluate how work got done due to the recessionary hangover; businesses were still gun-shy of hiring traditional workers at a pre-downturn clip, causing another spike in the utilization of contingent labor.

Just prior to that point in time, the “perfect storm” erupted; both businesses and independent professionals awoke to the value each brought to the table. Since then, neither has looked back.

Today’s “agile workforce” comprises 47% of the average company’s total talent, a far cry from 15 years ago when less than 12% of professionals were working on a contract basis. That the contingent workforce has had staying power is not surprising; there has been so much incredible value driven by this workforce that it also became a “hero” when the COVID-19 pandemic hit early last year. In fact, Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research has discovered that 82% of businesses experienced greater workforce flexibility and scalability due to the power of the agile workforce.

I am thrilled to join Geoff Dubiski, Chief Solutions Officer at Workforce Logiq, for an exclusive webcast tomorrow (October 6) at 11am ET. Geoff and I will discuss the findings from the recent Future of Work Exchange Report for 2021; we will highlight:

  • The latest trends in the world of work and talent.
  • The Best-in-Class strategies, solutions, and capabilities for thriving in an evolving business climate.
  • The pillars of the Future of Work movement, and;
  • How businesses can leverage the next three months to plan for a successful 2022.

Click here to register for tomorrow’s event or click on the image below. I hope to see you there!

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Key Providers for 2021: RightSourcing

Contingent WorkforceGeneral InsightsSolution Providers by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

The healthcare industry often operates very differently from other key verticals, independent of major global trends and the challenges that plague the average business. The COVID-19 pandemic hit this sector the hardest in terms of staff shortages, worker burnout, safety and health concerns, etc. Future of Work Exchange research finds that while 90% of businesses believe that a semblance of “business normalcy” will be within reach sometime in early 2022, executives within the healthcare industry are not as convinced: 98% of healthcare businesses believe that normality is, at the earliest, two years away.

The extended workforce has long been a high-impact, high-value generator of true business agility. However, prior to 2020, the healthcare industry lagged behind their peers in regards to utilizing this type of labor to its maximum value, perhaps owed to insufficient supply channels, internal barriers due to archaic thinking, and the complexities in finding the right skillsets and expertise. The past eighteen months have brought about a change in thinking, largely due to the pressure put on healthcare facilities to shift talent to different locations, bring in on-demand talent when staffing shortages arise, and better plan for a quickly-evolving pandemic that continues to strain resources. FOWX research indicates that 98% of enterprises in this industry believe their non-employee workforce will be critical in the months and years ahead.

Enter RightSourcing.

Why They Were Selected:

RightSourcing, the healthcare-focused MSP arm of PRO Unlimited, has long been a dominant player in this industry due to its unique blend of managed services augmented with the power of the Wand VMS platform. RightSourcing may operate as a “specialty provider” in regard to its healthcare focus, however, the solution reflects the innovative approaches of its parent company in how it provides a wide range of services to its customers, including SOW management and services procurement, direct sourcing, DE&I support, and payrolling.

In addition to these offerings, RightSourcing also leverages a robust advantage through its data-driven analytics and market rate intelligence capabilities, two differentiators that are tailored for a complex and evolving healthcare workforce.

In Their Own Words:

RightSourcing provides a single, integrated platform of high-touch services and innovative technology solutions to help healthcare and higher education organizations increase cost savings, improve talent quality, mitigate risk and drive effectiveness within their contingent workforce program.

We are NOT a staffing company. We are not owned by, or affiliated with, a staffing company. We are PURELY vendor-neutral, which ensures true goal alignment with our clients. This vendor-neutral MSP approach leverages a nationwide network of clinical, IT, and business/professional staffing partners to provide the broadest access to talent at competitive market rates.

We provide clients with accurate, up-to-date labor market rate guidance. Historically, a lack of market labor rate intelligence has prevented healthcare organizations and higher ed from fully optimizing their hiring decisions. This results in significant unnecessary spend by paying higher market rates by role and/or location.

