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When Does “The Great Staff Shortage” End?

Business LeadershipHRTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

This past weekend, my wife and I traveled over two hours north to meet family for an apple-picking trip (perhaps the best of the fall activities? A debate for another day.). On the way there, my two kids asked for a quick lunch. Our chicken-nugget-obsessed five-year-old insisted we hit the Wendy’s drive-through on the edges of our town.

After waiting in the drive-through lane for around 15 minutes, we ordered our lunch and again waited in line. When we finally made it to the window, I noticed something stunning: the manager of the restaurant was taking orders, filling those orders, passing the orders through the window, and also taking care of the kitchen. That’s one managerial position, with possibly a cook hidden where we could not see, handling what nine or ten employees (or more!) would cover during a typical weekend lunch rush at a popular fast-food spot.

Similar staffing shortages are happening all across industries and sectors, some facing severe coverage crisis issues that threaten to undermine revenue, customer satisfaction, and how internal operations are run. The gaps in today’s workforce are caused by a combination of several factors, including compensation standoffs, a refusal from workers to return to unsafe conditions, uncertainty about career paths, etc. The end of federally-augmented unemployment benefits have frequently been blamed for staff shortages, however, this is only one sliver of many issues that are happening right now in the world of work. The hard truth is that there is no single solution for global shortages, and, considering the complexities of specific verticals, there may be several ways that things ultimately take a better turn in the remaining months of 2021.

And to add to these challenges, there are cascading effects from certain industries that impact others: if daycare facilities have to turn away new registrations (or cut back on existing numbers of children) due to shortages in staff, then that makes it incredibly difficult for large pockets of workers to find roles in traditionally-9-to-5 businesses. Too, many restaurants, retail shops, and similar businesses in accommodations and food service find that the combination of lack of childcare and standoffs regarding wages and working conditions are leading to millions of unfilled jobs.

The pandemic’s continued case impact is also a factor, as well: hospitals and healthcare facilities are certainly strained by overfilled ICUs, but employee burnout has been a major contributor to shortages within those industries. Eighteen straight months of critical care pressure, 60- and 70-hour workweeks, and concerns over falling ill have driven healthcare staff to the brink of complete burnout. Veterinary medicine facilities may not have to deal with human COVID patients, however, the rise in pet adoption in conjunction with severe staff shortages of specially-trained technicians and other roles are leading these units to defer emergency care during overnight hours and asking veteran and trained staff to perform multiple tasks (as well as putting in the same ridiculous hours that nurses are currently supporting in human medicine).

So, when does the deadlock break? When do businesses get back to a steady state of employment? When do these staff shortages end? Well, there is no easy answer, as there are myriad issues that must be addressed, such as:

  • Worker safety and health concerns. “Hot Vax Summer” turned into a “Delta Variant Summer” pretty quickly and will continue into the fall months, considering that kids are back in school, many states and countries are relaxing guidelines, and one-in-four Americans still haven’t received a single vaccine dose. Workers are hesitant to return to conditions that endanger their health; in addition, public-facing employees do not want to contend with customers that flout mask mandates and put others at risk. This is a perfect public health storm that cascades into the business realm…and if this issue isn’t addressed, these jobs are going to stay open.
  • Pay disparities. Much like the real estate market traverses between the power of the “seller” versus the power of the “buyer,” employers and workers are in a standoff over wage disparities. Much to the chagrin of businesses, it’s a job candidate’s market at the moment, which many hourly workers fighting for higher living wages and better working conditions. This is essentially what is happening in retail, food service, and similar sectors that survive on the hourly, shift-based workforce. Who “blinks” here? When does one side cave to the other? Well, it’s more than just increasing hourly pay, because workers desire other, non-compensatory benefits, such as…
  • The flexibility factor. Many industries were thrust into remote and virtual work environments out of necessity and haven’t looked back. Others are beginning to implement rigid workplace structures that are reminiscent of pre-pandemic times and workers want nothing of the sort. Working parents desire flexibility to handle childcare issues and school after-care, while other workers want to be able to mix in remote days with in-office/in-person days. These are items that are just as, if not more, important than wage issues.
  • The childcare domino effect. If daycare facilities are facing staff shortages and shrink their headcount, that means significant numbers of working parents have to choose between a job and a stay-at-home mom/dad position. The childcare domino effect is a very, very critical piece of the staff shortages occurring today. Pumping more federal dollars into this sector could be helpful (which is why the Biden Administration is allocating so much of its American Families Plan to shoring up these issues), but there is always a fundamental challenge for countless other industries if childcare staffing continues its incredible shortage.
  • Evolving candidate career paths. The pandemic caused many, many professionals to reevaluate their positions and question their career choices. Millions of workers realized that engagement was a key piece of their careers and will accept nothing less in future positions. Those that are still straddling the sidelines and searching for new opportunities are looking at workplace culture, leadership opportunities, reskilling and upskilling opportunities, and flexibility as equally as important as compensation for open positions. It’s not just a one-size-fits-all game anymore for the labor market; higher wages aren’t going to cut it for talent that wants so much more of their next role.

