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Fractional Executives Filling Critical Leadership Gaps

Business LeadershipGeneral InsightsTalentTalent Acquisition by John Yuva on

The Future of Work is shaped by several evolving workplace trends. We’ve spoken about many of them on The Future of Work Exchange and CPO Rising websites. Today, in part one of two, we’re exploring the topic of the fractional executive — a game-changing role for organizations lacking executive expertise.

The fractional executive serves as a flexible and on-demand approach to talent acquisition. Whether it’s a role such as a chief marketing officer (CMO) or chief procurement officer (CPO), businesses now have scalable talent options to execute critical programs and initiatives.

Consider the fractional CPO. Small- to medium-sized enterprises (those with less than $50 million in revenue) that lack a mature or formal procurement department can source the services of a fractional CPO who provides similar expertise as a permanent executive but at a lower cost. Whether it’s a part-time or project-based position, businesses can secure this essential role and its associated insights, making it attainable for any sized organization. A fractional CPO can deliver a variety of benefits, including:

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

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Talent Experts on FOWX — Trends and Strategies in 2024

Business LeadershipGeneral InsightsPodcastSolution ProvidersTalentTechnology and InnovationUncategorized by John Yuva on

Our “Talent Expert Series” on FOWX features podcast excerpts of today’s Future of Work thought leaders who appear on The Future of Work Exchange Podcast. The series continues with an excerpt from Season 7, Episode 14 featuring Jen Torney, Global Vice President of Client Experience and Partnerships for Talent Solution TAPFIN, and Brian Hoffmeyer, SVP of Market Strategies for Beeline, as they discuss talent trends and strategies for 2024.

Click to listen to the full interview. Note that this excerpt has been edited for readability.

Chris Dwyer: Jen and Brian, thank you so much for joining me today. Before we jump into 2024, what surprised you most about 2023?

Brian Hoffmeyer: Good question. It means you think we’ve been doing this for so long that nothing surprises us anymore. One interesting thing is that Beeline is pushing heavily into what we call the mid-market, which are smaller companies with under a billion in corporate revenue. What’s been surprising and educational are the needs of mid-market companies and how similar they are to larger enterprises we’ve worked with around contingent labor. The mid-market is using more contingent labor and looking to balance cost, quality, and how long it takes to find people. So, there are similarities there. Equally interesting is how the mid-market is looking for this very turnkey, fast-to-deploy, nimble solution. That’s been very educational for everyone.

Jen Torney: Those are great points, Brian. Two things surprised me most. The first was a disappointment. With the legislation we saw in 2023 around affirmative action and the pace of change around diversity, the attention toward it is evolving. Thankfully, there are a lot of champions in the industry making sure there’s still a focus on diversity.

The second was the chaos of the economy and the impact on our clients’ workforces. There were layoffs, then rehiring, then layoffs. It’s never been that unpredictable. It was a lot of change, which shouldn’t be all that surprising with the last couple of years we’ve had. But the unpredictability that happened was interesting.

CD: As we move through 2024, what are your biggest predictions for the year?

BH: We’re going to see real total talent management start to happen and I’m excited about that. I also believe we’re going to see an AI correction if you will, where companies are realizing that the providers they’re relying on are not using AI in the right way and exposing them to risk. And because areas like large language models (LLMs) are growing so quickly in a variety of industries, we can expect some form of regulation put around them. This is already occurring in the EU.

JT: I couldn’t agree more on the AI aspect. There’s a sort of false understanding of what providers are even doing with AI. There’s a lot of hyperbole. In terms of predictions, I’m going to throw my hat in the ring and say there won’t be a recession … but maybe a slow recovery. I may very well be wrong. It might still be a tricky year. I do think there’s going to be more mergers and acquisitions activity. We’re already seeing some acquisitions. In this type of economy, with the 2023 books closed, there will be more acquisitions in the market.  

CD: I have dual questions here. Where do both technology and services go in 2024? We’ll begin with Jen and managed services.   