Bundling RightSourcing’s MSP experience with our industry-leading Wand VMS technology and actionable analytics makes RightSourcing fully accountable for the entire scope of an organization’s non-employee workforce. An integrated workforce management platform is more cost-effective, more agile, and maximizes efficiency to ensure the success of the program.

The Outlook:

The majority of healthcare staffing and healthcare HR/talent acquisition executives plan to invest more time, resources, and energy into optimizing the impact of the extended workforce, including tapping into direct sourcing (and talent pool), alternative talent channels, and talent marketplaces. With the continued weight of the pandemic forcing staffing shortages and worker burnout, healthcare enterprises must drive true workforce agility through today’s evolving contingent workforce.

RightSourcing is well-positioned as a powerful MSP that can blend progressive service offerings, a nimble VMS platform, and forward-looking, data-fueled solutions to transform the way the healthcare industry finds, engages, and manages its contingent workforce.

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Key Providers for 2021: Bluecrew

Contingent WorkforceSolution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

With 47% of the average company’s total workforce now comprised of “contingent” or “non-employee” workers, Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research has discovered that the power of the Gig Economy has traversed beyond a specific set of verticals and industries. Sectors such as light industrial, health care, and the realm of blue-collar and hourly work have all realized the inherent value of an agile workforce that was essentially designed to help in an era when dynamic workplace structures are what separates businesses from the competition.

One of the challenges faced by these sectors in the past was the sheer complexity of talent acquisition prowess required to effectively engage talent based on variable demand and the unique inner-workings of shift-based and hourly work.

Enter Bluecrew.

Why They Were Selected:

Bluecrew’s unique value proposition, which centers around a “Gig Economy meets traditional contingent labor” approach, allows the company to enable a truly “elastic workforce” within its client base by tapping into Bluecrew’s liquid base of vetted workers. Augmented with industry-leading candidate matching technology that is driven by machine learning, Bluecrew provides its clients with a fully-automated administrative portal that balances both talent acquisition and workforce management.

In a business world that now runs on flexibility, the Bluecrew marketplace and workforce management platform are solutions that are actively helping enterprises tap into on-demand talent and develop true workforce agility.

In Their Own Words:

Founded in 2015, acquired by InterActive Corp (IAC) in 2018, and recognized by Fast Company in 2020 as one of the most innovative workplace companies, Bluecrew is disrupting traditional hourly staffing (a $130 billion addressable market, almost exclusively offline) by pioneering “Gig 2.0”. 

Hourly workers – we call them Crew Members – are Bluecrew’s lifeblood. We employ thousands of W-2 workers who are dependable, looking for flexibility, and ready to accept short- or long-term jobs, which they are intelligently matched with by our Elastic Hourly Workforce (EHW) platform. Bluecrew’s EHW combines multiple products and services into an end-to-end, intuitive solution for Crew Members to manage their work lives, and for our workplace customers to manage their hourly workforce.

Our workplace customers are challenged with variable demand; longer term, more predictable variability such as seasonal and cyclical, and less predictable, shorter-term variability like absenteeism and large, unexpected customer orders. This variability in demand creates complex challenges to effectively and efficiently manage hourly labor which until Bluecrew, has been left unsolved.

The Outlook:

Sectors such as light industrial, retail, hospitality, and other hourly-based industries are anticipated to experience upwards of 35%-to-40% growth in the utilization of non-employee labor over the next few years, reinforcing the need for both on-demand access to vertical-specific talent marketplaces (and other on-demand channels of skillsets) and end-to-end workforce management. This expected growth will result in more headaches for hiring managers that are seeking to fill roles quickly, efficiently, and with data-driven approaches at the helm to result in the best-aligned fit between workers and open jobs.

Bluecrew’s innovative “elastic workforce” approach to the hourly workforce market positions the solution to thrive in evolving times, especially considering the expansion of workforce agility into industries that are expecting to increase their utilization of non-employee talent in the months and years ahead. As these sectors continue to realize the hard-line benefits of the extended workforce, it will be platforms such as Bluecrew that will help fuel the ultimate optimization of how work is done.