Much like “The Great Resignation” is still a recurring theme in the world of work, “The Great Staff Shortage” is going to continue making headlines over the next several months. Whether or not there is a true breaking point will be the difference in a 2022 that sees both businesses and its workers on steady ground and engaged with each other, or, a continuation of the continued workforce challenges of the past nine months.

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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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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 Permanence of Workplace and Workforce Transformation

Business LeadershipGeneral InsightsHRTalentTalent Acquisition by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Around this time last year, there was a spirit of optimism that had been missing for over six months. The waning weeks of 2020’s winter brought disruption like never before, with the spring months forever etched into our minds as a period of uncertainty, fear, and anxiety. The summer of 2020 brought a sliver of hope that coronavirus cases would recede in anticipation of a better fall. We unfortunately know how the story goes from there: inching cases from September through the end of November brought one of the globe biggest’s winter surge before millions of COVID vaccines were administered through the late weeks of winter 2021 and through the spring. And yes, now we’re living a Delta variant world, but there’s at least some science-led expectancy that its enhanced transmissibility will result in a shorter surge than the ones earlier in the year.

If we look back to last summer, though, for just a moment, there was an aura of variability that sparked a temporary wave of thinking in how businesses managed their workforce and structured their workplace environments. “At some point, hopefully soon, we’ll get back to normal.” We’ve been saying it for months since then, hoping that there will be some sort of signal that it’s okay to get back to full office, cluttered highways, and crowded meeting rooms. Maybe there’ll be a point in time when those carefree, pre-pandemic days will once again be a steadfast reality, right?

Wrong.

If there’s anything that we should be discussing now, it’s the permanence of transformation. The pandemic left an indelible mark on how we get work done, from the way we engage talent to the means of aligning skillsets with specific roles and projects. In our personal worlds, we think, act, and move differently. Even those of us who are vaccinated routinely wear masks in grocery stores and other crowded areas. While there will absolutely be a day that we can battle COVID as an endemic piece of our seasonal virus gauntlet (much like the flu or the common cold), the truth is that we are all different from the collective experience of the past 18 months, which will soon be “the past two years” and then the “past 36 months.” We’re looking at a future of on-and-off mask mandates, vaccine boosters, and “embers” of hotspots where inoculation is low. We’re standing up against a continued fight against a “goldilocks” of a virus that will be with us forever.

That modicum of permanence, that we’ve been fundamentally changed…why can’t we accept that in how we conduct business? Do we really think that there will be a day sometime soon when we throw out all of the productivity gains we’ve seen from a shift to remote work? What about the realization that businesses can effectively engage top-tier talent no matter the location? And is there a point in time when enterprises suddenly stop relying on the extended workforce?

