What is the answer? Enter the world of digital credentials.

A Digitized, Verifiable Professional Profile

At the foundational level, candidates convert their professional profiles into digitized and verifiable credentials that enterprises access quickly and securely when recruiting or promoting staff. In today’s aggressive labor market, having digital credentials is a competitive differentiator in the workforce. It separates a candidate’s application from random submissions, thus streamlining the selection process and generating cost savings for the hiring enterprise through greater efficiencies.

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Unconscious Bias Lives in Us All

To quell unconscious bias, one must understand it first to later recognize its presence. The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) defines unconscious biases as “social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. Everyone holds unconscious beliefs about various social and identity groups, and these biases stem from one’s tendency to organize social worlds by categorizing.” Unconscious biases include affinity bias, confirmation bias, conformity bias, and gender bias.

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Today, there are several providers of AI-based tools for optimizing the direct sourcing of extended workers. One of the most recognizable and popular tools is chatbots. This technology has evolved significantly over the years from a more scripted application to one of conversational AI realization. Through developments in natural language processing, users have a difficult time recognizing whether it’s a human or a bot they’re interacting with.

How are chatbots contributing to efficiencies in direct sourcing efforts? It’s occurring in several ways, allowing HR, business managers, and recruiters to focus on more strategic aspects of total talent management initiatives.

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The embrace and utilization of AI technologies is proving transformational for HR professionals and their industry. According to Sameer Maskey, founder and CEO for Fusemachines, and adjunct associate professor at Columbia University, in a Forbes article, “Clearly, AI is primed to disrupt the HR industry as we know it. In fact, with AI, HR teams are poised to serve as a critical and strategic ‘talent insights engine’ of an organization,” he says.

“However, this advancement requires HR professionals to do more than just embrace the technology to unlock automation-powered efficiencies and data-driven decisions. It requires them to identify novel applications of AI, such as a virtual recruiter, or employ simulated AI-augmented work settings for recruitment that will increase the efficiency of the HR team even further. Doing this will take candidate and employee engagement to a whole new level,” Maskey adds.

While HR is reaping the benefits of AI for such automated tasks such as payroll and benefits administration — essential responsibilities of HR — there are even greater strategic opportunities to truly revolutionize core talent acquisition and talent management areas.

AI Elevates Direct Sourcing Strategies and Employee Retention Execution

AI tools and machine learning algorithms are aiding HR professionals in streamlining workforce processes across the enterprise. The following are several areas where AI can bring immediate value to human resources and provide valuable insights into workplace strategy and dynamics.

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The Background

During The Great Recession of 2007-2008, an era that Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange pegged as “The Perfect Storm” event which triggered the first big spike in utilization of contingent labor, businesses experienced first-hand the ultimate value and impact of non-employee talent. In the span of less than 18 months, the average contingent workforce penetration rate exploded from 10%-to-12% to upwards of 18%.

In the years since, what we now call “the extended workforce” represents not only the future of talent, but, truly, the Future of Work. With nearly half (49.8%) of the typical organization’s total talent comprised of contingent workers at this point in 2024, the very realm of contingent workforce management has traversed beyond a tactical, manual-laden series of tasks into a truly strategic force that sits in the center of a new world of work and talent.

From skills-based hiring and direct sourcing to diverse staffing and forward-thinking, Future of Work-oriented functionality, the contemporary extended workforce necessitates next-generation automation that can fuel total talent intelligence and help realize the definitive value of non-employee talent.

Enter Beeline.

Why They Were Selected

Beeline represents the veritable evolution of extended workforce solutions through its powerful array of artificial intelligence-led functionality, robust services procurement offerings, agile analytics and reporting, and longtime commitment to talent technology innovation.

Beeline has not just revolutionized the facets of contingent workforce technology, though. Beeline Acuity is one of the industry’s most groundbreaking talent intelligence tools: it is an innovative workforce analytics and compliance engine that integrates disparate data from multiple sources into a cohesive view to provide a complete picture of an organization’s workforce.

Acuity’s place alongside the solution’s extended workforce platform (itself a giant leap from traditional VMS automation), its Best-in-Class services procurement/SOW module, and other key offerings (such as the mid-market-focused Beeline Professional and its digital staffing powerhouse, JoinedUp), is a welcome addition to a Future of Work-era provider that continues to be talent-centric, humanity-led, and innovation-driven.

In Their Own Words

“At Beeline, we are honored to be recognized by Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange as a leader in shaping the Future of Work. This accolade reflects our commitment to innovation and our dedication to driving meaningful transformation. As the workforce evolves, so must our approach—moving away from the traditional ‘command and control’ model toward one focused on enablement and oversight. AI plays a crucial role in this shift, empowering organizations to make smarter, faster decisions while amplifying the unique human qualities of judgment, creativity, and empathy. At Beeline, we see AI as the catalyst for unlocking the true potential of the external workforce.” – Colleen Tiner, Chief Product Officer at Beeline

The Outlook

True AI integrated into end-to-end automation? Check. Firm commitment to extended workforce innovation? Check. Candidate- and human-centric solution design that is aligned with the new, progressive era of work and talent? Check. Beeline’s VMS and extended workforce functionality is, and will continue to be, synonymous with the Future of Work movement.

The post The FOWX Fifteen: Beeline appeared first on The Future of Work Exchange.

• The true adoption and utilization of artificial intelligence within today’s extended workforce programs, hiring strategies, and talent acquisition initiatives.
• The link between AI and skills-based hiring.
• How businesses can move from an “education phase” to “adoption phase” for their AI initiatives.
• How AI can supercharge and optimize direct sourcing strategies.
• Why AI-fueled skills taxonomies are the foundation of a skills-based hiring approach.