JT: I’ll be so bold as to say some of the work we’ve been doing with our partners, Beeline specifically, will begin to converge and intertwine with what we do with our core technology partners. Some of the direction that MSPs are going is becoming more outcome-based focused and less processing management. We have so much expertise to lend and truly believe that organizations are seeking advisory direction and support — particularly on supply and procurement strategy. In addition to recommending a supplier, it’s more about how you are buying and understanding the right strategy to engage and achieve the most value for what you’re trying to drive toward. That’s going to be a big but slow shift.

BH: We’ve started this evolution of who Beeline is because of the new things we have rolling out. We have products that are available to serve parts of the market we have never had before. That will continue. It’s part of what we want to be, which is offering great experiences and products for every persona involved in contingent labor. We’re already doing that with Beeline Professional, our solution for the mid-market, as well as some of the work we’re doing with suppliers that I’m incredibly excited about.      

CD: We’ve talked about what surprised us and some 2024 predictions. Let’s close with what each of you would to see most in 2024 — not what you expect to happen — but what you would most like to see.

JT: I have two. The first is I’d like to see Beeline top its 80s party from the CWS Summit. Very much looking forward to that. My real honest answer, and not to sound beauty pageantry, is I’d love to see more world peace. 2023 was a volatile year concerning civil unrest. There’s nothing more I’d like to see than some of that quiet down. I know that’s probably not realistic to see it completely resolved, but that’s my utopian answer.

BH: Challenge accepted for the Beeline party. My answer was going to be similar. The word I’d use is normalcy. We had two-and-a-half years of the pandemic. And 2023 with economic uncertainty, the war in Ukraine for the last few years, and what’s going on in Gaza. We’re now in a year of a political presidential election cycle that’s going to be horrible, no matter what side you’re on. I would just like to see normalcy and civility. I’ve always loved the saying, “moderation in all things, including moderation.”

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Revisiting the Blueprint for Direct Sourcing Success

Direct Sourcing by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Over the past few years, direct sourcing has emerged as perhaps the hottest talent-led strategy in the world of both talent acquisition and contingent workforce management. In pre-pandemic times, businesses understood that expanding their talent engagement efforts on building internal talent communities (via enterprise-led “agencies” that eschewed middle entities like staffing suppliers) was a powerful way to infuse new skillsets into the greater organization. During the pandemic, direct sourcing served as a robust means of keeping candidates engaged during uncertain times and augmenting workforce scalability. Today, direct sourcing represents the very future of talent acquisition.

With an ever-increasing number of talent channels, including digital staffing marketplaces, traditional staffing vendors, professional services, talent networks, and social media platforms, the ability to match project requirements with available skillsets has never been easier. However, it has also never been more competitive or difficult.  Businesses that harness the power of direct sourcing and talent pools have the ability to develop an agile workforce which can be the key differentiator needed to advance and grow in a marketplace that rewards dynamic, talent-led responses to new business pressures and challenges…especially what could be ahead as 2023 unfolds.

With so many organizations yet to undertake this journey, it is imperative to revisit these guidelines for direct sourcing success:

  • A deep understanding of total enterprise skillsets is required. No matter the industry, each organization is comprised of a collection of skillsets that, in aggregate, contribute to how work is done. Direct sourcing programs thrive on “skillset intelligence;” without it, initiatives lose their flair. If hiring managers understand which skillsets are in abundance or in high demand and which will be needed in the near future, building initial talent attraction strategies will be much more effective.
  • Integrated procurement, HR, and talent acquisition competencies are necessary for early-stage direct sourcing. The capabilities of these three units are required for a direct sourcing program to succeed: 1) procurement’s influence will drive hard cost savings through talent channel optimization, 2) HR’s impact will guide hiring managers and stakeholders to engage the strongest candidates, and 3) talent acquisition will drive the strategic vision for how to source talent based upon current and expected needs.
  • Focus on both brand and experience. The employer brand can be powerful in today’s labor market; many candidates want to ensure that they work for organizations that share their cultural and societal values. Also, the omnipresent notion of the “candidate experience” should guide direct sourcing processes such that job recruits experience a positive journey no matter if they are merely sitting in a talent pool or actively engaged for an open position or project.
  • Segmentation is more valuable than it initially seems. Segmenting talent pools may seem like a basic strategy; however, it can pay incredible dividends. Talent pool segmentation, be it via geography, compensation, skill, remote or in-person, certification, etc., allows hiring managers to quickly focus in on the talent required for a highly-complex project or initiative. Taking the time during the front-end of the direct sourcing process to segment talent pools can be hugely impactful to the overall program.
  • In direct sourcing, selecting and utilizing the right solutions is job one. The inherent power of today’s contingent workforce, human capital, and digital staffing solutions provides enterprises with the ability to automate crucial aspects of talent pool development and integrate these sources into the business’ broader talent acquisition processes. MSP solutions, VMS technology, and direct sourcing platforms all contribute to create a human- and technology-led direct sourcing program, helping to launch the initiative and ensure that all hiring managers have the ability to quickly access available talent pools.
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Upwork’s Work Without Limits: HR Builds Bridges Across the Organization

EventsSolution Providers by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Upwork, a global talent and work platform, recently held its Work Without Limits summit as an in-person and streaming event in Chicago The main stage was filled with customer and enterprise presenters, including Upwork’s Tony Buffum, vice president of HR Client Strategy, who served as moderator for the panel titled, “HR: Building Bridges Across the Organization.” Joining Buffum to discuss how HR leaders are earning trust, building awareness, and gaining alignment with key business partners to drive business results, was a panel that included:

  • Zoë Harte, Chief People Officer at Upwork.
  • David Harris, SVP of HR for PepsiCo.
  • Sarah Harse, Global Category Leader for HR Services and Professional Education, Johnson & Johnson.

The panel discussion covered a variety of topics. However, a central theme was HR’s cross-functional collaboration in executing the enterprise’s talent strategy. This article explores several areas around that theme. While HR is looked upon by the enterprise to drive talent and other critical initiatives, it cannot do this alone. There must be a partnership across the entire business with other functions like procurement, finance, legal, marketing, engineering, and the like.

Responsibility Lies With Everyone

When it comes to the role of sourcing and identifying talent, who is ultimately responsible? This was the opening question that Buffum posed to the panel. Harte believes everybody is responsible for bringing exceptional talent to drive the business initiatives that are the priorities for the organization. “HR has a powerful role in that. And so do the people managers and so does procurement. We all must do it together to be successful,” she said.

Responding with a procurement perspective, Harse says in the past the function took the upfront role of sourcing, finding the channel, putting it in place, and ensuring it operated. However, that’s not enough anymore.

“Just having the channel available is not enough to really solve the challenges that are ahead for our people leaders. The more we can do to partner with our HR counterparts, our finance counterparts, or our legal counterparts to connect those dots and really think about each of us having a unique role to play — with the hiring manager at the center helping to navigate all these different channels we have available — is really critical,” Harse said.

The audience at Upwork’s Work Without Limits event listens in to insights regarding the evolving world of work and talent. (Photo credit: Upwork)

Communication Is the Cornerstone

Because several business units contribute to the identification of talent sources, cross-functional collaboration is imperative. Harris described this process at PepsiCo, which included partnerships with finance (always a major role within large companies), procurement (to ensure all the contracts and partnerships are in place), and the internal talent acquisition team (securing the available people when and where they’re needed).

Of course, such collaboration couldn’t occur without effective communication. What projects are underway and the associated strategies? What are the different metrics or objectives among the functional lines? Harte says each individual team may be working toward different metrics. However, the role of the leader is to take a step back and look at the overall objectives they’re working toward. Knowing the business mission enables everyone to work together.

“It’s then easier to see how you can merge your objectives and key results together to ensure you’re making good compromises,” said Harse. “Communicate and really have a conversation about that so people understand the give and take of everyone involved. You’ll be able to find alignment and come to some level of agreement.”