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The Future of Work Exchange Meets “The Deep End”

Business LeadershipContingent WorkforceSolution ProvidersTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The business world is consistently evolving, with a global pandemic setting off accelerants that are pushing the boundaries of how businesses address how work is done. Future of Work Exchange research points to a variety of factors that enterprises are focused on today in regard to how they are transforming the way work gets done, including:

  • The transition from manual- and paper-based tactics within workforce management to a world of a digital talent acquisition and recruitment.
  • The prevalence, benefits, and long-term impact of remote work and hybrid work models.
  • The rise of empathy-led business leadership and a greater focus on worker well-being/wellness.
  • The critical interjection of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) into core business operations, and;
  • The continued growth and impact of the agile workforce.

I recently had the pleasure of joining Workforce Logiq’s Chief Solutions Officer, Geoff Dubiski, for the company’s highly-regarded The Deep End vodcast/podcast series. Click below to enjoy FOWX meeting The Deep End for insights on empathy in the evolving world of work, why the hybrid work model is here to stay, and some peeks of Ardent Partners’ new Future of Work Exchange Research Study for 2021:

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Key Providers for 2021: myBasePay

Contingent WorkforceHRSolution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

The extended workforce continues to grow at a rapid pace. Today, 47% of the average company’s total workforce is comprised of “contingent” or “non-employee” workers, which include traditional temporary workers, gig workers, independent contractors, freelancers, and SOW-based labor/professional services. Over the past five years, this number has increased by nearly 40%, proving that the agile workforce has become a key contributor to the Future of Work movement.

Several years ago, as the contingent workforce began its stratospheric rise in growth and utilization, many businesses remained focused on three key elements as this spectrum of talent began to dominate how work was done: visibility into suppliers and the talent itself, annual cost savings on contingent workforce spend, and, perhaps most importantly, the compliance ramifications of utilizing a non-employee workforce.

Today, there are essentially two sides to the 2021 contingent workforce management (CWM) program: 1) the strategic planning that pushes extended talent into the realm of true business agility through top-tier skillsets, access to new sources of expertise, and the innovation happening in talent engagement and talent acquisition, and, 2) the operational components that keep CWM as a well-oiled, effective, and sharply-run program that is not open to various labor, cost, and regulatory risks. Businesses must strike an efficient balance between these two perspectives to ensure that the agile workforce brings both value and flexibility to the greater organization.

Enter myBasePay.

Why They Were Selected:

Future of Work Exchange research finds that nearly 60% of businesses are prioritizing control over compliance and risk management within their contingent and extended workforce programs. While aspects such as remote work, artificial intelligence, and other top-of-mind topics usually steal the headlines in the Future of Work arena, the truth is that compliance and risk mitigation for the non-employee workforce is just as critical as the “newer” elements of talent management and work optimization.

In less than a year, myBasePay has transformed the way businesses think about both the back- and front-ends of their talent acquisition programs through its unique array of compliance management automation, contingent workforce management efficiency, and tools to enhance the overall lifecycle of the non-employee worker.

In Their Own Words:

By the year 2030, half of the US workforce will consist of contingent workers. Simultaneously, organizations are struggling with skills shortages, changing labor regulations, and disruptive technologies.  How can organizations leverage this trend to improve their competitive strategy and thrive in the new economy?

myBasePay’s mission is to help organizations focus on growth and talent development. We aim to achieve this with our employer of record (EOR) model and AI-powered technology enabling us to create an ecosystem where organizations and contingent workers can thrive through transparency, trust, and collaboration.  

Our platform is like having a legal, admin, HR, compliance, and payroll department all rolled into one integrated solution, so organizations focus on growth and finding great talent.

Since our official launch in March, we have:

  • Raised $60M in funding.
  • Set up 67 enterprise customers on our platform. 
  • Achieved 50% growth rate with a $35M projected revenue by year-end. 
  • Focused on diversity and inclusion since day one. Our internal team is led by a Navy Veteran CEO, 58% female, 71% of female staff are working moms, and 67% minority. 

