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Diversity and Inclusion

The “Age of the Worker” Still Has Too Many Disparities

Business LeadershipDiversity and InclusionTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Across the world of talent and work, there are many factors in play that reflect perhaps the most volatile job market we have experienced in business history. The Great Recession of 2008-2009 brought a swift tumble to the labor pool, however, the economic recovery began relatively quickly and “only” hit a peak of 10.6% unemployment (in January 2010). Comparatively, in April 2020, during the earliest and perhaps the most confounding times of the COVID-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate hovered around 14.7% (and considered higher in some circles given the panic and confusion around that period of time).

For all of the horror, unspeakable challenges, and both personal and professional disruptions that we all have faced over the past eighteen months, the labor market’s initial plunge was only the beginning of a series of major issues for the workforce that continue to this day.

In September, U.S. businesses only added 194,000 new jobs, a figure that shocked economists and labor market analysts alike. In addition, however, the true unemployment rate hit 4.8% in September; while this figure may seem like somewhat of a positive note amidst a weak rate of added positions, it’s really just hiding the many disparities that remain across today’s total workforce. And if we really want to dig deeper into how the lowest unemployment rate of the pandemic thus far just masks massive inequalities, there’s another stat that should shake business leaders to the core:

In September alone, 309,000 women (above the age of 20) dropped out of the workforce, according to the U.S. Labor Department. 309,000.

No, that is not a typo. 309,000 talented and hardworking women left the labor market within a 30-day span. That’s 309,000 women who are not part of a so-called “Age of the Worker.” These are women who are hitting pause on their careers due to factors way beyond their control.

Unemployment is low. The economy is thriving despite a Delta variant surge. One miraculous coronavirus vaccine has been approved and in use as a booster, with the two other major shots on their way. However, these same disparities in job growth are also occurring in other segments, such as in black men and both black and Hispanic women.

What is happening here?

The main problem is this: no matter how great the economy looks and no matter how low unemployment rates are, there is a foundational gap between 1) what we conceive the workforce to look like, and, 2) what that actual workforce looks like when broken out into gender, race, and cultural background, due to continued uncertainty in peripheral areas of the market that have a ripple effect on working mothers and people of color.

As we discussed previously here on the Future of Work Exchange, any level of uncertainty in the world of working parents is catastrophic. Any new COVID cluster in a school that eschews masks and precautions forces those parents to pause their professional lives and attend to remote learning. The continued shortage of staffing within daycare and pre-kindergarten facilities is astounding; too many working parents are having to make the difficult choice between their business personas and their roles as parents of young children.

Two years ago, if a third-grader woke up in the morning with a sore throat and runny nose, a parent could chalk it up to seasonal allergies or the common cold and send him/her off to class without a worry. Today, quarantining is disruptive and COVID testing can cause massive delays in a return to the live classroom. While some educational departments are leveraging “Test and Stay” models that enable quicker returns if children are asymptomatic, there are tens of thousands more that are not.

Those workers that are “between” pre-pandemic careers and a more settled return to the workforce are unsure of what is on the horizon. There’s no crystal ball that will tell them if the coming fall and winter seasons will spark yet another COVID surge. Millions of workers that were once toiling in more blue-collar-oriented positions are reevaluating their careers entirely, fighting as hard as they can for better pay, safer working conditions, and more flexibility in how they work before returning to work. Unfortunately, gender- and race-led disparities are caught in the middle of all of this and are suffering as a result.

So, what’s the answer here? It’s not so simple. The fact that organizations have implemented new diversity-led measures for gender diversity (82% of businesses are currently implementing these measures, according to FOWX research), cultural diversity (72%), and generational diversity (65%) speaks volumes about where businesses want to be, however, the hard truth is that they just aren’t there yet…and it’s going to take some time.

There are reasons to be both optimistic and pessimistic. COVID vaccines from Pfizer for 5-to-11-year-olds could be only weeks away, helping to curb some safety concerns regarding live and in-person learning. Not all of those 309,000 women that exited the workforce will remain out of the workforce permanently; between digital staffing outlets (such as The Mom Project) that promote on-demand and diverse talent, and the hiring managers that truly understand that a diverse and inclusive workplace culture is the best culture to build deeper talent pools, things can and certainly will change.