Commit to Early Engagement

However, even the best-laid plans and communication can pose challenges. Harse spoke about her own experiences in procurement working through problem areas cross functionally and where opportunities exist to work toward a better goal. She said a common pitfall is the last-minute rush that can occur when a project is tossed over the wall to another function. Because both functions have not been on that journey together, there’s a lack of understanding around the purpose of the project and the work that’s been put into it.

For the individual or team suddenly holding the project, there’s a lack of alignment in terms of priority regardless of the urgency involved. Harse said much of the issue can be resolved with better early collaboration during the ideation phase.

“We have a number of subject matter experts across all our large organizations who can bring significant value to the table. Procurement shouldn’t be viewed at the table as simply the purchasing or supply chain person, but rather the beneficiary of these strategies as well,” said Harse.

She adds that the greatest learning coming into a new role supporting HR is that everyone can identify with the need for talent access. All are people leaders who understand the challenge of filling the seats to get the work done.

“It’s easy to get people on board with that message if you bring them in early and start to engage with legal and finance counterparts at the beginning of the journey to bring down some of those barriers that inevitably come up. This is crucial for those unique relationships we want to build to really be successful,” Harse explains.

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The New “MSP Solution Advisor” Report: The Link Between MSPs and the Future of Work

Solution ProvidersTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

If you missed last week’s announcement, Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange were excited to reveal the publication of its 2022 MSP Solution Advisor report. Ardent and the Exchange have covered the core areas of the workforce solutions market over the past several years, publishing deep assessments of the Managed Service Provider (MSP), Vendor Management System (VMS), direct sourcing, digital staffing, and talent marketplace technology arenas.

Our Technology Advisor and Solution Advisor research studies fulfill several key objectives: provide a deep evaluation of the market’s leading technology platforms and solution providers, help procurement/HR/talent acquisition executives better understand the current offerings across the industry, unveil a deep framework of core differentiators and strengths across these complex solutions, and, enable business leaders with the proper insights and intelligence to guide them on their solution selection journeys.

As I wrote recently, the MSP model has a pivotal place within the Future of Work movement:

“The Future of Work demands that business operations be dynamic, repeatable, and scalable. And, to boot, nearly half of the total global workforce is considered “extended” or “agile” in some manner. For service-oriented solutions like MSPs, the question becomes, “How does this model fit into the Future of Work movement?”

The answer is actually quite simple: an evolved model that blends traditional managed services with technological overlays for various “pieces” of the extended workforce lifecycle, combined with key integrations and partnerships with innovative platforms that address niche areas of talent engagement and talent acquisition.”

With major shifts in the enterprise workforce management arena over the past decade, MSPs have had to update and enhance their core value propositions to match the dramatic change happening within the total world of talent and work. The result is that today MSPs are more agile than they have ever been, with many providers in the market offering their own unique technology stacks from which client organizations can develop deep direct sourcing programs, digital staffing accessibility, enhanced management of services and SOW-based labor, and, most importantly, building an innovative bridge to the Future of Work.

The 2022 MSP Solution Advisor not only highlights the core service-based offerings of 11 major providers, but also details how their solutions drive progressive value across a series of modern workforce management approaches, including agile talent acquisition, total workforce (or talent) management, diversity and inclusion initiatives, and enhanced talent advisory and consulting services. This industry guidebook will serve as the definitive guide for businesses seeking new insights on the mature MSP solutions market, allow them access to the necessary information to guide solution selection journeys, and enable contingent workforce program leaders to better understand how each MSP offering differentiates itself from the competition.

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Key Providers for 2021: PRO Unlimited

Solution Providers by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Background:

“Evolution” and “disruption” are not often mentioned in the same discussion. However, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its wide-sweeping ramifications on the business arena, the two are now interchangeable dimensions that are actively transforming the way work is addressed and done. The world of contingent workforce management has changed forever, with progressive attributes placing equal emphasis on the talent and innovation components of how the modern-day worker is engaged and sourced.