Contingent workers can bring unparalleled agility, flexibility, and adaptability to any organization looking to adopt a flexible work model as their competitive advantage.

The Outlook:

myBasePay is a true turnkey solution for both CWM programs and contingent workers alike, helping to facilitate a spectrum of efficiency within engagement, sourcing, classification, onboarding, and other key facets of the typical talent management initiative. Future of Work Exchange research finds that 84% of businesses were forced to “reimagine” their workforce management operations and processes in light of the disruptions experienced over the past 18 months. If digital transformation was not on the radar for procurement, HR, and other functional leaders before the pandemic hit, these challenging times made it patently obvious that manual processes were no longer acceptable and must be stricken from the workplace.

myBasePay is uniquely positioned as an agile contingent workforce solution that not only provides users with easy-to-use and AI-fueled talent management functionality, but also industry-leading worker classification, onboarding, and compliance management offerings.

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FOWX Alert: PRO Unlimited Continues Aggressive Technology Transformation, Acquires Workforce Logiq

Contingent WorkforceSolution ProvidersTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

[Editor’s Note: “FOWX Alert” – The Exchange’s coverage and analysis of the Future of Work industry’s most important news, including major announcements, M&A, and other breaking stories.]

To say that global workforce management solutions provider PRO Unlimited has been aggressive in disrupting the market is a vast understatement. In the span of less than a year, the company has:

  • Acquired of the industry’s leading rate intelligence solutions, PeopleTicker.
  • Introduced new functionality and offerings that are transforming diversity, equity, and inclusion for the market.
  • Launched an exclusive partnership with Eightfold to push AI-driven talent intelligence into PRO’s technology (particularly its flagship Wand VMS product).
  • Acquired Dutch MSP Brainnet Group.
  • Optimized client hiring decisions through its unique RatePoint tool.
  • Launched its NorthStar HCM consulting and advisory team, which blends market expertise and talent intelligence into an agile add-on offering, and;
  • Been acquired by EQT Partners, which is actively allowing the solution to fulfill its promise of becoming a true end-to-end workforce management platform.

And, this week, PRO Unlimited announced that it will acquire Workforce Logiq, one of the workforce management technology landscape’s biggest and most mature players. This news is yet another indicator that PRO will continue its aggressive approach towards realizing its goal of becoming an on-demand, agile, and flexible end-to-end platform for managing non-employee and extended talent.

What is particularly interesting about this acquisition that both PRO and Workforce Logiq are like-minded solutions; both have industry longevity on their side and offer hybrid Managed Services Provider (MSP) solutions and Vendor Management System (VMS) technology. In addition, both companies have harnessed innovative approaches towards workforce management technology, particularly in the arena of artificial intelligence and predictive analytics (in fact, we just spoke with Workforce Logiq’s Chief Strategy Officer, Joe Hanna, about this topic on FOWX).

“Both companies have a similar “platform” vision with two like-minded executive and product teams,” said Kevin Akeroyd, CEO of PRO Unlimited. “We essentially both saw the market in the same way, so we knew that [the acquisition] was already heading in the right strategic direction. The cultures between PRO and Workforce Logiq are incredibly well-aligned, as well, and there are many talented people that are now part of the PRO family.”

Together, the two solutions will represent a massive disruptor in the contingent workforce management (CWM) solutions marketplace. This acquisition will allow PRO to expand its global reach even further and enable existing Workforce Logiq clients the sheer breadth of offerings under the PRO umbrella. Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange instant analysis is as follows:

  • PRO Unlimited will undoubtedly make immediate use of WFQ’s impressive array of AI-led innovation. WFQ seemingly went from a standard MSP/VMS hybrid under the ZeroChaos brand to purveyor of AI-led workforce management solutions in short order when it moved to the Workforce Logiq brand, including its 16 patent-pending analytical technologies and toolbox of AI-led reporting functionality.
  • The ENGAGE Talent factor could be the most interesting facet of this deal. Back in 2019, I wrote that Workforce Logiq’s acquisition of ENGAGE Talent was a workforce management solutions gamechanger. “ENGAGE Talent’s technological sweet spot (predictive AI-powered algorithms) enables users to anticipate talent supply chain gaps, analyze real-time global labor conditions, and develop deep talent-based scenarios for short- and long-term contingent and full-time total workforce planning.” ENGAGE is/was one of WFQ’s most prized and innovative market offerings; we fully expect PRO Unlimited to take advantage of this deep tool to advance its intelligence-led technology.
  • PRO’s industry coverage becomes even more expansive than it was before the acquisition. While both PRO and Workforce Logiq are “household” names in the CWM solutions market, each paved its own path through dozens of unique verticals. PRO’s acquisition of WFQ opens the solution to clients in some very large industries, including automotive, healthcare, and telecom.
  • Strengths of both solutions, particularly DE&I and direct sourcing, will become more robust under the unified company. PRO’s recent enhancements of its direct sourcing and diversity, equity, and inclusion offerings was a strong way to kick off 2021. Workforce Logiq was an early pioneer of the direct sourcing model (even nicknaming it “self-sourcing” back in 2019) and has long been a force when it comes to improving DE&I in staffing and talent acquisition. These two very critical aspects of the Future of Work will become even stronger under the unified PRO/WFQ brand.

Beyond the obvious “scale” factors of the acquisition (such as combining two of the industry’s largest providers from RPO, payrolling, and other standard workforce management operations), there is something much larger – and more critical – at play: the fact that PRO Unlimited now has incredible positioning as an end-to-end workforce management solution that leads with innovation, data, and intelligence. Workforce Logiq’s main differentiators from the MSP pack have always sat in its wide-ranging abilities to plug-and-play real-time labor market, job role, rate, and other forms of deep intelligence into its core managed service operations. That PRO now has these functionalities at its fingertips is a true competitive transformation for the platform.

“There are incredible synergies here between the two solutions,” Akeroyd said. “Adding Workforce Logiq’s deep ocean of data and their innovative analytical tools to PRO’s end-to-end platform are going to be very impactful in how we continue to transform contingent workforce management for our customers. This is an acquisition that truly allows us to accelerate on our vision.”

(Financial terms of the acquisition, which is expected to close in Q4, were not disclosed. Stay tuned to the Future of Work Exchange for more insights on the evolving workforce management technology landscape.)

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Services Procurement and the Future of Work: A Conversation with Paul Vincent, Global Head of Services Procurement at Randstad Sourceright

Contingent WorkforceProcurementSolution ProvidersTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Last week, Randstad Sourceright announced the appointment of Paul Vincent as its Global Head of Services Procurement. In this Future of Work Exchange feature, Paul joins us to talk about how he views the current SOW management landscape, how this exciting topic fits into the greater Future of Work movement, and his new responsibilities at Randstad.

Christopher J. Dwyer: Hi Paul, it is great to chat with you once again, and congratulations on your new role. Pandemic aside, we’ve definitely seen some changes in the services procurement landscape over the past couple of years. Curious to hear your thoughts on these changes and how you feel MSPs can effectively tackle these challenges.

Paul Vincent:  It’s good to catch up with you again, too, Chris, and let me start by commending you on the launch of the Future of Work Exchange. The site looks really smart, and I am sure it will become a valued resource for the talent industry.

The services procurement marketplace has unquestionably become more liberated during the past couple of years. Every MSP now seems to be selling some kind of SOW solution and buying organizations are clearly becoming more receptive to a proposal for help. VMS providers are building more tailored functionality into their platforms and there is a growing array of complementary digital tools which can further strengthen an MSP’s product offering if positioned correctly.

So, we are definitely entering a period where SOW-based spend is going to be increasingly supported by workforce solutions providers in some way. The $64M question is going to be: what way is the best way?

This is where I think the market gets most interesting. There is still quite a big difference between an MSP who really understands the nuances of the services procurement landscape versus one that fundamentally still treats this part of the workforce as a subset of an organization’s contingent staffing population.

