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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

Click here to learn more.

Four Predictions for the Future of Work in 2021

General Insights Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 05/17/2021

Ardent Partners defines the “Future of Work” movement as a series of ideas across the talent, technology, and business transformation spectrum that augment how enterprises ultimately optimize how work is done. The challenging events of 2020 did not just stress the limits of business operations, but also accelerated key facets of the Future of Work movement; in fact, some key aspects of the “new normal” that enterprises face in 2021 are, in fact, innovative strategies and solutions that just several months ago were necessary approaches to survive in unprecedented times.

Several critical aspects of the Future of Work movement, amongst others, are crucial beacons of innovation that will assist enterprises in navigating through the initial, unsteady early months of the year ahead:

The (faster-than-expected) evolution of talent engagement and talent acquisition. Less than five years ago, only 12% of talent was engaged and sourced via “real-time” or “on-demand” means, such as digital staffing technology, tech-enabled talent marketplaces, and direct sourcing/talent pool-based programs. Today, that number hovers around a third (33%) of all talent engaged/acquired via real-time means, with a heavy increase expected as 2021 drags on. Ardent Partners expects, for instance, the utilization of direct sourcing strategies to increase threefold over the next 12 months, owed to the fact that talent pools (and their subsequent link to global enterprise recruitment streams) allow businesses to tap into “known and vetted” talent in an on-demand manner. Too, as businesses opt for less in-person interviews and a need for faster time-to-fill rates as a result of workforce scalability, other solutions, particularly talent marketplaces, will become critically important for shoring up the total workforce.
The acceleration of work optimization via true digital transformation. The concept of “digital transformation” has been part of business vernacular for several years, with many C-level executives (hello, CIO!) spearheading initiatives to digitally enhance specific (or all) enterprise processes for maximum optimization, speed, and efficiency. In 2020, businesses quickly experienced the pitfalls of social distancing and closed offices as scores of workers could not execute traditional and repeatable processes without access to a physical location (or, even worse: lack of access to archaic manual processes). Digital transformation in 2021 must be “table stakes” for the typical enterprise as the pandemic continues to disrupt live and in-person tactics.
The rise of flexibility-led leadership. 2020 was the most “human” year of the average business professional (and, thus far, 2021 will surely continue this trend). Pandemic-led anxiety, a lack of schooling or daycare (and the stress of remote learning), and general health concerns sat in constant alignment with the typical stressors of corporate life. Flexibility- and agility-led strategies were quickly employed (i.e., the agile workforce) during the initial phases of 2020’s challenging times, however, there was an undercurrent of another interesting attribute that quietly separated business leaders from one another: the rise of “empathy-led” leadership. Business leaders that led with an empathetic approach are the ones that will be able to build trust, confidence, and, most importantly of all, retention, within the ranks of their highly valued workforce. Converging empathy and agility into flexibility-led leadership allows business leaders to assist their workers during moments of need by providing more flexible work arrangements, measuring productivity by outcomes instead of hours worked, and, in general, being more inclusive of what is happening with the personal lives of their staff.
And…the biggest prediction of 2021: a critical spike in the utilization of the extended workforce. This prediction may have the biggest impact of all: the business world will draw the closest it has ever been to half of its total workforce comprised of non-employee and agile talent. As businesses employ staffing scalability with the optimism of vaccines and economic recovery ahead, the contingent workforce will become ever more critical in helping enterprises across the globe not only survive in these trying times, but also thrive as they seek to truly optimize how work is done.

Evolution, Agility, and the Extended Workforce: A Conversation with Doug Leeby, CEO of Beeline

Talent Technology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on 05/14/2021

I’m thrilled to welcome Beeline CEO Doug Leeby for an exclusive Q&A session today on CPO Rising. Doug and I chat about the platform’s big news, the evolution of the agile workforce, direct sourcing, and so much more.

Christopher J. Dwyer: Doug, it’s great to have a chance to chat with you. Thanks for spending some time with us. Let’s get to the big news first. Earlier today, Beeline made a major announcement: introducing the solution as an extended workforce platform. Tell us all about it.

Doug Leeby: Thank you, Chris. It’s always great to be with you. Yes, we announced the Beeline Extended Workforce Platform today. In a word, it’s about evolution. We’ve long outgrown the moniker of VMS (vendor management system). While the functionality of a VMS is still core and extremely important, it’s too limiting. The value of external talent has evolved. Talent is talent – it doesn’t matter whether they are employees or non-employees. As such, it needs to be managed not as a procurement category but as a strategic component of the workforce.