As the Future of Work continues to leave its indelible fingerprints on the wide world of talent and work, both HR and procurement executives will require a unified technological approach that can seamlessly connect the most critical pieces of workforce management.

Enter PRO Unlimited.

Why They Were Selected:

Future of Work Exchange research finds that 84% of businesses aimed to “reimagine” workforce management heading into 2021, given that they spent the better part of a year facing the worst public health crisis of their collective lifetimes that caused undue disruption to traditional processes and strategies related to the growing and evolving non-employee workforce. While that statistic continues to prove itself out in an ever-changing business arena, what also stands out is that (also according to FOWX research) nearly 70% of enterprises are also focused on better managing the many technological gaps in the ultimate coverage of the total workforce.

PRO Unlimited has been one of the most aggressive and disruptive workforce management solutions in the market over the past year, owed to a “platform” vision that would see it become a dynamic nexus for agile workforce innovation. In just a short amount of time, the solution expanded the depth of its data ocean (acquisition of PeopleTicker), expanded its commitment to DE&I (exclusive partnership with EightfoldAI), announced a direct sourcing solution and added progressive functionality to it within months (the new Direct Sourcing PRO offering combined with the acquisition of WillHire), and expanded its total managed service provider reach with the acquisition of Workforce Logiq (also named a “Key Provider for 2021” here on the Exchange).

In Their Own Words:

Servicing hundreds of the world’s most recognizable brands, PRO Unlimited offers modern workforce management and a partner ecosystem supported by data, software, intelligence, and services to meet your flexible workforce needs. PRO’s Integrated Workforce Management Platform can adapt quickly to regional or industry economic shifts, and provides the speed, scale, flexibility, transparency, and expertise to serve as the holistic platform for the modern workforce. Headquartered in San Francisco, PRO has helped global brands and organizations achieve operational and financial success for more than 30 years.

The Outlook:

PRO Unlimited, quite simply, is a solution that is tailored for the Future of Work. Consider the pieces of its end-to-end offering:

  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) are built into the fabric of its core platform and especially its direct sourcing module (Direct Source PRO) through its exclusive partnership with Eightfold AI.
  • The acquisition of Workforce Logiq wasn’t just an expansion play, but rather a way to tap into the solution’s unique, intelligence-led offerings, particularly ENGAGE Talent, which has the potential to revolutionize talent engagement combined with the power of the PRO platform.
  • Direct Source PRO, in a short period of time, became one of the industry’s strongest direct sourcing offerings. The addition of WillHire’s deep functionality will only aid in pushing this facet of the PRO solution to new heights.
  • The recent partnership with Glider AI (also a FOWX “Key Provider”!) will further enable a range of digital recruitment and candidate assessment capabilities that are designed to assist PRO clients with the necessary, on-demand intelligence to enhance predictive talent modeling, improve the quality of talent channels, and optimize direct sourcing strategies.

Simply put: 2022 will be a massive year for PRO Unlimited and the delivery of its innovative vision. The company is consistently unveiling pieces of a larger puzzle that are ultimately designed to facilitate a new era of optimization within the realms of workforce intelligence, DE&I, direct sourcing, talent acquisition, and agile workforce management.

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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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Key Providers for 2021: Glider AI

Solution ProvidersTalent 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: Glider AI.]

The Background:

Artificial intelligence has become a prevalent piece of the total talent management puzzle, with incremental upticks in adoption over the past several years. Specific pieces of digital recruitment, talent acquisition, and contingent workforce management have been augmented with predictive analytics, scenario-building, and candidate workflow management.

In the evolving world of talent and work, AI has gone from a “nice-to-have” enhancement to a clutch functionality that can drive a competitive advantage. “Talent” in and of itself is a viable differentiator, and businesses must ensure that the expertise they are hiring from various channels of staffing are truly “top-tier” from background, performance, and assessment perspectives.

Enter Glider AI.