However, if there’s anything we’ve learned over the past eighteen months, it’s that planning for just a few months ahead causes nothing but disappointment in eventual retrospect. Businesses could stand pat in their months-long standoff with workers that are clamoring for enhanced pay, benefits, and working conditions. More COVID hotspots around the country could exacerbate the workforce inequalities that we’ve been facing since March 2020.

The question remains, though: will the “Age of the Worker” truly help those that aren’t just leaving the workforce because of culture or flexibility issues, but rather because they have no choice? The Biden Administration’s $650 billion initiative for childcare programs, universal pre-kindergarten, and the establishment of a robust paid family and medical leave program could be a boon here, although this is a measure that is months away from being approved and finalized. Many parents will choose to vaccinate their children as soon as they’re able to do so, and many will not.

Like everything else that’s occurred within the world of talent and work in this pandemic arena, there’s more ambiguity than anything else. Let’s hope it changes…soon.

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Let’s Just Say It Now: The Business World Is Never Going Back to Normal

Business LeadershipDiversity and InclusionTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

“Well, I see us returning to the office right after the holidays.”

“We pushed out our return-to-office date to January 15. Hoping it sticks this time.”

“Back in May and June, our target date to get the office up-and-running against was September 16. It gave our working parents enough time to get situated with school schedules. But now, we just don’t know. It’s too hard to communicate a date to our staff because things are changing so rapidly.”

Those are some direct quotes from HR, talent acquisition, and procurement executives that I’ve spoken to over the past couple of weeks. And then there are these quotes, all from HR executives:

“My maternity leave crossed over with the mid-point of the pandemic. My team and I have all been fully remote since then, and I can’t picture any of us going back to the office except for bi-weekly or monthly team meetings or special projects.”

“Whether or not we mandate vaccinations or negative tests, the truth is that our business has fundamentally changed. We’re under 100 employees, which allows us to be a bit nimbler in how we communicate and operate within a virtual setting, and those employees that want to be back at our HQ have had the option for a few months now…but, I just cannot see how we go back to what we were doing before all of this started.”

“There are some big question marks we have. Our flexible workforce alone is anywhere between 800 and 1,000 people on any given day. We’ve done a pretty decent job of figuring out who is working where and how to effectively track how well projects are being completed, but there are some very stressful conversations ahead for our leadership team and what our 2022 looks like. Most of my team understand that things have changed, but how many really believe these changes are going to stick? That is the fundamental question at hand for us: do we attempt to slowly return to the way things were before? Or do we just accept that our organization has been permanently transformed?

While this is a random sampling of just six executives across the millions across the globe, now is a great time for us to remind ourselves of just how much impact the pandemic had on all aspects of our lives. Think of the first day it really hit home for you. That day didn’t necessarily have to be the true beginning of the pandemic as defined by the World Health Organization, so it ranges wildly for each of us.

I can remember the day after then-President Trump declared a state of emergency, editing a podcast for the following week’s edition of Contingent Workforce Weekly. My wife and mother-in-law spent most of that afternoon at the local Target (unmasked, if we can remember a time like that indoors!), stocking up on essentials in the event we were locked down in our homes for a couple of weeks (or more). That feeling inside of my chest, that sinking feeling, was more than just anxiety. It was my brain telling me that we were in something awful for the long haul.

In so many respects, the pandemic has had an incredibly profound impact on how we shop, how we interact with family and friends, how we travel, and ultimately how we live our lives. Some of us have been mildly sick with COVID-19, others have been hospitalized. Some of us have lost family members and friends. Some of us lost our jobs, homes, careers, and livelihoods. The economy may be bouncing back and the labor market may have recovered the vast majority of job losses from 2020, however, there is an indelible mark on every aspect of our lives, including business, that will never be the same again.

Some businesses may aim for a return to pre-pandemic times, but the way we all work has been transformed…for the better.

There are specific complications that we all wish weren’t part of our daily lives, and we certainly can all agree that the scale of tragic loss of life has been truly heartbreaking. I would bet there are several moments per day, too, when we say to ourselves, “I wish I could go back to the way things used to be” when we think of concerts, movies, restaurants, parties, holidays, etc. In due time, those pieces of life will come back to us at a much lower risk than they are today. For the world of business, however, we shouldn’t be thinking about pre-pandemic times, but rather the ways specific “accelerants” forever changed the way we work…forever. Consider that:

  • Distributed teams are the norm now, and, both workers and executives have realized the benefits of the remote and hybrid work models. “The Great Resignation” is occurring mostly because workers have been enabled with the flexibility they’ve always craved, and now that businesses are sounding the “return to the office!” alarms, those highly-skilled workers are choosing to take their talents elsewhere. Work-life balance, the capabilities to attend to homes and/or children during the work day, and an overarching sense of flexibility are all attributes of the ideal workplace for today’s workers.
  • The move to virtual collaboration also sparked a revolution in the realm of digital transformation. Many businesses eschewed a major remote work overhaul in pre-pandemic times because they thought it could takes several months to achieve. In reality, the move to remote happened for many organizations in a matter of weeks. This proved that moving more operational components to automated and repeatable processes would be much simpler task than originally thought (note: no technology implementation project is easy, but it’s much more fluid today than it was years ago).
  • Today more so than ever before, businesses are focused on true organizational agility. In fact, Future of Work Exchange research finds that 73% of businesses desire to become truly organizations in the months ahead. This laser-like focus on business agility, in which organizations can respond dynamically to real-time situations and challenges, is absolutely a direct result of learning first-hand what it was like to face staff shortages, supply chain disruptions, revenue shortfalls, and a global health crisis all at the same time.
  • There are so many question marks around business travel that some are pondering whether or not we will ever have “road dog” positions anymore that require 75% or more working hours traveling for work. This is not welcome news for airline, hospitality, and similar industries that were decimated by the pandemic, however, the rise of virtual conferences (even though many of us are certainly facing burnout from these, admittedly) means that more and more leaders have access to the content that was only available at traditional conferences and tradeshows. Too, do organizations that rely on in-person events pivot to hybrid conferences? Scale down to one-day symposiums instead of full-blown, three-day events? There are always going to be limitations in the virtual model of collaboration, especially when it comes to key client relationships. However, with so many businesses thriving during uncertain times without the aid of corporate travel, are forced to wonder if we’ll ever return to pre-pandemic levels.
  • The relationships between leaders/execs and their workers has been fundamentally changed as empathy becomes a key component of the management playbook. Employee wellness, wellbeing, and mental health are now all crucial pieces of the Future of Work movement and business leaders are taking note: 77% of executives anticipate that empathy-driven leadership will become a more critical foundation of the employer-employee relationship. An empathetic culture promotes positivity, open communication, better productivity, and is a major solution to worker burnout. As times change and uncertainty continues, workers can be comforted knowing that their leaders are emotionally invested in their wellbeing and support them from both professional and personal perspectives. Eighteen months ago, the notion of empathy-led leadership was not discussed or even on the radar for the vast, vast majority of enterprises. Today? It’s how the typical business wins the war for talent.
  • Changes in how businesses think about their workforce are opening doors that were closed just 18 months ago. Societal changes are sparking a bigger focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I). The rise of remote work has allowed hiring managers to expand their talent acquisition efforts beyond their backyards. The utilization of extended or non-employee talent has risen to 47% of the average company’s overall workforce. Business leaders are rethinking and reimagining how work gets done from the bottom to the top; they understand that there are now no boundaries in how they find and engage talent, nor is there a major difference between traditional and non-employee workers if skillsets and expertise are top-of-mind. The myriad changes in the world of work has transformed the way enterprises address talent acquisition and hiring initiatives.

There are always going to be professionals that would like business to return to the ways it was before the pandemic, and those individuals cannot be blamed for wanting to return to a world that was less stressful. But if we take all of the things that have changed about how we get work done, how we view our talent, how the relationships between leaders and their staff have changed, how empathy is now a key element of the modern workplace, and how we have all benefited from the newfound flexibility within our roles, we all have to ask…why we would ever want to go back to the way things used to be?

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Key Providers for 2021: The Mom Project

Diversity and InclusionSolution ProvidersTalentTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

[Editor’s Note: Over the next several weeks, the Future of Work Exchange will unveil its “21 for 2021” list of key solution providers that are shaping the Future of Work through innovative technology, progressive functionality, and overall impact on the evolving world of talent and work. On deck for today: The Mom Project.]

The Background:

In the world of “digital staffing,” which is a wide-encompassing industry that includes talent marketplaces, talent clouds, talent communities, on-demand staffing outlets, freelancer management systems (even though “FMS” as an acronym is seemingly defunct), as well as direct sourcing technology, it’s not often that businesses have access to an end-to-end workforce management platform that also prioritizes talent engagement with a deep community of gender- and ethnically-diverse professionals.

