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Contingent Workforce Weekly, Episode 603: “Hot Vax Summer” Meets the Delta Variant

Podcast by Christopher J. Dwyer on 08/05/2021

An all-new edition of the Contingent Workforce Weekly episode, sponsored by DZConneX, a Yoh company, highlights how summer reopenings and return-to-office plans are currently being derailed by the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

The big ideas around the summer being a time of reopening, celebration, and a return to normalcy have all been thrown into a tailspin, especially knowing that this variant results in more frequent breakthrough cases and can possibly be spread by even the vaccinated population. The question, though, remains: what does it mean for business?

Tune into Episode 603 of Contingent Workforce Weekly below, or subscribe on Apple Music, Spotify, Stitcher, or iHeartRadio.

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

Contingent Workforce HR Solution Providers Talent Talent Acquisition Technology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on 08/04/2021

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 Diversity^SM, 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.

Contingent Workforce Weekly, Episode 602: The Link Between the Future of the Workforce and the Future of the Workplace

Podcast by Christopher J. Dwyer on 07/22/2021

An all-new edition of the Contingent Workforce Weekly episode, sponsored by DZConneX, a Yoh company, features a discussion around the “future of the workforce” and its link to the “future of the workplace.” As more and more businesses plan a return to the office, an even larger number of workers are seeking flexibility, empathy, and agility. While a silent labor epidemic rages (the United States has never recorded so many resignations and jobs quit in a single month before this past May), business leaders must leverage the next several months to better understand the proper work model for both productive enterprises outcomes and its workforce.

Tune into Episode 602 of Contingent Workforce Weekly below, or subscribe on Apple Music, Spotify, Stitcher, or iHeartRadio.

With the Workforce at a Breaking Point, What is the Role of Agile Talent?

Contingent Workforce Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 07/09/2021

The United States is at an interesting crossroads in relation to its total workforce: after historic unemployment and severe staffing disruption at a year ago at this time, most labor rates concerning FTEs would (typically) indicate that business is as close to a normal state. However, according to The Atlantic and stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “more Americans quit in May than any other month on record going back to the beginning of the century.”

A choice to move away from a steady, paying job in the midst of a global pandemic may not seem like the best of moves. Back in the earliest days of the crisis, I remember telling some close friends (as well as a family member) that were unhappy in their current roles to look past the undesirable aspects of their positions until there was more clarity regarding the continued effects of the pandemic on the global workforce. (Please note: in any other circumstance, I would never offer this once-in-a-lifetime sage advice, namely because I’m a proponent of the talent experience, employee engagement, and both contingent and full-time workers enjoying a positive familiarity with their roles and where they fit into their current organizations rather than gutting out and trudging along in a business that leaves them and their skillsets unfulfilled.)

The US is in an enviable state when compared to the rest of the world. The vast, vast majority of the country has removed coronavirus restrictions, dropped mask mandates (minus medical and specific facilities, as well as public transportation), and generally celebrating a return to normalcy (even though there are still hundreds of deaths daily and an average of ~10,000 new cases a day, but I digress). The culmination of 16 months’ worth of workforce evolution (not all of it positive) has left workers at an odd tipping point: they are not afraid to leave behind less-than-desirable roles anymore.

There are clear delineations in the overall perspectives of today’s workers that could have major ramifications in the months ahead. First off, the majority of businesses are slowly figuring out the best approach (be it hybrid, fully remote, etc.) for its workplace environment. This will surely affect how businesses view corporate real estate, and, to a larger extent, how they strategize around which modes of work result in the most productive business outcomes. Businesses are at a tipping point regarding the value of new work models; no one executive fully knows what is best for its organization after a year of uncertainty. These leaders must experiment and leverage various models until the one, screaming best result is there…and then adopt it for good.

One of the major reasons why the workforce is facing a “quitting crisis” is because so many workers became accustomed to a workplace culture that fostered empathy, flexibility, and evolving ways of measuring productivity. Going back to a 9-to-5 grind, including brutal commutes on both ends, isn’t going to cut it for those workers that thrived during the pandemic and know that their top-tier skills are in-demand. Furthermore, business leaders cannot suddenly shift their emotional attitudes from “supportive” to “drill sergeant” just because it’s safer to welcome workers back to office.