Evolving to the extended workforce platform means adding talent-centric value streams to all constituents on the platform – clients, MSPs, suppliers, and the talent itself. It also demands a thoughtful and deliberate approach to building an ecosystem with other great companies. This gives our users access to superior capabilities and benefits that are not associated with VMS today.

CD: One thing that Beeline has been known for is its commitment to both the “talent side” of the industry and the power of intelligence and analytics. How do those attributes factor into the revamped platform?

DL: I appreciate you pointing that out because it is core to Beeline. This is not about managing a commodity – it’s about people. That’s an important starting point. This manifests in the beautiful new hiring manager experience that considers our users as consumers vs. business entities, our integration with behavioral and psychometric solutions, and our new resume visualizer that elevates people from a mere resume. The data (and therefore, analytics) serves as another massive point of differentiation in the market. Beeline’s extended workforce platform leverages our $700B in global talent spend data to provide insights that align behavior with the enterprises’ goals.

The power of data is leveraged in multiple facets of the Beeline extended workforce platform, but perhaps the most exciting and innovative is in the “SmartBuyer” solution we are developing with our long-trusted ecosystem partner, Brightfield. Industry marketing is replete with buzz phrases like “powered by AI.” Much of that is pandering. Machine learning is promising, but it is predicated on having a deep and historical data set that can actually inform with statistical veracity.

CD: Beeline will forever be known as a pioneer and an innovator in the VMS space. How do you foresee current and prospective customers perceiving this exciting new development?

DL: I believe they will appreciate the industry leadership and the fact that we are finally ascribing an accurate descriptor to our solution. The reality is, we’ve been an extended workforce platform for several years. We benefit from exceptionally close relationships with our clients (I define clients as end clients, MSPs and suppliers) and everything we do is geared at listening to their challenges and endeavoring to solve them.

In the early years, our problem solving was more reactive. Over the last decade, we’ve been far more proactive in addressing them. Beeline’s extended workforce platform is clearly future focused and it’s flexible. Early adopters leverage much from our ecosystem now while others take more time but appreciate that these solutions are in place for when they are ready. I’ll give you a couple of examples. Many are taking advantage of our offering via The Mom Project as it is both noble and simple. Direct sourcing offers tremendous savings but requires more planning and not everyone is ready quite yet to pull the trigger.

CD: How do current clients benefit from the extended workforce management functionality?

DL: Well, they are already benefiting as we have been offering many components of our platform and ecosystem for some time, but on March 26, we have one of our biggest and most exciting releases in recent years. This is the culmination of a focus on our three pillars – user experience, data and innovation, and connectivity. There is too much to discuss here but we believe job descriptions and resumes are outdated and ineffective. Despite consistently receiving the highest grades for our user experience, we believe it should be even more intuitive and data driven. We also believe trust is paramount and thus, data security must always be top-of-mind. These are foundational and we must never pursue shiny objects in favor of the core. Having said that, there is a lot of “shine” that’s just really cool as well.

CD: How critical is for our industry to have this type of technology in regard to where we are now in the business world: growing agile workforce, more focus on diversity and inclusion, and (hopefully!) on the back end of a public health crisis?

DL: I believe it is crucial. Twenty years ago, when I started, workflow geared at driving rates down after an uneventful Y2K was a gamechanger. Much has changed and evolved over the last two decades. Finally, the value of the extended workforce is, in many cases, understood to be strategic. The variability of the model is exceptionally attractive, and companies are leveraging this important talent more than ever before. Accordingly, it must be managed as talent and as a key component of the overall workforce strategy. That requires a more robust solution set from which to draw from. Beeline does a lot, but we don’t do it all. The platform remedies that and enables us to introduce extraordinary and proven solutions to the table.

Diversity and inclusion are now making its way from the supplier to the talent and that’s a great thing. The Beeline extended workforce platform not only informs on some of the key metrics but provides a channel to do something about it. We recently launched the Beeline Diversity Talent Pool under The Mom Project, for example, which helps organizations source and hire diversity candidates.

In relation to the pandemic, yes, let’s hope this is soon to be in the rear-view mirror. But to answer your question, this type of technology is paramount to operating in an agile and nimble manner. It enables companies to source remarkable talent that now operates remotely. The idea, for many positions, that the contractor or consultant has to be local is forever shattered. Only a system such as this can provide the reach to find this talent.