Why They Were Selected:

Future of Work Exchange research finds that 62% of businesses will harness the power of AI for candidate assessment over the next 12-to-24 months, a figure which reinforces the need for better awareness, control, and visibility into pre-recruitment processes. Glider AI’s unique talent intelligence platform provides its users with fully-automated tools to boost candidate assessment and allow hiring managers (and other talent management executives) to remotely execute deep, skill-based recruitment strategies with a robust layer of strength and rigor.

The Future of Work Exchange was developed to help HR, talent acquisition, procurement, finance, and other key executive leaders understand how work and talent are changing and how they best optimize how work is done. Platforms like Glider AI prove that the “age of AI” is not just a phase, but a truly impactful spectrum of innovation that can effectively transform the way businesses structure their talent engagement and talent acquisition strategies.

In Their Own Words:

The Glider AI talent intelligence platform helps you put your hiring on autopilot with active screening, interactive assessments, and virtual interview tools. With Glider’s AI-based talent analytics, you can stack-rank candidates against their peers to hire top talent -every time! Our real-world assessments, coding simulators, auto-coding tests, and non-tech task simulators, empower you to hire for competency over credentials.

Glider’s auto proctoring and plagiarism checks take the guesswork out of hiring by ensuring high test integrity and candidate authenticity. With features like Diversity Toggle and Accommodation features for disabled candidates, Glider helps you create a recruitment process that is entirely skill-based, unbiased, and fully automated. 

Glider helps enterprises, recruitment agencies, and Managed Service Providers create, execute, and manage their entire hiring process remotely for any role- full-time or contingent, tech or non-tech. Our skill-based hiring approach, helps you reduce your time to hire by 50%, improve your interview to offer ratio by 3X and helps you achieve 98% candidate satisfaction.

Employer branding, ATS/VMS integration, compliance, customized processes, pre-built test library, candidate report, talent analytics, data confidentiality, mobile optimization, 24/7 support – we go all the way to make quality talent your reality.

With Glider, you get – talent quality first, bias never, integrity always.

The Outlook:

It’s clear that the talent solutions landscape is changing; no longer can enterprises solely rely on “traditional” platforms alone to facilitate the ideal alignment between work and available talent. While core contingent workforce management technology and services have evolved in recent years and continue to drive the utmost value to their users, the stakes are too high today for businesses to not tap into dynamic platforms that can drive augmentative power.

In addition, the remote and hybrid workplace environment in which we live and work includes many workforce management processes that suffer from a lack of in-person execution. The Future of Work Exchange Report for 2021’s data indicates that 84% of businesses are essentially “reimagining” core workforce management processes, including recruitment, hiring, talent engagement, onboarding and offboarding, etc. A sizable chunk of that reimagined effort is digitally-transforming pieces of workforce management via artificial intelligence, RPA, and other facets of enterprise automation.

Glider’s unique offering blends true AI with the precision required to effectively generate deeper candidate assessments in a remote setting, while also providing a groundswell of talent intelligence to execute more informed recruitment and talent acquisition decisions.

Glider AI is exceptionally positioned to thrive in a talent solutions marketplace that craves next-generation intelligence and a richer gateway to top-tier talent and skillsets.

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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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An Unlimited Future: Inside PRO Unlimited’s Technology Transformation

Business LeadershipTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The world of talent and work seemingly reinvents itself frequently. Changes in the global economy amidst other major worldly events (including, of course, a pandemic) routinely force businesses to reimagine how they get work done. Over the past decade, the workforce management tech marketplace, which includes Vendor Management Systems (VMS), Managed Service Providers (MSP), digital staffing marketplaces, direct sourcing automation, etc. has undergone a seismic revolution alongside a shifting global talent economy. Throw in the major workforce management shifts accelerated due to a global pandemic and its economic, digital, and staffing ramifications, and, well, the position is clear: workforce management technology has to evolve just as quickly as the world around it.

Last year, veteran VMS/MSP hybrid PRO Unlimited announced that Kevin Akeroyd would join the solution as its new CEO, who immediately touted a transformative approach to the provider’s future: become a de-facto “platform” for contingent and agile workforce management.