Future of Work Exchange research finds that 62% of businesses expect more focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives over the next year, proving that the technology spectrum within workforce management needs to evolve to meet this expected shift moving forward.

Enter The Mom Project.

Why They Were Selected:

The world for working parents has dynamically shifted…again. The Mom Project’s Greg Robinson (COO and co-founder), who appeared on the Contingent Workforce Weekly podcast earlier this year, said that he and his team fear that we will see another mass exodus of women from the workforce due to the pandemic and its wide-sweeping ramifications. The Mom Project is looking to change that through its unique ability to connect enterprises with qualified and diverse candidates in a nimble, agile, and on-demand manner. That alone warrants selection as a solution that is shaping the Future of Work, but there’s more to the story.

On top of its 500,000+ (and growing) network of diverse candidates, The Mom Project also offers progressive workforce management technology such as true total talent management functionality, an AI neural network learning engine (that incorporates customer culture and DE&I attributes) that helps users identify key DE&I trends and patterns, and automation that assists enterprises in building ready-to-engage, pre-vetted talent from both non-employee/contingent and direct hire/FTE perspectives.

The Mom Project is one of the most progressive and innovative workforce/talent solutions in today’s evolving technology landscape.

In Their Own Words:

More than one million American women will become parents this year, joining the ranks of the working parenthood — a vital segment of the workforce. Simultaneously, businesses are challenged to retain talented employees as they navigate through this period of life, and struggle to find the experienced talent they need to grow.

The Mom Project is the expert partner helping companies create stronger, more diverse workforces that are well-prepared for the Future of Work. These are the big picture problems that C-suites, boards, investors and hiring managers across the country are focused on. We’re proud to be the consultative, action-oriented partner working hand-in-hand with our customers to drive lasting change.

  • Our platform drives community engagement and trust, driving a premium pipeline of over 500,000 members, growing by 20,000 members a month.
  • Our thought leadership and hands-on collaboration with hiring managers and recruiters ensures talent doesn’t get stuck mid-way, and that mom is primed to thrive in her new role.
  • Giving back to our 501.3(c) nonprofit, RISE, ensures that we’re continuously preparing the candidates of the future.
  • Co-branding drives talent perception and pipeline, and each hire becomes a story to further elevate partners as employers of choice for working families.

Women staying engaged in the workforce on their terms is good for families. It’s good for business. It’s good for everyone. .

The Outlook:

Over the next two years, 62% of businesses expect to address DE&I objectives and initiatives with workforce management technology and similar automation, according to Future of Work Exchange research. This statistic reflects just how critical diversity, equity, and inclusion truly is within the digital staffing solutions arena and its crucial place as part of greater talent management strategies.

The Mom Project is uniquely positioned to continue its rampant growth in the market from three perspectives: 1) it is one of the most visible workforce management platforms that is actively prioritizing and truly aligning DE&I within the very fabric of its functionality, 2) it offers one of the industry’s deepest communities of gender- and ethnically-diverse skillsets and talent, and, 3) its progressive technology platform enables a spectrum of innovative talent acquisition, talent engagement, and workforce management solutions that harness the incredible power of artificial intelligence and machine learning while forming a foundation of total talent management automation.

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Once More, With Feeling: Empathy Is the Only Way Forward

Business LeadershipDiversity and InclusionHRTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

“The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy, we can all sense a mysterious connection to each other.” – Meryl Streep

Over the past several months, there’s one word that has popped up more than so many others in my conversations with hiring managers, business leaders, HR practitioners, and talent acquisition executives. It’s a word that hasn’t been used very often in the corporate world, but it’s a concept that we are learning has such a profound effect on how work gets done. It’s at the very heart of who we are as humans and it’s a reflection of the energy we put out into the world around us. And, as we are finding, it’s a foundational way for businesses and their leaders to build long-lasting relationships with their workforce.

Empathy.

Many of us knew exactly what it would be like when the biggest remote work experiment in history kicked off in the dark days of March 2020. However, many others struggled with newfound responsibilities within their home as kids shuffled no further than the kitchen table and a laptop instead of to the bus. Many of us waded in the collective, anxious waters of a global pandemic that forced us indoors and to shutter social interaction. And too many of us still bear the scars of the most dangerous public health crisis in our lifetimes.