CD: What other pathways does this open for Beeline in regard to engaging, sourcing, and managing talent for businesses across the globe?

DL: Great segue, thanks. It opens a lot of pathways. We’ve been vocal that it is our responsibility to open channels of talent next to the traditional PSL (preferred supplier list). I want to be clear – suppliers are a crucial element of this ecosystem and should be honored accordingly. There are opportunities, for specific geographies, goals, etc. to consider complimentary sourcing channels. Direct sourcing is one example. Diversity sourcing is another. I just referenced remote ability and that clearly provides opportunities across the globe.

We hear a lot about “Total Talent Management.” We think this is more about “Total Workforce Optimization” but soon, via our platform, we’ll introduce some compelling solutions that bring this notion to life and finally render “TTM” more than just a buzz phrase. I still contend companies have a long way to go in terms of getting their arms around their extended labor force and should focus on that prior to thinking about “TTM”, but in keeping with our belief that we should solve tomorrow’s problems today… we’ll be ready.

CD: This is a major shift for not just Beeline, but the industry itself. What is the future of the extended workforce and the technology required to manage and control it effectively?

DL: Workforce agility has risen to the top of the priority list. Nearly everyone is focusing on digital transformation. Thoughtful planning and deployment of the extended workforce is more critical now than ever before. This will only increase, and you’ll see more and more organizations finally address this important talent component as strategic.

The future of all workforce management, not just the extended class, is outcome-based sourcing. We all yearn to unlock the insights historical data offers so that we can be more contemplative and deliberate in how we get work done. This goes back to my comment about this really being about Total Workforce Optimization. Knowing, on the front end, the appropriate “mix of talent” (full time, contractor, freelancer, project based) will be the next profound transformation. The underpinning is data and machine learning.

And we must remember this is about people. Thus, the future will exploit the insights from machine learning while treating labor with dignity and offering value to them as well. Remember, a platform is about its network and as stewards of this platform, we must consider all who engage on it and ensure that we are providing more value to each constituency. Beeline’s VMS is a proven and trusted global leader. It isn’t going away – it is an integral component of the Beeline extended workforce platform. We are simply, but judiciously, adding to the overall value proposition by offering future-proofed, well thought out, talent-centric solutions from one platform.

Extending into High-Volume Workforce Management: Beeline Acquires JoinedUp

Talent Technology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on 05/12/2021

There is no question that the past 15 months have brought an incredible amount of transformation to the world of work. Although much of the focus was placed on the trials of the great shift to remote work and distributed teams, there was (and continues to be, of course) a large and impactful group of talent that trudged along with their “essential worker” status in the face of a global health crisis: the blue-collar, shift-based, and field service workforce.

While managing the white-collar workforce requires a standard set of operations and processes, there are unique differentiators inherent in tackling the nuances of shift-based and blue-collar workforce management. From workflow and scheduling to time and attendance and complex rate calculations, businesses require a comprehensive set of tools and strategies to effectively manage this intricate sector of talent.

Ardent’s upcoming State of Contingent Workforce Management research study (publishing later this spring) reveals a telling statistic: nearly 75% of businesses state that the pandemic forced them to reimagine traditional workforce management processes, such as interviewing, onboarding, scheduling, workflows, etc. And this was the number-one impact of the pandemic within the world of talent and work, a factor that is even more crucial when applied to the sectors that rely on shift-based and blue-collar labor.

Last week, global Vendor Management System (VMS) and Extended Workforce Management (EWS) solutions provider Beeline announced that they acquired JoinedUp, a high-volume workforce management platform known for its high-impact automation of shift-based, blue-collar processes concerning talent and work. This acquisition will allow Beeline to expand its already robust and end-to-end functionality into a market that is expected to continue to grow steadily.

“For organizations that rely upon shift-based temporary labor, coordination and communication with partnered staffing agencies is critical,” said Doug Leeby, CEO of Beeline. “The world of high-volume staffing is very different from that of long-term assignments and has many nuances and complexities that have, to date, been underserved. The JoinedUp solution is, without question, a Best-in-Class product designed specifically to improve fulfillment, speed, and accuracy for both the client and the staffing agency.”

VMS technology is not traditionally known for its prowess with shift fulfillment, a hallmark of the JoinedUp platform. As more and more industries, particularly those within healthcare, light industrial, and manufacturing, increasingly tap into and rely on agile talent to get work done, it will become even more critical for site managers to meet goal-fill shifts and ensure positive impacts on overall productivity and production.