Check out an on-demand replay of the webinar below.

The post Artificial Intelligence, Contingent Workforce Management, and the Future of Work (On-Demand Webinar) appeared first on The Future of Work Exchange.

No other industry is as impacted by the developments in the technology space as much as talent acquisition and workforce management. The advent and rapid deployment of artificial intelligence has absolutely transformed so many facets of both ordinary life and the business spectrum, however, its impact is ever-present in a world in which its many automated arms have the ability to revolutionize so many organizational attributes.

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At its core, digital staffing technology represents solutions that empower enterprises to hire freelance, independent, and contingent talent without the need for intermediary systems or suppliers. These solutions traverse beyond just the recruitment process; they encompass end-to-end workforce management, encompassing vital components such as project management, worker tracking, worker classification, compliance, and risk mitigation.

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One of the most significant drivers behind the rapid adoption of digital staffing technology is the pressing need for organizations to be more agile and adaptive in an ever-changing business landscape. The Gig Economy, remote work trends, and the desire for flexible talent solutions have all converged to make digital staffing technology a paramount consideration for forward-thinking enterprises.

These platforms provide companies with the agility to scale their workforce up or down as needed, ensuring they can swiftly adapt to market shifts or unforeseen challenges. Moreover, they grant organizations the power to tap into a global talent pool, unlocking an unprecedented level of diversity and expertise. In an era where talent is a critical competitive advantage (and often an enterprise’s top differentiator), these solutions empower businesses to secure the best-fit talent, regardless of geographical constraints.

The post Digital Staffing’s Impact on the Future of Work appeared first on The Future of Work Exchange.

Around the time the Future of Work Exchange was launched back in 2021, we coined a phrase that accurately reflects this movement: omni-channel talent acquisition. Omni-channel talent acquisition revolves around the concept of enterprises being enabled with a variety of candidate sources that can be converged to drive real-time skills alignment, on-demand hiring, and enhanced visibility into deeper attributes of candidates. While traditional staffing suppliers are still a critical piece of the contingent workforce, the “omni-channel experience” represents a new era in which enterprises can expand their talent searches through the advent of innovation, direct sourcing automation, new candidate channels, and next-generation and AI-fueled technology.

News broke this morning of a partnership between Beeline, a market leader in Vendor Management System (VMS) technology, and Upwork, a fellow market leader that is considered the world’s largest talent and work marketplace.

At the outset, this type of partnership is not just another notch in the talent technology ecosystem for either organization, but rather a powerful union between two industry powerhouses of talent innovation. The Upwork and Beeline partnership represents the latest shift in omni-channel talent acquisition, as well as a progression in workforce management.

“Managing a contingent workforce, inclusive of independent talent, presents complexities and challenges that can strain even the most sophisticated processes. These challenges include navigating compliance with local and international labor laws, ensuring visibility into the entire hiring lifecycle, and maintaining consistent hiring quality and efficiency across various departments,” said Zoë Diamadi, general manager of enterprise at Upwork. “Upwork’s partnerships with VMS and MSP platforms, such as Beeline, create a holistic solution to these challenges. We have integrated the modern, technology-fueled experience of Upwork’s platform and the world-class, independent talent on Upwork with the advanced technologies and solutions of VMS and MSP platforms.”

Here’s what the partnership means for the industry:

• It will optimize talent acquisition in a skills-based market. VMS has been a veritable “nexus” of extended workforce management for years, with ease-of-access to various channels of talent through staffing suppliers, private talent communities, and independent talent. The Beeline-Upwork integration will amp talent acquisition optimization to another level by providing contingent workforce programs with top-tier talent from the marketplace’s extensive network whilst enabling hiring managers with state-of-the-art, skills-centric candidate profiles and portfolios.
• “Agile hiring” creates more efficiencies for HR, procurement, and talent acquisition. Combining the dynamic power of two end-to-end, market-leading workforce solutions translates into truly flexible and agile hiring for recruiters, hiring managers, and HR and talent acquisition leaders, not to mention the executives running extended workforce programs. The age of real-time talent acquisition is here and the Beeline-Upwork represents the ability to hire faster, better, and smarter, creating a wealth of efficiencies for business functions.
• The partnership reinforces the strategic and technological advantages of omni-channel talent acquisition. As stated above, the Beeline-Upwork partnership is more than “digital staffing meets VMS.” The age of omni-channel talent acquisition is here and this union reflects both its strategic advantages (greater access to skilled talent, streamlined hiring, etc.) and technological advantages (skills-based hiring-fueled talent decisions, AI-enabled matching, end-to-end automation, etc.).

“Access to a large and diverse talent pool that is filled with candidates that hold a variety of skillsets is key to the success of any contingent workforce program,” said Brian Hoffmeyer, SVP of Market Strategies at Beeline. “I’m an Upwork user myself and I know first-hand how great their platform is. Those facts make me thrilled to launch this partnership, and, more importantly, excited about the benefits it will offer to our mutual clients.”

The post Shaping the Future of Work: Beeline and Upwork’s Omni-Channel Approach appeared first on The Future of Work Exchange.

CWM Optimization Through Artificial Intelligence

Through artificial intelligence, enterprises can harness the value of structured and unstructured data to streamline contingent workforce management decision-making. AI also opens the door to new user experiences to better attract, acquire, and retain top-performing talent and improve operational execution — all leading to cost savings. Using prescriptive analytics for CWM optimization is an evolving but critical piece of AI strategy. While artificial intelligence has existed for a decade or more, the wider scope of its capabilities is only now being utilized.

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