A major fallout from these aspects could be a “reawakening” to the value of the extended workforce vis a vie the realization that workers don’t need to be in the corporation’s backyard to have a critical impact, nor do talented workers have to stay put in an environment that they do not desire. Simply put: the move to remote work (and additional workplace flexibility) opened many doors for non-employee talent and its influence on how work gets done. Take direct sourcing, for example; more and more businesses were willing to invite larger numbers of candidates into their talent pools for the sheer purpose of planning for a future when things were better. When economic conditions recovered, hiring managers could scale up their workforce by tapping into talent communities or talent pools.

Agile talent will play a critical role in the future of the global workforce. Labor market data may look promising on the surface, however, digging deeper only uncovers the fact more and more workers will choose flexibility and independence over a return to pre-pandemic workplace culture. Contingent labor has always been a strategic asset, and, as it continued to evolve into a truly dynamic means of getting work done, the post-pandemic workforce will shine as a direct result of an increased reliance on agile talent.

The World is Nearing Normalcy, But Will the Workforce Ever Be the Same?

Business Leadership Talent Talent Acquisition by Christopher J. Dwyer on 07/07/2021

In mid-June, CNN’s collaboration with Moody Analytics (the “Back-to-Normal Index”) indicated that the United States economy is “90% of the way back to where it was before the pandemic began over a year ago,” a stark contrast to the heartbreaking days of last spring and summer. Air travel and transportation are actively reaching pre-pandemic levels, while some markets indicate that the global economy could mirror February 2020 by the very end of the year.

Consumers are certainly taking advantage of the COVID-19 vaccine boom, spending more and more of their funds on the goods and services that were mainly out of the question less than a year ago. This activity, perhaps, is the strongest indicator that we are, albeit slowly, getting things back to some level of what we could call “normalcy.”

However, the pandemic and its ramifications left an indelible mark on the workforce; the below shifts represent the fact that even though some elements of the world and businesses may return to normal, the workforce will never be the same:

The next mass exodus of women from the workforce is happening right now. Back in March on the Contingent Workforce Weekly podcast, The Mom Project’s co-founder and COO, Greg Robinson, predicted that we may see another mass exodus of caretakers from the workforce, especially moms. And a Washington Post article found that after the early COVID shutdowns, nearly 11.3 million jobs held by women “vanished almost immediately, as women are over-represented in the retail, restaurant, travel and hospitality sectors.” Add in the need to be home without proper, in-person schooling, and this is a recipe for disaster for women in the workforce…something that could take upwards of two-to-three years to return to pre-pandemic levels. Companies like The Mom Project are certainly helping to alleviate this issue (check out our conversation this past week with the solution’s Donna Yelmokas), and the advent of digital staffing solutions and talent marketplaces are enabling moms and other caretakers access to roles that fit within their schedules. However, it is also incumbent on today’s business leaders to cultivate a culture that is founded on flexibility and empathy to get back to those pre-pandemic points even faster and allow women, moms, and caretakers to bring their incredibly valuable skills back to the workplace.
And, speaking of flexibility and empathy, business leadership will never be the same. As the world evolves into a “new normal” (or whatever you want to call it), both longtime FTEs and extended/contingent workers are going to place evermore emphasis on the overall “talent experience,” a concept borne from an application of employee engagement and employee experience attributes applied to both employee and non-employee workers. Aspects like remote work, flexible hours, and a positive culture are all critical concepts for talented individuals seeking their next role (be it a full-time or contingent project). Business leaders must look to a “culture of flexibility” as the foundation to how they lead. Ardent’s upcoming State of Contingent Workforce Management 2021 research study also finds that 82% of businesses will provide more flexibility regarding worker lifestyle issues, including childcare/daycare, schooling, etc., in the year ahead.
“Alternative” channels of talent become primary means of talent engagement. Even though direct sourcing and talent pools were high-priority strategies going into 2020 (and before a worldwide pandemic), they became even more crucial when traditional means of talent acquisition (such as proper interviewing) weren’t possible. Today, direct sourcing represents an ideal means of converging top-tier skillsets and expertise and on-demand talent engagement in the same package, allowing businesses to funnel the best-of-the-best into segmented talent pools and talent communities. Too, the talent nurture aspects of direct sourcing enable businesses to foster strong communication with their candidates, ensuring a positive candidate experience even before these workers are engaged for a particular role or project. The “next normal” will see an exponential rise in the utilization of direct sourcing, for sure.
New and evolved work models form the foundation of the Future of Work movement. This all-encapsulating concept brings together the brightest of innovation from learnings over the past year, and the approach is multi-pronged: 1) understand which modes of talent engagement are best for the business based on the levels of skillsets required, 2) apply an analysis that can determine whether positions, roles, and entire divisions should be distributed/remote, 3) innovate around how productivity will be measured (with an edge towards outcomes rather than hours worked), 4) implement whichever new safety and health precautions that are required (which, yes, includes whether or not COVID-19 vaccinations are mandatory), 5) foster and cultivate a workplace environment of flexibility and empathy, and, finally, 6) determine the best possible alignment between digitization and human-led processes.