“This workforce segment is becoming a large spend category and is now an enterprise valuation driver. Over the past 30 years, the industry has transformed from a small temp-staffing niche to a C-suite strategic priority. This shift not only includes changes within HR, talent acquisition and strategic procurement programs, but also highlights an explosion of innovation and new technology platforms like we have never seen before,” Akeroyd said. “Unfortunately, the established procurement/spend management and HCM platforms have not addressed the full contingent workforce management lifecycle. Furthermore, they are not capable of managing its complexity or harnessing the data to provide analytics and intelligence on companies’ contingent workforce segments that executives demand. The industry requires a comprehensive platform that can deliver the technology, data/analytics and managed services to optimize the full contingent workforce program. This is going to help organizations exceed both their contingent workforce goals and their broader organizational objectives. Being the platform that seamlessly interoperates with ERP, HCM, HRIS, P2P, and data and analytics systems will be paramount, and PRO Unlimited is uniquely positioned to become that holistic platform for the industry.”

Shortly after Kevin dropped by the Contingent Workforce Weekly podcast and spoke to us as part of our Future of Work Influencer series, PRO announced that it acquired rate management solution PeopleTicker, a global provider of comprehensive compensation data that relies on crowdsourced intelligent, machine learning, and data science resources. This acquisition helped burgeon PRO’s commitment to helping its users manage its workforce with a data-driven approach, allowing customers to tap into an “ocean of data.”

“To use an age-old analogy, even the best motorcycle, car, plane, rocket ship… simply is not effective if you don’t “fuel” it.  And the higher quality, higher octane the fuel is, the better performing the vehicle is. Data is today’s “fuel,” said Akeroyd. “Having the highest quality, highest coverage, most up-to-date data is a mission-critical component of the platform. It fuels the software, service, and analytics/intelligence offering the Enterprise relies on today. PRO not only has the largest, broadest, most accurate first-party asset in the world, we have augmented this with third-party data partnerships, including our acquisition of data assets like PeopleTicker, the industry’s one true provider of global contingent rate data for over 160 markets across thousands of job titles. Having exclusive data, packaged with PRO’s solutions and comprehensive platform, will enable and benefit our clients immensely. And competitively, it will further differentiate PRO from our point solution competitors. Finally, data is the fundamental underpinning of all machine-based learning (MBL) and artificial intelligence (AI). We are very excited to deliver MBL/AI applications in the near future as a result of having the best, most accurate and largest training data sets on the planet.”  

And, PRO Unlimited’s transformation continues today with an announcement that it has secured an exclusive partnership with Eightfold, an artificial intelligence solution that offers a multifaceted blend of technology, including talent experience management, candidate comparison and evaluation, bias prevention, and deep employee lifecycle management support via AI-led neural networks.

The new partnership has massive implications for the workforce management solutions landscape, as PRO’s exclusive union with Eightfold will allow the veteran provider the ability to “lift and shift” comprehensive total talent intelligence into its existing and forthcoming offerings. For example, Eightfold’s unique neural network-led skills data could be applied to direct sourcing initiatives to better target specific, high-expertise candidates for enterprise talent pools.

“Many organizations around the world will be hiring contingent workers ahead of the economic recovery while prioritizing areas within hiring, such as retention and D&I initiatives. However, many of these same companies do not have the technology and data in place to identify, engage and secure the best contingent talent in the world, while attaining diversity goals,” said Akeroyd. “This exclusive partnership with Eightfold aims to solve this problem with their advanced talent intelligence and our contingent workforce management platform, which also includes the world’s largest global market rate data repository. This partnership is truly a game changer for the industry as it will transform how our customers, which include some of the largest brands globally, source, develop, and redeploy their workforces while lowering costs as well as offer an unparalleled suite of diversity offerings for the contingent workforce.”

With PRO’s new Direct Sourcing and SOW Management tools on the horizon for later this quarter, the solution’s recent, aggressive moves prove that the provider is truly committed not only to its goal of being a centralized talent management platform, but also meeting the evolving requirements of the ever-changing world of talent and work.

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