What is particularly interesting about this union is the convergence of Beeline’s extended workforce management (and VMS) functionality and JoinedUp’s unique automation around time capture and its link to complex rate calculations. By acquiring JoinedUp, Beeline users (particularly staffing suppliers in high-volume and blue-collar industries) can transform shift fulfillment from being mostly manual in nature to become fast, efficient, and data-fueled.

JoinedUp’s platform offers on-demand automation of unique high-volume workflows that influence the ultimate productivity of a given shift; afforded a deeper and intelligent view of these tasks and processes will allow Beeline’s users to transform how they staff critical-impact shifts and execute on real-time issues that require agile talent decisions.

“Having owned a staffing agency catering to shift-based labor, we experienced the inefficiencies in scheduling, onboarding, reconciling invoices, and manually tracking SLAs,” said Adam Thompson, JoinedUp co-founder and owner. “We created JoinedUp as a solution uniquely focused on improving process and profitability for both clients, and staffing agencies. We are thrilled to be a part of the Beeline family and believe that together, we offer something nobody else in our industry does.”

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.

On Extended Workforce Growth and the Future of Work: A Discussion with Utmost CEO and Co-Founder Annrai O’Toole

Talent Technology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on 05/07/2021

There is no debate as to the role and impact of the extended workforce. Upcoming Ardent Partners research (The State of Contingent Workforce Management 2021) finds that 82% of businesses across the world believe that their extended and agile workforce enabled them (and continues to enable them) with true workforce and staffing scalability in the face of a global pandemic and its far-reaching implications. And, now nearly halfway through 2021, the extended workforce will continue to grow in size and impact: 98% of business leaders stated that this workforce provides critical strategic value to greater enterprise.

Just yesterday, Utmost announced that it secured $21 million in Series B funding. Since its inception in 2018, the Extended Workforce Management System (EWS) platform has not only been passionate about the way businesses harness the power of the agile workforce but has differentiated itself from the contingent workforce solutions market through its unique features, functionality, and forward-thinking innovation.

I had the opportunity to chat with Utmost CEO and co-founder, Annrai O’Toole, about the funding news and what it means for the company:

Christopher J. Dwyer: Congrats on the recent news about the Series B funding. Why did Utmost go the Series B route? And, what attracted the new investor to Utmost?

Annrai O’Toole: A Series B was always in the plan. As you know, enterprise software is complex, and to meet the requirements of Global 1000 companies using Workday, and we needed a top-notch team to build out the key features these customers need.

As for why Mosaic Ventures invested: they recognized the changing nature of work. The legacy systems focused on, as the name suggests, vendor management instead of the entire extended workforce. As your (Ardent Partners) research shows, the typical enterprise workforce is 43% non-employee and only growing (Editor’s note: this figure has grown to 46.5%, as found by upcoming Ardent research). Mosaic recognized this trend, and those enterprises needed a solution to manage this workforce. But not yet another siloed system. Workday customers need an extended workforce system that directly aligns with Workday instead of building and maintaining complex, costly integrations that fail to give total visibility.

CJD: It must have been an exciting experience to fundraise in an entirely virtual environment. What was it like?

AOT: I’m not sure I would depict it as exciting! It was certainly different. It’s a tradeoff of efficiency vs personal connection. No need to fly around to meet people in person so it’s certainly more efficient in that regard. However, you don’t sense people’s body language so it’s harder to gauge how it’s going. Of course, we had none of that this past year, and I know most of your readers went through the same things in their own business. The industry adapted, and VC investment has continued at a strong pace!

CJD: How does Utmost plan to harness the Series B funding?

AOT: We will be primarily accelerating product innovation and expanding sales/marketing presence in North America and Europe. We have lots of great product ideas we want to see come to life: decision-based hiring support, a whole new take on invoice processing and of course our unique “global work graph.” We also want to get that product to as many customers as possible. What that means is we will be hiring – lots: software engineers, excellent product folks, sales, and marketers who can help us deliver value to our customers.

CJD: What can customers expect to see in the future, especially regarding Utmost’s product roadmap and upcoming features and tools?

AOT: First and foremost, our roadmap will adapt to customer needs. Many of the traditional VMS platforms on the market have slow feature release cycles and are essentially still mired in an “on-premise” technology stack. “The difference between a walrus and a gymnast” is how one of our customers referred to a legacy provider and Utmost when it comes to deployment and product innovation.

