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Business Leadership

Five Things You Must Know About the Future of Work (Revisited)

Business LeadershipGeneral InsightsTalentTalent AcquisitionUncategorized by John Yuva on

As we reach the end of 2024, now is a good time to look back at the Five Things You Must Know About the Future of Work.  The Future of Work Exchange (FOWX) and Ardent Partners hosted this complimentary webinar, The Five Things You MUST KNOW About the Future of Work, discussing the critical capabilities that enterprises can unlock to truly optimize the way they address talent acquisition, extended workforce management, and, most importantly, work optimization. What follows revisits the five critical FOW areas.

#1 The Evolution of Talent and the Future of Work

When it comes to the Future of Work, one of the first things to know is the evolution of talent and talent acquisition. And this idea of the “evolution of talent” can be ambiguous. Talent is always evolving and has been for a long time. The way that businesses perceive their talent is also evolving. And, the way that those businesses get connected to talent, and vice versa, continues to evolve. It’s also being innovated through technology and new strategies and new programs.

The fact is nearly half of our workforce today is comprised of extended workers or contingent workers. We have aspects like direct sourcing and digital staffing that are making it much easier for businesses to find the talent they need to get work done to address those mission-critical projects and fill the appropriate roles. FOWX and Ardent research has been focused historically on the extended workforce and contingent workforce, but we’re talking about all types of talent.

Thus, talent acquisition as a function and as a series of processes has also progressed. We need to consider aspects like the candidate experience, and the way that our culture and our brand attract new talent into our organization. Many business leaders think of the Future of Work as being centered around technology, revolving around the idea that technology drives the Future of Work. And we  wouldn’t necessarily disagree with that; technology is a critical piece. And for some aspects and attributes of the Future of Work, technology and innovation are the nexus of those areas.

Technology is a Future of Work Centerpiece

Talent and the growth of the extended workforce represent the first leg of the stool with such things as skills and candidate experience, but also digital staffing, direct sourcing, online talent marketplaces, and core workforce management solutions (such as MSPs and VMS platforms) These technologies are helping us to redefine the way we think about work. We’re living in a world where even though we don’t want to hear the word “pandemic” anymore, the pandemic really did shape what we think about the Future of Work.

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Little League Lessons: What I Learned About Business Leadership from Coaching Summer Baseball

Business Leadership by Christopher J. Dwyer on

My son is seven-and-a-half years old and is the epitome of a precocious, active boy: he loves playing, watching, and consuming sports of all kinds. For the three years he’s been involved in community and school sports, I’ve always been a spectator from the sidelines. When the opportunity arose to coach one team of a four-team summer baseball league, I jumped.

I’ve been a part of the corporate world for nearly 20 years. From my earliest days in the world of spend and supplier management (and accounts payable!) to covering the burgeoning evolution of the contingent workforce and, of course, the Future of Work, there are many, many (many!) lessons I’ve learned along the way in regards to business leadership.

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Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

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Business Leaders Reap Flexibility Rewards

Business LeadershipGeneral InsightsTalentTalent AcquisitionUncategorized by John Yuva on

In the last 12 months, several high-profile enterprises have rolled back their remote work policies, requiring employees to return to the office. Most cite more effective communication, collaboration, and team bonding as primary reasons. While corporations like Disney, Apple, and JPMorgan will dominate the headlines with their announcements of in-person work, recent Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research (2023) indicates an overall preference for workplace flexibility.

The research revealed that 97% of business leaders prefer some level of flexibility in their workplace. Consider this breakdown of leader preferences: flexible and remote options (64%), a mix of remote and in-person (33%), and fully in-person/office (3%). While there may be some validity to the myriad of reasons organizations are reverting to in-person work, the global workforce coupled with today’s collaborative technologies solves many of those challenges. Obviously, it largely depends on the nature of the work — an office environment versus a manufacturing plant.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

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Sustain the Leadership Evolution

Business LeadershipGeneral InsightsHRUncategorized by John Yuva on

What the previous three years have shown is that enterprises are resilient. The ability to turn on a dime operationally and transform from an in-person to a nearly fully remote workforce is a stunning achievement. It is the ultimate in change management execution, forever altering the Future of Work paradigm and business leadership as we know it. In defining the Future of Work movement, the Future of Work Exchange identified the transformation of business leadership as one of its three critical pillars.

Workplace Humanization Arrives

How has business leadership transformed? Quite simply, leaders today have a newfound focus on “humanity,” and the need to be more talent-oriented to thrive during uncertain times. During the height of the pandemic, there was no separation between how leadership and employees experienced this global event. Everyone went through it together and had similar fears, anxiety, and concern for others. Many leaders recognized this fact and rebooted their workplaces by retaining employee flexibility and remote/hybrid models once the world started to normalize.

Bridging of Human and Skills-Based Objectives

Along with the humanization of the workplace, the need for skills-based talent became apparent as well. The criticality of enterprise agility, flexibility, and business continuity is now a central part of talent acquisition strategies. It is no longer about filling a job role, but rather hiring candidates that bring specific skills and competencies while also being a good cultural match. Business leaders today actively bridge the human aspect with skills-based execution. Understanding, for example, the importance of progressive hiring approaches as part of the cultural fabric, leaders have integrated different strategies into hiring and operational objectives.

Business Leadership Evolves

The Future of Work Exchange and Ardent Partners have identified five ways business leadership is evolving.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

Click here to learn more.

read more