Well, no, of course not. Which means that the evolution we’ve collectively experienced as business professionals over the past 18 months is permanent, a series of uniform changes to how we think about talent and how we think about how work gets done. Consider that:

  • Nearly half (47%) of the total workforce is considered “non-employee,” another sharp increase from the year before and likely a result of the workforce agility gained from tapping into this on-demand, top-tier talent.
  • 75% of businesses state that the pandemic forced them to reimagine how they apply skillsets to projects and how they structure their workforce.
  • 70% of enterprises believe that the extended workforce effectively allowed them to be more adaptive during the challenging times of 2020.
  • 82% of businesses expect worker flexibility and related issues (such as empathy) to permanently transform how work is done.

Look at how fast the past year-and-a-half went by and the major talent/work shifts during that time period: remote and hybrid work as fundamental layers of survival, executive leaders managing with empathy and flexibility, the agile workforce becoming even more of a tool for thriving in changing times, etc. Change can be relative in most cases, but today, it is certainly not. We’ve all collectively experienced change in our personal and professional lives, and now the permanence of workforce and workplace transformation needs to be embraced as the current and future state of work. Businesses that don’t adapt and don’t buy into the foundational revolution of change will not only be left behind, but may find themselves never being able to catch up. Everything that’s happened in the greater world of work and talent, be it the viability of hybrid work or the massive shift to worker flexibility, is part of a permanent fixture of change and progression.

Workers understand what’s at stake and it’s the main reason why resignations are at an all-time high in the scope of business history. Worker experience (what we call the “talent experience” here at FOWX) is paramount for career development and work/life balance. Flexibility has cascaded down into the very fabric of the workforce and will forever become a crucial piece of the overall talent experience.

Given the uptick in extended talent utilization, the workforce has changed. Given the uptick in remote and hybrid work, the workplace has changed. Given the requirements and criticality of flexibility and the employee experience, the worker has changed. Permanently.

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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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The Transformation of the Agile Workforce

Contingent WorkforceDirect SourcingHRSolution ProvidersTalentTalent Acquisition by Christopher J. Dwyer on

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 impact on business and human interaction. Going into 2020, 43.5% of the average organization’s total workforce was considered “contingent.” In 2021, that number sits at nearly 47%, and there are strong indications that this percentage will grow as the transformation of talent and work continues forward.

Additionally, 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 12 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 the work done by the trusted FTE workers, and a range of services and other recruitment streams to build, in real time, a dynamic response to a crucial enterprise initiative. The contingent workforce has become the foundation of workforce scalability, and rightfully so: businesses that survived 2020 and look forward to thriving in the second half of 2021 are actively harnessing the dynamic power of the agile workforce to get work done.

I recently had the pleasure of joining LiveHire and their Executive Vice President, Karen Gonzalez, for a webinar focused on the transformation of the agile workforce and why direct sourcing and talent pools represent a revolutionary means for businesses to transform the way they engage with and leverage top-tier, unique, and in-demand talent and skillsets. Check out an on-demand replay of the event below.

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Guiding Principles for The Future of Work

Business LeadershipContingent WorkforceHRSolution ProvidersTalentTalent AcquisitionTechnology and Innovation by Featured Contributor on

[Editor’s Note: Today’s article is a guest contribution from Sunil Bagai, CEO of Prosperix.]

When describing the Future of Work, it’s worth keeping in mind a quote from the sci-fi author William Gibson: “The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed.”  Over the past two decades, we’ve all seen industries transformed by technology – travel agencies barely exist anymore, taxis are in a battle with Uber and Lyft for their very existence, and we can purchase virtually anything from groceries to cars online. Travel, transportation, commerce, and entertainment, have all become infinitely more frictionless (and often more affordable) experiences.

All of these examples occurred in established industries that had seen sustained success – and stagnation of technology and business innovation. Many players in those industries were utterly caught by surprise and got left behind. Their customers abandoned them, and why wouldn’t they? It’s not just the application of data and technology to solve problems that’s changed – our perceptions of what’s possible need to change as well.

For businesses to evolve from where they are today to where they aspire to be in the future, they must think and act differently. To help businesses realize their highest potential and deliver meaningful impact, they need new ways of building and managing a thriving workforce.