All of this means one thing: empathy must be the root of how we move forward. It must be the foundational layer to how we approach how work gets done and how we structure a workplace environment that is both inclusive and safe. It also means that, in the face of the Delta variant’s rampage across the country (and world), we as business leaders and we as business workers must prioritize empathy in nearly every facet of how we address our roles, our jobs, and our communications with each other.

Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research finds that 77% of businesses expect more empathy-driven leadership moving forward within their organizations, proving that “cold” and archaic modes of leadership, particularly instilling a culture of fear and rigidity, are detrimental to the overall enterprise. In order to retain talent and reengage key workers when needed, business leaders must create, foster, and deliver on the best possible workplace culture. By reinforcing expectations, practicing transparency, promoting positivity, and leveraging accountability (for both workers and managers), business leaders will ensure that empathetic efforts will help their organizations improve the talent experience for its total workforce.

Empathy within the workplace (and the workforce) has incredible benefits:

  • Empathy-led leadership will help business execs develop long-lasting relationships with its workforce. Workers that can perform their tasks with a touch of flexibility whilst feeling comfortable and safe within an inclusive environment are more likely to want to have a better relationship with their managers. Workers will be more apt to open additional lines of communication with their leaders and be honest about their workloads and any pressure they may be feeling about their roles. These long-lasting relationships can be especially critical when workers have opportunities outside of the organization, and, could potentially be a deciding factor on taking their talents elsewhere or staying put.
  • Leveraging empathy as a core Future of Work tenet will result in more productive workers and teams (and better business outcomes). Appreciation is also another factor that can catalyze a workforce. Workers that feel appreciated, along with a sense of physiological safety in an empathetic environment, are more likely to perform at a higher level due to a better overall employee experience. If they truly believe in what they are doing and feel that they are appreciated in how they perform their jobs, that extra level of value certainly cascades into the ultimate completion of the project. “Better business outcomes” has long been a goal for organizations, and empathy as a foundational workplace facet can be a critical contributor to achieving this initiative.
  • Empathy fosters a better connection with workers that can help stave off potential issues before they are exacerbated. Workers that have an open line of communication with their leaders will always feel that they can discuss major personal and business issues without fear of scrutiny or reprisal. In these scenarios, simply talking about problems, especially before they become worse, can potentially stave off detachment from the role or even resignations. Leaders pushing empathy can foster stronger relationships with their workers and ensure that these unions are robust tools in boosting the overall talent experience. In age that some have dubbed “The Great Resignation,” anything that executives can do in terms of empathy, flexibility, etc. will go a long way towards key talent retention.
  • Empathy-led leadership is one of several solutions to worker burnout. Think about the world we’re currently living in. The pandemic has been nothing short of an anxiety-ridden rollercoaster ride. Some of us have lost loved ones, others have been sick and experienced COVID first-hand. Many of us still battle with the lingering personal ramifications of this public health crisis. As we discussed recently, worker burnout is an epidemic on top of a pandemic; business leaders are the essential front-line of defense when it comes to curtailing this major issue. Empathetic and inclusive workplace environments (including, yes, remote environments!) can help curb some of the worker burnout issues that plague today’s talent by helping employees feel that 1) they are not alone in what they are doing, 2) they can reach out for help if they are overwhelmed, 3) they can establish flexible boundaries for when personal issues need to be prioritized, and, 4) they can work effectively with their leadership team to construct the best possible work-life balance for the maximum productivity and wellness.

A phrase known as “compassion fatigue” has been uttered lately as more and more leaders tire of the past eighteen months and the changes they’ve had to make in how they manage their workforce (it’s also a phrase thought of and spoken by medical workers that are rightfully exhausted at the thought of caring for unvaccinated individuals as hospitals begin to surge once again across the country). The FOWX theory is this: if business leaders are tiring of pushing empathy and rooting it into the foundation of their workplace environments, they shouldn’t be surprised when productivity wanes or workers begin to quit.

The COVID-19 pandemic (an ongoing pandemic, I may add) has been stressful for everyone, no doubt. However, empathy is the only way forward for the world of business. It’s the only way that workers will have a sense of inclusion, wellness, and appreciation. Leaders must respond to challenging times with empathy and flexibility, not just for themselves, but for their direct reports, as well. According to Future of Work Exchange research, nearly 70% of businesses expect leadership to focus understanding the perspectives of the workforce as they adapt to personal and professional change over the next 12 months. When the public health crisis is in the rear-view, it will be those businesses that have led with empathy and truly understand the human elements of their workforce that will retain their top talent.