For example, when you see an MSP only talking about classification, compliance, and control, then this is a tell-tale sign that they are not really thinking about how to best serve the people who have the need and budget for the services themselves. These people, who after all are the primary stakeholders for any SOW management solution, need an MSP who can give them speed, simplicity, ready access to the highest-performing and most innovative service providers, and ultimately the best bang for their budgetary buck.

CJD: One of the things I admire about your work in the market all these years is that you have a deep understanding of both the client and service provider sides of SOW and services procurement. What are two or three of the most valuable insights that this experience has given you?

PV:  This is a tough question, Chris, as there are so many insights I could share. However, if you pushed me for my top three then I would probably select these ones.

Firstly, it is important to remember that price and perceived value are very different things. It is a common misconception that users of SOW-based services will want to pay as little as possible and this is a mentality trap that procurement professionals and MSPs can get themselves into. In a staff augmentation world, hiring managers typically don’t want to pay more than the prevailing market rate. In a services procurement world, business users want to pay an appropriate price and as it is their budget, then ultimately, they will need to decide on the price that most aligns with the value they perceive they are going to get from the service provider in return. The role of a good procurement advisor is to help their business stakeholders to identify and then critically evaluate the various commercial options open to them. Then they need to ensure that their stakeholder’s preferred option is properly encapsulated within a well-documented statement of work.

Secondly, whilst the SOW management triangle has three interdependent relationships (i.e., between the business user, centralized procurement, and the service provider), the most crucial relationship is always the one between whoever wants the work done and whoever is going to be doing the work. An effective SOW management solution will facilitate this relationship so that it is as commercially agile as possible. Those procurement functions and MSPs who seek to control this relationship instead will never be sustainably successful.

Finally, I passionately believe that an MSP should be delivering value throughout the entire SOW life cycle. However, in my experience, many MSPs seem to limit their boundary lines to the supplier selection and contracting phases in the process only. I have never understood this – because there is a huge amount of value that can be offered across the project definition, delivery, and evaluation phases, and this value often just gets left on the table.

CJD: These are great insights, Paul, and what resonates with me in particular are your observations about the breadth of the MSP value proposition when it comes to services procurement. So, turning to your new role and an obvious question is: what has attracted you to Randstad Sourceright?

PV:  I am thrilled to be joining Randstad Sourceright and there were two main reasons why I could not let this opportunity pass me by. The first is the hugely ambitious and exciting vision that CEO Mike Smith has set for the organization, and in particular the impact and contribution that he expects services procurement to play. The more Mike talked me through his strategic intent for services procurement, the more I felt this was a journey that I wanted to be part of.

Secondly, I will have a chance to work with a very skilled team. Randstad Sourceright already has a number of sales, operations, and subject matter experts working on SOW-related activities across the organization and further recruitment activity is underway. All of this talent will now be unified globally under my leadership and a joint strategic vision focused on creating measurable business value for our clients. I am especially going to enjoy working with Scott Brewer, who will run our SOW center of excellence. Scott has laid some impressive foundations during the past 18 months and there is a strong platform to grow from.

CJD: This role sounds like the perfect fit for you. What do you see as your key priorities during the first few months?

PV: Well, like in any new role there are going to be many people that I will need to get to know across the organization. But I expect the bulk of my time will be spent getting a really good understanding of our current SOW proposition and what we are delivering across the active client programs. From what I have seen, I think the offering is already pretty compelling, particularly from an analytics point of view, but as I finalize our new team structure and future ways of working, I will get a feel for the areas which might have scope for further development.

CJD: Maybe it’s because I’ve known you for so long, but I have to imagine that you already have some ideas as to how you would like to see RSR’s SOW offering evolve…am I correct?

PV: You’re right, you know me well and I do have some ideas already germinating, but it’s important that I take the time to really understand the current offering first and to gather a range of input from across the organization. What I can tell you is that Mike has set me a very clear objective – which is for Randstad Sourceright to be regarded as the undisputed market leader driving services procurement value for our customers. I am very energized by this goal, and I have every intention of delivering it!