The world of hiring, and contingent hiring in particular, has been a world of silos and limited data for a long time. That’s led to a particular view of contingent hiring, one that’s full of inefficiencies and process issues. Ferrying data between an ATS, VMS, Talent CRM, and other solutions leads to leakage and an inability to treat hiring as a holistic process. As technology solutions continue to merge traditionally siloed functionality, a world of possibility is opened up for the future of work. Below are some of the principles that guide us at Prosperix, that we believe will create a future that leads to prosperity for all of the stakeholders in the hiring ecosystem.

  • Empowerment – This principle has two components. One is that a seamless candidate experience needs to be an integral part of the hiring process. We’re moving from a model where candidates are out of the loop to one where candidates feel like they are a part of the process, leading to better outcomes. Additionally, a commitment to foster equal and democratized access to opportunities and growth, while uplifting those in need of greater assistance, is the path to a future where everyone prospers.
  • Alignment – Alignment between hiring managers, talent acquisition teams, talent suppliers and candidates is enabled by technology solutions that unite formerly disparate systems. When stakeholders are not focused on solving process issues, they are able to think strategically about their hiring program.
  • Ecosystem – A culture and environment that fosters balance, sustainability and harmony amongst all stakeholders, with keen understanding that prosperity for each member benefits the whole and there is a necessary inter-dependency that requires a high level of compassion, cooperation and collaboration to thrive individually and collectively.
  • Diversity – Valuing diversity recognizes differences between people and acknowledges that these differences are not only a valued asset, but a necessity to achieving great results and outcomes. Diversity occurs when systems are designed thoughtfully to be inclusive and access is democratized, allowing anyone of any background and status to succeed and attain prosperity. Diversity can also provide greater choice and variety in options and opportunities.
  • Transparency – Transparency enables greater visibility, accountability and allows for fixing of inequities by sharing information openly amongst stakeholders. Fostering a transparent environment, as opposed to a siloed process structure, increases trust and partnership over time.
  • Flexibility – In a fast-changing world, there is greater need for solutions that are dynamic, agile, adaptive and can meet the needs of the moment by being responsive and nimble. Flexibility ensures that organizations can thrive in the most challenging of times because resilience and elasticity are designed-in as foundational elements.
  • Innovation – The world is changing exponentially. To stay relevant and thrive in this fast-changing dynamic, it is essential to embrace innovation. The right innovation is a tremendous catalyst for growth and prosperity as well as facilitates resilience from the ongoing turbulence of a constantly changing environment.

The future is already here, it’s just not everywhere yet. To learn more about our vision for the Future of Work, reach out to us at solutions@prosperix.com.

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Preparing for Tomorrow’s Workforce

Contingent WorkforceHRTalent by Featured Contributor on

[Editor’s Note: Today’s article is a guest contribution from Neha Goel, Vice President of Marketing at Utmost.]

Tomorrow’s workforce is changing at a pace we have not experienced in past decades. The pandemic expedited what was already happening in the market: emerging technologies leading to automation and digital transformations; the desire for flexibility in how and where people work; a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I); and globalization. It’s become clear organizations require a shift in how they think about and manage their entire workforce.

The Future of Work, which Ardent Partners defines as work optimization via the transformation of business operations, talent usage, seamless and comprehensive workforce management solutions, and flexible enterprise thinking, requires a change in how companies are tracking, managing, accessing, engaging, and reporting (i.e., spend, worker type, performance) on talent at an enterprise level.

Disparate systems make it difficult for companies to have visibility into their entire workforce. Even if an organization has a vendor management system (VMS) to track their contingent labor, they support as little as 10% of the total external workforce, which is now made up of project-based workers, freelancers, independent contractors, gig workers, and outsourced resources not captured in a VMS.

The Time is Now

As the non-employee utilization rate nears half of the total workforce (nearly 47% of the total workforce, according to Ardent), and more than 80% of large corporations planning on substantially increasing their use of a flexible workforce in the coming years, the time to prepare is now. The fastest-growing part of the workforce is the one that is currently not being tracked, which poses huge challenges for organizations.