With that said, there are a few areas that we plan to focus on:

Richer and more context aware sourcing workflows across both role-based and outcome-based engagements with the extended workers.
A “Front Door” to simplify centralize all hiring manager requests for work or workers.
First-rate Supplier and Worker Apps.
Best-in-Class, semantically rich, automation and integration with your key HR system: Workday.

CJD: The VMS and Extended Workforce technology market have grown increasingly competitive over the past 18 or so months. What makes Utmost so different?

AOT: Workday customers choose Utmost because of how closely aligned the software is with Workday. Rather than manage a whole separate data model for your extended workforce, Utmost aligns with Workday so you can achieve total talent management. You need to be able to view and manage your extended workforce in the context of your permanent employees. It is either/or — Total Workforce means seeing both sets of Workers in a semantically consistent environment.

Other VMS platforms can build integrations with Workday, but only Utmost provides these rich behavioral semantics and matches the user interface of Workday to seamlessly synchronize all the relevant data from both systems. It’s that connection that makes the lives of HRIS teams and hiring managers much easier. And from a workforce planning perspective, you can’t do that unless you have a holistic view of the workforce.

Beyond the connection with Workday, Utmost acts as a “Front Door” to all types of work or worker requests. A typical VMS can handle SOW or staff augmentation work requests but cannot oversee contractors very well, and of course, an employee request is siloed from the VMS. Utmost guides hiring managers to the correct type of resource and reduces worker misclassification and simplifies the hiring manager experience. A manager shouldn’t need to know the difference between SOW or staff aug or contractor. She just wants the right resource at the right time to get work done; Utmost enables that.

Lastly, it’s the talent lens. Workers are more than their rate card. They have skills, previous engagements, nd performance scores. That history should travel with the worker. Utmost worker profiles are designed not only for the enterprise but for the worker herself. A robust contingent workforce program simultaneously promotes the worker, the supplier, and the enterprise. Most VMS are built from the enterprise perspective first. Suppliers and workers have to create logins for every new client and no real-time visibility into their engagements.

CJD: Where do you see Utmost in a few years? What does the market look like?

AOT: Fundamentally we believe that the future of work is all about the extended workforce. Over the last 20 years the employee experience has been transformed by enterprise applications. However, the extended workforce has been left behind — it’s in a shadow. Worse than that, we’ve had 20 years of treating the worker as a mere rate card. Utmost wants to shake this all up and bring innovation, visibility, clarity and cohesiveness to the whole extended workforce.

We know that enterprises are really asking for something new in the whole area of the extended workforce. We believe that the market is ready for change too and we’re going to give it our utmost to make things better!

For additional insights from Christopher and Annrai, check out their discussion on the Contingent Workforce Weekly podcast.

20 Thoughts for 2021: Future of Work Edition

General Insights Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 05/03/2021

Below we have 21 thoughts for 2021 related to the Future of Work:

Whether or not you despise terms such as “new normal” or “next normal,” most of 2021 for businesses will be spent dealing with 2020-esque issues on top of adapting to a “changed” world of work.
To that effect, is it time for businesses to create a “Chief New Normal Officer” role?
Before we even get started on technology and innovation, no business should be thinking about the optimization impact of automation without first reevaluating their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
And, speaking of D&I, this idea traverses beyond merely checking a box: in 2021, more so than ever before, diversity and inclusion will be true competitive drivers in an increasingly-globalized economy.
And let’s talk about that economy: businesses must know the difference between a weirdly-strong stock market and the reality of unemployment on the ground, and how this major gap will continue to affect the scalability of hiring in the first half of 2021.
That word, scalability, means so much more than ever before. Businesses must equate scalability with agility if they want to thrive in yet another uncertain and unprecedented year.
Procurement, meet HR. HR, meet procurement. Let’s make 2021 the year of true total talent management by blending the best attributes of each function!
Pre-pandemic, direct sourcing was perhaps the hottest topic in the world of talent. Mid-pandemic, it proved to be an invaluable strategy in the face of hiring uncertainty. In 2021, direct sourcing continues this push…and every organization should implement some measure of talent pool development if they haven’t done so already.
Also, on that topic: businesses should understand that direct sourcing automation (i.e., true direct sourcing platforms) and branded direct sourcing services (ala MSP-like services) will be the solutions that push direct sourcing even further in the year ahead.
Supply chain disruptions were expected to occur even before the pandemic hit due to escalating trade tensions around the world. With the pandemic’s unprecedented disruptions upsetting the world’s global supply chain, there were major lessons to be learned. Old-school and traditional supply chains are now primed for touchless, agile, and AI-led processes to improve the overall flow of goods and products.
Another ramification of the pandemic? “The biggest remote work experiment in global history.” Now that we’re nearly 10 months removed from the initial shock of the “work-from-anywhere” approach, businesses are finding that productivity hasn’t waned, but rather been enhanced due to a lack of unnecessary in-person meetings, long commutes, etc.
And there’s so much more to the remote work revolution than just acceptance and implementation of WFH approaches: embracing the work-from-anywhere model is just the initial step. Business leaders must optimize the remote work infrastructure through unified communications and more innovative collaborative tools, like virtual reality. While I’m not advocating for every business to create video-game-like VR environments for their workplaces, slowly integrating similar technologies into the remote infrastructure should help boost the overall employee experience, even if they’re at home.
Speaking of business leaders: leadership must change in 2021. It’s not an option. 2020 was an unprecedented year (take a shot, those still playing 2020 bingo!) and many facets of traditional corporate leadership were tested beyond their limits. Flexibility and empathy should be the foundational elements of business leadership not just in 2021, but also moving forward.
I understand that it can be difficult for business leaders to give more of their patience in the year ahead. However, the one common element of the pandemic was that it affected everyone…meaning that white-collar and blue-collar workers alike experienced similar hardships, such as a lack of daycare due to remote or closed schools. Talent is a company’s #1 competitive differentiator, so: business leaders, do what you can to lead with an empathetic approach if you want to keep that talent.
The “talent experience” was an incredible facet of the pre-pandemic business world, and, if there’s one attribute of life in 2019 that should make a return to 2021 it’s the overall experience of all types of work (both FTEs and non-employees). Individuals with unique or advanced skillsets will have amazing opportunities as the world gets back to a steady state; therefore, it is imperative that businesses do all that they can do to keep their highly-valued workers on-board through robust talent experience efforts.
There’s another concept with the word “talent” in it that is oft-overlooked: talent sustainability. Businesses already understand the value of both agility and flexibility in regard to their staffing and workforce initiatives. However, what happens if principles such as talent redeployment, talent pools, and direct sourcing become even more integrated into the realm of agile talent? The answer: a sustainable, “redeployable,” and agile stream of talent that is leveraged as needed in a dynamic manner.
The elephant in the conference room: do businesses mandate that their employees receive the COVID-19 vaccine when it is available for their age group (besides the front line, of course)? Can businesses even mandate something like this? Expect this conversation to occur soon if it hasn’t yet already.
We haven’t even discussed data yet! Wow. Well, to no one’s surprise: data and intelligence are going to be critical in a post-COVID world. Businesses must do whatever they can, and, of course, harness the power of innovation and automation, to gain as much visibility into their total workforce as possible. Not only is “total talent intelligence” a gateway to the realm of total talent management, but it will also help business leaders (hello HR, hello procurement) understand where their workers are, what they are working on, and any compliance risks that are apparent. Also, in a public health-conscious environment, businesses can leverage total talent intelligence to move on-site work to remote if needed (and vice versa) and measure global locations in relation to virus hotspots and more.
Another discussion about data: in 2019, news regarding artificial intelligence and machine learning ruled the business realm. This, of course, took a backseat over the past year. Businesses lightly understood the value of bringing AI into how they execute strategic talent, staffing, and workforce decisions, however, 2021 is the year that AI is fully ensconced into both contingent workforce management and talent acquisition. Businesses must harness the power of AI to better understand how to attract passive candidates, the markets in which to target, and the variability around skillsets and expertise around the world.
If you read the news (how can you not?), the early weeks of 2021 are literally an extension of 2020. However, the one major difference: there is more hope. There is optimism. The fantastic Angela Rasmussen said on Twitter: there is a light at the top as we continue to climb up from the dark well that was 2020. There will be hard work ahead, but we must keep climbing. We know these times will soon get better, that the darkness will subside. It’ll just take some time; and, that is what business leaders around the globe must drill into their minds: that we’ve already spent nearly a year living in the strangest of times and that the end is in sight. Hope and optimism can be incredible levers when the collective personal, social, and business realms are already exhausted.
Finally: if there’s anything that we learned from 2020, it’s that businesses should expect the unexpected, that the steady ground we seek from the past is still a bit shaky from the experiences of the past 12 months. Innovative thinking can be a force to get through these challenging times. Looking ahead, the Future of Work movement has so much to offer from strategic, talent, staffing, technology, and business transformation perspectives. In 2021, businesses will get back to doing what they do best: optimizing how work is done.