CJD: I am very sure you will, Paul, and we look forward to hearing more from you here on the Future of Work Exchange. Best wishes on your new role at Randstad Sourceright, and thanks again for taking the time so soon after your new appointment.

Connect with Paul on LinkedIn, or visit Randstad Sourceright for more information on their solutions and offerings.

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Talent Intelligence and the Future of Work: A Conversation With Joe Hanna, Chief Strategy Officer at Workforce Logiq

Contingent WorkforceHRSolution ProvidersTalentTalent AcquisitionTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

In the world of talent and work, intelligence must be on every executive’s agenda. “Business intelligence” as a pure strategic asset has, for years, been a core objective for many an enterprise leader. In the workforce management arena, however, the realm of business intelligence traverses far beyond simple data and information regarding the organization’s current utilization of talent. The power of artificial intelligence, machine learning, predictive analytics, and other progress forms of business intelligence tools can support enterprises in their ultimate quest for true workforce agility.

Veteran Managed Service Provider (MSP) and Vendor Management System (VMS) provider Workforce Logiq has been one of the industry’s forerunners in regards to talent intelligence through its unique suite of offerings that power deeper workforce visibility. I had the opportunity to chat with the company’s Chief Strategy Officer, Joe Hanna, about the criticality of AI in the Future of Work, the strength of total talent intelligence, and the future of the agile workforce.

Christopher J. Dwyer: Joe, thanks for taking the time to speak with me. The last time you and I were in a public forum together, we were fresh off the heels of Workforce Logiq acquiring ENGAGE Talent. Safe to say that a lot has happened since then!

Joe Hanna: Thank you for having me, Chris. Workforce Logiq has certainly been busy since we last spoke, and we wouldn’t have it any other way! For starters, we’ve rolled out our proprietary Total Talent Intelligence platform® globally to the US, UK, Sweden, India, Germany, and France and have more geographic expansions planned throughout 2021.  And, you should know our platform is powered by the analytics, benchmarks, and insights delivered by what the ENGAGE team developed prior to – and after the acquisition by Workforce Logiq.

We’ve also innovated and developed several new offerings to help employers attract and retain talent during this transformative time for the industry. We launched IQ Talent DiversitySM, an AI-powered tool that enables organizations to build bigger pipelines of diverse talent faster by predicting candidates most likely to have diverse backgrounds. Employers can use the intelligence to drive progress toward their diversity and inclusion (D&I) goals and compare their company’s diversity hiring performance against industry, competitor, and national benchmarks.

To support companies through the shift to remote work and in making return to office decisions, we released our IQ Location Optimizer SM last summer. The solution enables data-driven decisions on the best markets from which to source talent and whether remote arrangements make sense for a given role.

We also recently teamed up with LinkUp to offer the market’s first 360-degree predictive view of both talent supply and demand. We’re very excited about this partnership because the unique picture gives employers deep, strategic insight into the competitiveness of specific markets that they can use to gain a tangible edge, especially as we continue to navigate through this period of ‘Great Resignation.’

Other updates include the release of our IQ Supplier Optimizer SM which marked our sixteenth patent filing, and IQ Rate Optimizer SM which benchmarks how much an organization needs to pay to attract and win contingent and full-time talent based on unique, company-specific factors.

CJD: Workforce Logiq is known for their innovation within the talent intelligence arena, something that is critical in today’s evolving world of work. Why is this such a differentiator?

JH: Today’s labor market is incredibly dynamic – and hyper-uncertain. One day can look drastically different from the next, especially during global shocks like COVID. Proactivity and the ability to make confident, fast, data-based decisions about talent are what sets companies apart and helps them build an optimal workforce to navigate the uncertainty. Leveraging predictive intelligence is what creates that differentiator for organizations so that they stay one – or multiple steps ahead of their competitors.