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The Hybrid Work Model is So Much More Than “Working From Home”

Business LeadershipDiversity and InclusionTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Look around at the typical news sources. Some of them are proclaiming doom for the vaunted “hybrid work model” in which businesses allow their workforce to work remotely several days a week while limiting in-office time. These same news sources and pundits were, not too long ago, singing the praises of the digital enterprise and its ability to adapt during unprecedented times. There’s no doubt that many business leaders crave a return to pre-pandemic times, when their devoted workers would trudge through awful commutes, sit through endless meetings, and deal with all of the Dilbert-like annoyances of life inside of an office.

However, it’s mid-2021…and workers have moved on both physically AND emotionally. Simply put: the hybrid work model is here to stay.

Some businesses might see the dramatic drop in coronavirus cases (even though the Delta variant is causing upticks and surges across the country) and a splurge of available vaccines as a ticket back to normalcy. “Normal,” as in “Let’s go to the pub down the street” or “Let’s catch a screening of “Space Jam,” sure, alright. “Normal,” as in “Let’s go to the office five days a week”? Nope.

Workers have had a near-18-month period in which they have not only been enabled with the ability to work from home (or anywhere with an internet connection), but also the very spirit of flexibility in how they approach their roles, projects, and overall workload. Businesses adapted to changing times, shifting how they measured productivity and the overall impact of their workforce. That flexibility has cascaded into how workers and business professionals structure their days, interact with their family, coordinate child care and related activities, and ultimately how they choose to apply their time across various projects and initiatives. Employee well-being has also rocketed up the priority list, with nearly 68% of businesses expected to integrate employee well-being into remote and hybrid workforce structures, according to upcoming Future of Work Exchange research. One of the many silver linings of the “greatest remote work experiment in history” was that so many business professionals now had the ability to incorporate exercise and well-being directly into their workday, choosing a mid-afternoon jog instead of a pre-commute run, or a late morning Peloton ride in-between video meetings.

Let’s forget, for a moment, that the hybrid work model is often centered around physical proximity and instead focus on mental energy. The hybrid work model is more than just telecommuting; it revolves around the notion that business leaders care about their workers and want them to be productive and happy. There is a symbiotic link between the talent experience and the hybrid work model that cannot be ignored ever again. With diversity and inclusion at its most important inflection period (and rightfully so, as a core component of the Future of Work movement), creating an “inclusive” culture and workplace translates into ensuring that employees are happy, healthy, and feeling welcomed by their peers and leaders. With so much of the Future of Work revolving around productivity and business outcomes, enterprise leaders must ensure that they are designing flexible work environments that allow an “elastic” means of getting work done, which includes a level of empathy and well-being in how they manage their total workforce.

While the media may be feeling pressure to report on the “Next Normal,” they are forgetting that the changes over the past year weren’t temporary, but rather fundamental shifts in how businesses operate moving forward. Nearly 90% of businesses, according to FOWX research, expect a sharp increase in remote work over the next 18 months. Furthermore, the expected percentage of workers operating in remote or hybrid environments is expected to double by the time 2021 ends, from 21% pre-pandemic to nearly 40% at the end of the year. The technologies and tools now available to even the smallest of businesses means that flexibility, collaboration, and productivity can all converge to result in positive business outcomes.

The hybrid model is more than working from home. It means being more available to family. It’s about being more engaged with one’s emotions and personal needs. It is the improvement in work-life balance and making work more meaningful. It means being both more productive and having an enhanced quality of life. It is, in essence, the Future of Work.

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The “Digital Staffing and Talent Marketplaces Technology Advisor” is Now Available

Contingent WorkforceDirect SourcingDiversity and InclusionTalentTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Upcoming Future of Work Exchange research finds that 82% of all businesses state that the challenging times of 2020 created a bigger need for extended and non-employee talent. The past 18 months have clearly revealed that workforce scalability is an essential link to economic survival in the now-chaotic, hyper-competitive world of global business. Operationalizing that scalability is the very root of workforce agility, from which businesses can tap into talent pools, marketplaces, clouds, and communities to enhance how work is done, and support a range of services and other recruitment streams to build, in real time, a dynamic response to crucial enterprise initiatives.