The Future of Total Talent Management

Contingent Workforce Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 04/30/2021

Back in 2016, I wrote and developed a research study called The Modern Guide to Total Talent Management, which included this passage:

The very simple argument for building or developing a total talent management program (defined by Ardent as the standardized and centralized program for engaging, acquiring, sourcing, and managing all types of talent via linked procurement and human capital processes, integrated contingent workforce management and human capital management systems, and utilization of total talent intelligence) that can be stripped down to a primary advantage: the contemporary talent supply chain is diverse, multifaceted, and spread across numerous sources (both legacy and fresh). Thus, the businesses that can effectively find, engage, source, and ultimately manage this talent under a centralized program will be rewarded with the visibility to execute far superior business decisions in a real-time manner. Relative to the adoption and implementation of total talent programs, it is no wonder that while only 16% of organizations have this type of program in place today, a majority (58%) expect to make total talent management a reality within the next two years.

Over the past few years, Ardent’s deep collection of contingent workforce management (CWM) and talent acquisition research data reflects a similar refrain: companies believes in the concepts and ideals behind total workforce management (a phrase I use interchangeably with “total talent management”), understand its value and impact, and even anticipate having the ability to build such a program within a matter of just 18 months or two years.

So, here we are, in 2020 (albeit a very strange year, indeed), and Ardent’s research reflects similar messaging around the notion of total talent management. Why is this the case? A few reasons come to mind, including:

Most obvious: a global pandemic disrupting all HR-, talent-, and procurement-related operations.
A misalignment within talent engagement and talent acquisition processes (contingent workforce management included).
A great divide between functional units, such as procurement. HR/human capital management, and talent acquisition, and;
A lack of the proper solutions and technology to bring together the core pieces of total talent management.

The foundational elements of total talent management include a total talent network, integrated procurement/HR/CWM competencies, integrated contingent workforce and HR technology, and total talent intelligence (gleaned from the aforementioned integrated capabilities and platforms). The benefit: real-time decision-making when it comes to talent, resulting in a truly agile workforce.

It may be a running joke that 2020 is one of the worst years on record, however, if anything, businesses must look to the experiences of the past seven or eight months and use this knowledge to better understand how they manage the many facets of their workforce to not only get work done, but drive overall better business outcomes. Total talent management is often a polarizing topic because of what seems like its core limitations: there are serious compliance concerns for treating non-employees like FTEs, procurement-led CWM programs will never fully understand or buy into hardcore human capital concepts such as succession planning, an inability to offer across-the-board reskilling/upskilling opportunities, etc.

However, the very future of total talent management depends on how well we’ve adapted to these uncertain times, and, most importantly, how agile we can transform our businesses based on this knowledge. Total talent management isn’t the same set of ideals it was just a few years ago, but rather takes into account the innovation within the workforce management technology landscape, the new strategies that can help businesses tap into new and deeper channels of talent, and the adaptation to new staffing/workforce trends.

With this in mind, the future of total talent management hinges on:

The success of direct sourcing programs and initiatives and how businesses continue to drive incredible value from talent pools. (And, to a larger extent, how candidates from these talent pools are widely reflected in enterprise recruitment streams).
The enhancement of diversity and inclusion initiatives to bolster innovation and bring new voices into the organization.
Procurement and HR working together for the greater good of business agility.
The ability for business leaders to tap into total talent intelligence that is a true, real-time representation of the total workforce (via data gleaned from HRIS, VMS, ATS, etc. platforms).
Capabilities for scaling learning and development across types of workers.

I’ll reiterate a phrase I’ve been saying for years: total talent management is for real. Businesses just need to reimagine its foundational components, understand the technological aspects involved, prioritize the collection of total talent data, and, most importantly, begin to build a culture of change around all attributes of talent. We’ve learned one incredibly useful aspect from a strange 2020: agility is crucial, thus, agile talent is critical. Total talent management, for most organizations, may still be months (or years) away, however, its underlying elements are what will assist in driving true workforce agility now (in challenging times) and in the future.

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.