What Does 2021 Hold for the Agile Workforce and the Future of Work? (Part II)

Contingent Workforce Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 05/24/2021

Last week, we discussed the many tenets of the Future of Work that will play invaluable roles in 2021, including diversity and inclusion, direct sourcing, new talent channels, the depth of transformational business thinking, flexibility- and empathy-led leadership, and the overall impact of new technology and innovative solutions.

I once again spoke with several contingent workforce, HR, and talent acquisition technology leaders over the past week to gain their perspectives on what’s in store for the Future of Work and the agile/extended workforce in the months ahead:

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What Does 2021 Hold for the Agile Workforce and the Future of Work? (Part I)

Contingent Workforce Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 05/21/2021

If you caught last week’s Contingent Workforce Weekly podcast, we chatted about several distinct attributes of the world of work and talent that will be transformed in the year ahead. In the span of just under 30 minutes, we just barely scratched the surface of the vast possibilities that the Future of Work movement will have on businesses across the globe over the next 12 months, given the many “accelerants” that contributed to work optimization in 2020.

There are many tenets of the Future of Work that will play invaluable roles in 2021, including diversity and inclusion, direct sourcing, new talent channels, the depth of transformational business thinking, flexibility- and empathy-led leadership, and the overall impact of new technology and innovative solutions.

I spoke with several contingent workforce, HR, and talent acquisition technology leaders over the past week to gain their perspectives on what’s in store for the Future of Work and the agile/extended workforce in the months ahead:

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

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What’s the Next Big Thing in Contingent Workforce Management?

Contingent Workforce Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 05/10/2021

When I started my industry analyst career (way back in 2006; please, don’t make me feel old!), the contingent workforce was one of several high-profile “complex spend categories,” ones that typically fell under the purview of the procurement or purchasing function but kept their own specific and unique attributes (i.e., marketing spend management necessitated much different sourcing techniques than business travel, facilities management was miles away from typical procurement processes, etc.). In short: there were some stark differentiators that proved it was a growing, distinctive area of corporate spend, however, at the time, it was just that: another area of spend.

What I describe as the “perfect storm” occurred during the Great Recession of 2008-2009: rough economic times forced businesses to reimagine their staffing strategies. Two key things happened: 1) enterprises realized that non-employee labor could be a gamechanger in terms of expertise and skills-related value (in addition to the cost benefits), and 2) the individuals that were forced (or chose) to adopt a flexible workstyle ended up finding that this setup was more productive and an overall better choice for their careers.

Over the years, the results of this “perfect storm” paid incredible dividends, so much so that the contingent workforce was no longer an augmentative talent strategy for businesses across the world, but a true value-driver that brought unique skillsets and top-tier expertise to mission critical projects and initiatives. And, as we all know, the years that passed resulted in this swath of talent evolving into the “agile workforce” that now allows businesses the workforce scalability from cost and skill perspectives.

With a full year living a pandemic environment that has caused disruptions to both personal and business worlds, however, a key question remains: what’s the next big thing in contingent workforce management? Well, there are actually several key “things” instead of just one…

The “Platform Approach” to Extended Workforce Management Technology

The contingent workforce has seen a consistent stream of progression over the past 15 years. With this type of talent firmly ensconced in the “agile workforce” or “extended workforce” mold, it’s not enough for businesses to have a condensed technological approach. As initiatives around direct sourcing, talent pools, diversity and inclusion, total talent management, and other crucial elements of talent acquisition and talent management become more entwined within CWM, it will be incredibly important for businesses to have the proper technology stack (or a single platform with these modules) to execute on these strategies, whether it’s via a deep ecosystem of “peripheral” providers (such as direct sourcing platforms or digital staffing marketplaces) or in-system offerings that can address more than “core” (i.e., requisition management) aspects of contingent workforce management.