It has long been our view that the teams that adeptly engage and leverage talent to support the evolving needs of the business will succeed above all others. As more and more enterprises have come to adopt that view, the development of an “agile workforce,” which represents the ability to engage non-employee talent and integrate it with the traditional workforce to improve the way work gets done, has become an important strategic goal. As a result, the digital and on-demand staffing technology market has grown considerably over the past several years.

Ardent Partners’ research has discovered that the utilization of “talent marketplace” solutions has increased more than 700% since 2015. As we proceed through a global pandemic, an uncertain corporate landscape has placed a premium on finding solutions that can drive alignment between dynamic enterprise requirements and available, vetted, and skilled talent. Enter “digital staffing,” that can enable hiring managers to tap into talent pools and on-demand talent networks while also supporting direct sourcing initiatives. These digital staffing marketplaces are the focus of this report.

(In its research and for the purposes of this report, Ardent Partners defines “marketplaces” as the enterprise-grade solutions that facilitate real-time and on-demand talent engagement with independent, freelance, or contract workers via a web-based network or portal. Talent marketplaces typically offer “white-glove” or high-touch talent management services (akin to Managed Service Providers) to help their clients source the best-fit talent for their project requirements as well as the automation of core workforce management processes (such as requisition management, talent pool development, and back-end financial operations).

The Future of Work Exchange is excited to announce the publication of the 2021 Digital Staffing and Talent Marketplaces Technology Advisor report is now available. The Technology Advisor is designed to help procurement, HR, human capital, and talent acquisition executives navigate the digital recruitment and talent marketplace landscape. This new report will assist executives and professionals understand this evolving solutions landscape and help them find, engage, and source top-tier talent and skillsets.

Download your copy of this critical new research study, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions regarding the new report, the digital staffing technology landscape, how to find the best-fit talent marketplace for your organization, etc.

 

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Continuing its Unlimited Evolution, PRO Unlimited Announces Acquisition by EQT Partners

Contingent WorkforceDirect SourcingDiversity and InclusionHRProcurementSolution ProvidersTalentTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Earlier this week, contingent workforce management (CWM) solution PRO Unlimited announced that it has partnered with EQT Partners, who will acquire the company from Harvest Partners and Investcorp. When the acquisition officially closes in the second half of 2021, EQT Private Equity will be the majority shareholder, with Harvest Partners continuing as a large shareholder and management retaining a minority stake in the company.

This major transaction follows a year of aggressive market activity by the veteran MSP and VMS suite of solutions, which has undergone a seismic transformation since mid-2020. A longtime leader in the CWM technology arena, PRO continues to deliver on its promise to reimagine the end-to-end offerings of its core services and automation and become a true “platform” for agile workforce management activity.

“The team at EQT has been following the macro trends around the world of talent and work. They, much like us, see the contingent workforce segment growing at a rapid rate and becoming more and more strategic,” said Kevin Akeroyd, CEO of PRO Unlimited. “PRO was uniquely positioned here because we have the technology, the data, the analytics, coupled with the people / service assets in place, which has been a cornerstone of our MSP business, to not only satisfy the elements of what enterprises need today to manage their agile talent, but also having all of those critical elements inside the same platform.”

In several discussions with Akeroyd over the past several months, PRO’s CEO outlined an assertive range of objectives that mainly included a technological revamp, more dedicated offerings within the diversity and inclusion arena, and on-demand facilitation of data, intelligence, and workforce agility. The acquisition by EQT will allow PRO’s executive team to capitalize on an evolving market while enabling quicker time-to-market for burgeoning offerings for SOW/services procurement and direct sourcing, as well as its unique RatePoint solution.

“This is going to allow PRO to do what we want to do much faster and on a larger, global stage,” Akeroyd told CPO Rising. “EQT didn’t come here to change us or alter the fundamentals of who we are or what we want to accomplish. The vision that we had last year (becoming an end-to-end platform for all things contingent labor) can be realized much quicker with the investment from EQT.”

Historically, PRO Unlimited has not been known for major M&A activity, but that line of thinking changed when Akeroyd joined the organization last year, setting off a string of market-shifting moves that positioned the veteran solution for a major transformation in the months afterwards.

“Our organization went nearly 30 years without a major acquisition. It wasn’t until recently [Editor’s note: PRO acquired PeopleTicker and the Brainnet Group in 2020 and 2021, respectively] that the company started to shift its acquisition strategy,” Akeroyd said. “With EQT as a partner, we can accelerate M&A activity much more aggressively. If we need to buy, we can do that. If we need to build, they’ll support us. And we’ll have the power to partner with those solutions that are complementary to PRO’s end-to-end suite.”