At Workforce Logiq we’re committed to delivering those advanced and predictive capabilities and continuously innovating to help our clients solve both today and tomorrow’s workforce management challenges. We’re able to do this because of our talented and dedicated data science and talent economist team. This team designed our existing sixteen patented and patent-pending innovations and built our Total Talent Intelligence platform®, which is the most complete, modular, and integrated workforce management technology solution on the market.

CJD: Exciting news about the exclusive data partnership with LinkUp! Tell us a little more about it.

JH: Absolutely! LinkUp’s proprietary demand data and analytics, which are a perfect complement to Workforce Logiq’s patented supply intelligence, now integrate directly into our Total Talent Intelligence® platform. This means that clients get the first 360-degree predictive view of both talent supply and demand within the labor market.

The alliance gives clients deep insight into the competitiveness of specific markets, the full-time and contingent roles competitors are actively looking for, the skills most in-demand, and more. It’s a major development that enables employers to uncover their biggest talent-related risks and opportunities, and equips them with even more data-driven insight to win the talent they need for an optimal workforce.

The partnership is mutually beneficial. LinkUp’s insights enhance our algorithms and enable our clients to make impactful and cost-effective talent decisions. LinkUp’s financial and capital market customers get special access to our anonymized volatility, job, skills, and company-level data which are based on one billion data points, 40,000 sources, and analytics on over 19 million global companies. This puts them in an even better position to drive forward their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies.

We chose to partner with LinkUp because their mission around predictive intelligence aligns very well with our own, and unlike other job search engines, LinkUp is the only to index jobs solely posted by companies on their own websites. This makes LinkUp the highest quality index of global job postings on the market.

CJD: “Workforce agility” has become paramount, especially in a business world that relies on on-demand data to make more educated, real-time talent decisions. How can Workforce Logiq clients tap into your multiple intelligence-led offerings to become more agile?

JH: All our offerings are built to give employers the real-time and forward-looking insight they need to be agile. Having predictive data and insights at your fingertips is key for making smart decisions quickly and acting confidently under pressure.

Consider the current ‘Great Resignation’ trend that is impacting all sectors. Navigating this dramatic increase in resignations means quickly winning over external candidates who are eager to make a move, while simultaneously identifying and getting out in front of internal retention issues.

From a talent acquisition perspective, our predictive tools identify the best markets to look for new talent and competitors’ employees open to jumping jobs so that employers can sustain a strong talent pipeline and fill future skills gaps. On the retention side, our algorithms surface insight on employees most at risk of quitting and why they might be inclined to resign by identifying the workplace attributes most important to these workers. This enables employers to proactively address attrition before it impacts the business.

This is just one powerful example of how technology can help organizations be agile, resilient, and equipped with an optimal workforce.

CJD: Do you feel that the LinkUp partnership is a seismic event for our industry? The Managed Service Provider (MSP) model has evolved so much over the past few years.

JH: Yes, we consider this partnership a significant industry development. The truly unique combination of predictive talent supply and demand intelligence gives Workforce Logiq expert advisors even better and more strategic insights to help clients with their recruitment and retention strategies.

The MSP-client relationship is significantly evolving. Providers are increasingly stepping up to help clients through the fundamentally changing talent landscape. Workforce Logiq is committed to developing our technology and service offerings in the ways that best support our global clients and help them meet their goals, whether that’s navigating the hybrid work transition, building rich and diverse talent pipelines, optimizing candidate searches, or another strategic imperative.

CJD: What does the Future of Work look like over the second half of 2021? What’s in store for the greater world of talent and work?

JH: We expect more workers to be receptive to changing jobs and unsolicited recruiting calls well into the Fall. Data from our recent benchmark flash report shows a nearly 70% quarterly increase in volatility (i.e., workers interested in exploring other job opportunities or unsolicited recruiting messages in the next 60-to-90 days) across the top 35 job categories that we track.

This high number isn’t surprising. Employees are actively looking for more flexibility, work/life balance, money, and career advancement opportunities. As talent continues to rethink job and career choices, employers also need to adapt and hone their workforce strategies, processes, and technology infrastructure to effectively attract and retain talent and foster appealing work environments.

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