And, as total talent management becomes more of a reality in 2021, businesses will require a deeper technological approach to ensure that they are deriving the richest possible total talent data via interconnected systems and platforms.

The Impact of Non-Tech Attributes of the Future of Work Movement

On the Contingent Workforce Weekly podcast, I’ve frequently discussed the “non-technological” components of the Future of Work movement, which range from the transformation of business thinking to the value of flexibility-led workforce strategies. In the face of a business environment which is actively struggling to return to normal (and with factors like burnout, fatigue, and mental health as common workforce issues), technology isn’t the top cure. Strategies such as empathy-led leadership will transform the talent experience and ensure that the workforce is engaged, while diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives will bring innovative voices into the business as it seeks deeper and unique skillsets and expertise.

“Workforce Agility” Becomes Table Stakes…For Real

The agile workforce. The extended workforce. Business agility. These are all hot-button phrases that can sometimes mean different things to different executives. However, the crux of these terms is so very simple: harness the relative on-demand nature of today’s talent to develop the most dynamic responses possible to enterprise needs and requirements.

If there’s one thing that 2020 taught us, it’s that workforce scalability is essentially linked to economic survival in the now-chaotic world of business. Taking that scalability one step forward is the very root of workforce agility, from which businesses can tap into talent pools, talent marketplaces, talent clouds, talent communities, their own 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 Next Evolution of the Agile Workforce

Contingent Workforce Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 04/28/2021

The concept of business agility is not a new ideal, but in fact an evolving set of attributes that describe a company’s overall dynamic responses to real-world pressures and barriers of all sizes and types (economic, supply chain, internal, etc.). Business agility, in essence, translates into the modern business’ overall ability to react in real-time to the challenges that they face on a daily basis. And, in 2020, the very notion of agility is something that has been embraced by enterprises across the world as a key facilitator of survival in these strange times.

Just a few years ago, the contingent workforce was (still) in the midst of its years-long trajectory of growth and impact, as it continues to be today (Ardent Partners research finds that 43% of the average workforce is considered contingent/non-employee, including temporary workers, gig workers, freelancers, independent contractors, and professional services). As the reliance on non-employee labor continued to increase, so did its link to true business agility. Thus, the natural evolution of the contingent workforce was its transformation into the agile workforce.

The agile workforce can be described by its four key benefits: 1) natural cost flexibility, 2) speed-to-hire and speed of engagement), 3) adaptability of expertise, and 4) its productivity gains. However, during the current business climate, there is one attribute of the agile workforce that represents its next natural evolution: its progressive skillsets and how they fit into the ongoing transformation of the modern business.

The next evolution of the agile workforce will help businesses build:

A more dynamic talent acquisition strategy that focuses on skills and expertise gaps. The number one reason for leveraging agile talent today aren’t the cost savings that long were associated with this workforce, but rather the depth of skillsets and expertise it brings to the average organization. Businesses can build talent acquisition strategies that are enhanced with skillset-led tactics to develop the best-aligned, deepest bench of workers.
A workforce that does not have to account for traditional barriers in engaging new talent. The remote work angle has always been a piece of contemporary businesses, however, in 2020, it’s become the norm. Eschewing location and traditional barriers will allow businesses to expand their relative talent pools, expand active and passive recruitment, and promote expertise ahead of “where” a potential candidate is located. Too, harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and predictive analytics will enable contingent workforce, HR, and talent acquisition leaders with the ability to develop more expansive recruitment marketing strategies that are not limited by traditional barriers.
A more diverse workforce that will spark innovation and new ideas. Diversity and inclusion initiatives are an idealistic means for businesses to bring in new and fresh voices to its functional units as a way to spark innovation across key enterprise strategies. A truly agile mindset towards talent acquisition and contingent workforce management translates into the ability to find, engage, and source talent that can bring more dynamic ideas into the greater organization.
A way to shift resources as both market conditions and corporate competition evolve. “Adaptability” has become a common refrain, especially nearly seven months into a global pandemic that has caused economic and business disruptions across the world. A truly agile workforce and skillset-led talent management strategies will allow businesses to “shift” their workers based on current market conditions, as well as enable them to position necessary expertise to where it is needed as products and services evolve. Talent pools can be further segmented, while both FTEs and non-employee workers can align their unique expertise to the functional areas that need them based on how the business progresses in regards to market, economic, and competitive factors.