The acquisition is certainly timely, as upcoming Ardent Partners research finds that the agile workforce continues to grow in size, impact, utilization, and prominence: nearly 47% of the average organization’s total workforce is now considered “extended” or “non-employee,” reinforcing the notion that businesses require more comprehensive, dynamic tools to effectively converge traditional aspects of contingent workforce management with the deeper elements (such as direct sourcing, services procurement, etc.) required to maximize the inherent value of the agile workforce.

“The contingent workforce is going to lead the economic recovery. If you look at the numbers and employment data regarding traditional workers and FTEs, they aren’t going up…but the agile workforce is,” said Akeroyd. “The Global 2000 enterprise is alive and well, and they’re largely thriving in this market due to their reliance on white-collar, remote, highly-skilled extended talent. PRO is enabling the average enterprise to achieve this level of success on the contingent workforce front; we are a leader in this solutions industry and what EQT has done is allow us to be a bigger, more impactful part of how businesses harness the power of their agile workforce across the globe.”

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Future of Work Friday: A Collection of Thoughts

Business LeadershipDiversity and InclusionHRTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

From time-to-time, it’s beneficial to take a moment to collect random thoughts regarding the Future of Work movement, since there’s so many varied pieces of the complex, evolving puzzle that is the world of talent and work. It’s been a whirlwind year thus far (can you believe it’s already JUNE!?), but the next six months promise to be even more impactful when business leaders think about talent, their workforce, and how work gets done.

  • This week, CNN reported that although unemployment rates are at their lowest since before the pandemic hit, there are still over 8 million job vacancies across the country. Retail, hospitality, light industrial, restaurants, etc. are the particular industries where the vast majority of these roles are open. Much of the discussion revolves around the deeper conversation of wage and compensation (and rightfully so), however, businesses in these sectors should seriously consider direct sourcing as an avenue to get candidates into the door, even if they’re not for full-time/longer-term positions.
  • My wife has worked in the veterinary industry for nearly 20 years. Over the past year, this industry has faced their biggest mass exodus of workers in its history. The main culprit? Employee burnout. Hospitals are so short-staffed that many roles in veterinary medicine, from doctors to specialists to veterinary technicians, are clocking incredible hours, all the while dealing with pandemic restrictions (clients not allowed into the building, hospital employees must come outside and retrieve animals, etc.). This is not the only industry in which its workers are facing extreme burnout. While much of the focus of the past year has been on the rollercoaster of boom-or-bust workforce scalability, business leaders should never forget that the biggest piece of the overall talent experience is whether or not its workers are running on fumes. Worker mental health and well-being should be at the top of the priority list when it comes to how executives manage their total workforce.
  • Last year, Ardent Partners predicted that the global business landscape would experience a sharp uptick in the utilization of non-employee labor as a direct result of the pandemic’s sweeping organizational ramifications. Going into 2020, 43.5% of the average organization’s total workforce was considered “contingent.” Today, that number sits at 46.5% and promises to grow as the transformation of talent and work continues. Furthermore, 82% of businesses direct state that the challenging times of 2020 created a bigger need for extended and non-employee talent. If there is one thing that the past 12 months has revealed, it is that workforce scalability is essentially linked to economic survival in the now-chaotic, hyper-competitive world of global business.
  • In mid-March 2020, safety took precedence over anything else in regard to traditional workplace environments across the world. Stay-at-home advisories, social distancing recommendations, and curfews/lockdowns ruled the day and forced businesses to push the vast majority (or all, in some cases) of its workers into a remote setup. I’ve been reading so many articles recently that state that the hybrid model (mix of in-person and remote work) won’t survive past the end of the pandemic. Well, these pundits couldn’t be more incorrect. Ardent’s research finds that businesses are expected to double the amount of its staff working remotely moving forward, a factor which not only takes into accounts the productivity and efficiency gains experienced over the past year via remote and distributed teams, but also the incredible flexibility that these setups offer.
  • Ninety-three percent (94%) of business leaders in Ardent’s upcoming State of Contingent Workforce Management 2021 research study stated that their agile or extended workforce is a critical and strategic facet of their organization. If anyone ever had doubts about its continued growth, this finding should alleviate that concern. By the end of 2022, nearly half of the global total workforce will be considered agile/contingent/extended.
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