This impacts activities like on/offboarding, classification, tenure, performance, payment, and reporting if only a portion of your total workforce is captured in your current ERP, VMS, and project-management tools. More importantly, it becomes impossible to assess and engage your total workforce in a scalable way without a single system of truth.

The Workforce is Changing

By 2025, 75% of the workforce will be made up of millennials — the most diverse group in American history, with 44.2% identifying as “non-white.” This should be a wake-up call for organizations who are not putting their DE&I initiatives at the top of their priority list. Having a platform that allows organizations to easily access, attract, retain, and report on diversity measures to meet their goals is crucial.

Millennials are also the first “digitally-native generation,” according to Pew Research, which means they expect to interact with work in the same way they interact in other aspects of their lives like ordering meals, rides, movies, and other services. They are demanding flexibility, engagement, diversity, career advancement, and a cultural fit regardless of how they are employed — be it full-time or contingent.

Future-Proof Technology

Together, all of these factors require organizations implement a technology platform built for the extended workforce. This can mean anything from connecting to new sourcing channels in an agile way to configurable back-end processes to managing distributed teams in a worker-centric way.

Utmost helps organizations fully engage and optimize their entire extended workforce. Built as a native application on the Workday Cloud Platform, Utmost provides a seamless experience for Workday customers to gain full visibility into their changing workforce composition, quality, and spend in an agile and scalable manner.

We believe the Future of Work is getting “the most from your all,” meaning the enterprise is getting the most out of its workforce, and talent has all the tools in place from their employer to bring their best selves to work. We believe this combination will set organizations, and their most significant competitive advantage, their talent, up for success.

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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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Beeline’s Tech Expo Reinforces the Growth and Impact of the Extended Workforce

Contingent WorkforceHRSolution ProvidersTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Going into 2020, 43.5% of the average company’s workforce was considered “non-employee,” a figure that was vastly larger than it was only several years ago. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated many of the Future of Work movement’s most transformational attributes, including a renewed focus on digital transformation, diversity and inclusion, direct sourcing, and workforce agility. Today’s extended workforce, representing nearly 47% of the total workforce, has become a force unto it own, pushing businesses into a new realm of work optimization that promises to forever alter the alignment between talent and corporate initiatives.

Veteran Vendor Management System (VMS) provider Beeline has long been an innovator in the contingent workforce management (CWM) solutions arena, bringing progressive technology to an industry that continues to evolve in the face of incredible market shifts. Last week, the organization hosted its Technology Expo, which featured a series of demonstrations of its core product line and some early peeks at newer offerings, as well as a firm reinforcement of its recently-unveiled Extended Workforce Platform. (Check out our coverage of this recent news 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. Tweaking its name just slightly to include “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 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.

Beeline’s dedication to the technological revolution happening within the world of talent and work was on display during last week’s Expo, including remarks by longtime CEO Doug Leeby regarding “where” the company was in relation to the market’s powerful transformation. “Doesn’t matter how you get paid…in the end, it’s all about people,” said Leeby. “There’s myopia when we think about what VMS is, and we’re so much more than that. Resource tracking, SOW, contingent labor…those pieces are all vital. We just want to be a piece of something greater that has total focus on the individual and the talent.”

One of the highlights of the expo was the “high-volume workforce” session (led by frequent Contingent Workforce Weekly podcast guest Brian Hoffmeyer), which recapped Beeline’s recent acquisition of JoinedUp and how the new solution will help businesses better facilitate and manage its shift-based workforce. Beeline also reaffirmed its dedication to Future of Work movement attribute diversity, equity, and inclusion, with discussions around its deep Diverse Talent Cloud (DTC) offering (partnering with The Mom Project).

As businesses navigate the “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.

“Every person, given the right opportunity, has the potential for greatness,” said Leeby. “We want to put a spotlight on that talent. Every business, given the right talent, can truly drive great outcomes.”

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