DE&I Archives - The Future of Work Exchange

What’s Your 2025 MSP Strategy?

Contingent Workforce Direct Sourcing General Insights by Christopher J. Dwyer on 01/06/2025

Managed Service Providers (MSP) have long been an extended workforce management powerhouse. The MSP model has long been a cornerstone of contingent workforce management, offering comprehensive solutions for businesses seeking to outsource their staffing operations. However, as the enterprise workforce landscape has undergone significant transformations in recent years, MSPs have evolved to meet these new challenges head-on. Over the past three decades, MSPs have established themselves as the premier and most established solution in the workforce technology and services market.

This begs the question: how are the major trends heading into 2025, such as direct sourcing, AI, and skills-based hiring, for example, changing how businesses leverage MSPs? What goes into an official “playbook” for optimizing utilization of an MSP model?

Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange have teamed up with Atrium for an exclusive webcast focused on major 2025 headwinds within the staffing, HR, contingent workforce, and talent acquisition markets and their impact on the Managed Service Provider model.

I’m thrilled to join Atrium’s Chief Revenue Officer, Brad Martin, for an engaging event that will highlight:

The digitization of talent management. Leveraging AI-driven analytics, automated workflows, and integrated platforms to create a more responsive and intelligent workforce program.
Strategic program design. Building flexible, tailored MSP solutions that align with an organization’s culture, industry challenges, and growth objectives.
The next-generation DE&I initiative. Creating measurable pathways to expand diverse talent channels, eliminate bias in selection processes, and foster inclusive contingent workforce programs.
Reimagining the value of the MSP. Balancing cost efficiency with quality outcomes through data-driven decision making, strategic sourcing, and enhanced supplier partnerships, and;
The link between MSPs and the Future of Work. How do MSPs support Future of Work-driven strategies, such as direct sourcing and skills-based hiring?

Click here or on the image below to register. See you then!

The Future of Work Is a Humanized Workplace

Business Leadership by Christopher J. Dwyer on 11/27/2024

Mental health and wellness have unfortunately long been neglected attributes of the corporate world. However, in a business climate that places the utmost emphasis on talent retention and a focus on becoming “destination of choice” workplaces, this concept is changing quickly. As awareness of the importance of mental well-being grows (and employee burnout continues to rage), enterprises are beginning to realize that managing employees’ mental health is not just a moral imperative, but it also benefits the greater business in multiple ways.

The World Health Organization has found that one in four people globally will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives; and, the cost of untreated mental health issues to the global economy is estimated to be in the trillions of dollars. Poor mental health, from a workplace perspective, often results in disengagement, increased absenteeism, a lack of productivity, and more frequent turnover.

The movement towards focusing on corporate mental health and wellness seems to be evolving, though. Recent research from Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange discovered that 93% of business leaders actively prioritized mental health (and mental health awareness) as part of their leadership styles, a far cry from years past when this critical issue was near nowhere to be found.

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.

Employee Experience and the Power of Engagement

Business Leadership Diversity and Inclusion General Insights HR Talent by John Yuva on 08/05/2024

One business constant over the last four years is uncertainty. Whether it’s the economy, geopolitics, or the overall market, enterprises must contend with that sense of the unknown. As such, having a flexible and agile workforce is essential when market dynamics shift. Flexibility and agility often derive from employee experience (EX) initiatives. Organizations that prioritize employee experience are more internally aligned and can better pivot when needs arise.

However, essential to employee experience is understanding that it goes beyond employee satisfaction. Rather, it is a strategic imperative that directly influences organizational culture, success, and the ability to navigate an ever-changing business landscape.

Employee Experience Begins and Ends with Engagement

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model from the Future of Work Exchange.

Click here to learn more.

The Most Powerful Future Of Work Tool? Our Minds.

Business Leadership by Christopher J. Dwyer on 07/01/2024

There is often a major discussion around the technology-led attributes of the Future of Work movement, particularly with artificial intelligence (AI) garnering headlines and encompassing the average LinkedIn feed. However, entering a new year, there should just as much conversation around another key facet of the Future of Work: the transformation of business thinking.

This space and most of the Future of Work Exchange’s thought leadership revolves around the concepts of automation, technology, and the platforms revolutionizing the greater world of work and talent. In fact, our definition of the Future of Work pointedly refers to these advancements: the evolution of talent engagement and talent management through new technology, as well as the introduction of exciting platforms that are actively pushing the boundaries of “work optimization,” are two distinct components at the very core of this movement.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

Click here to learn more.

The Future of Work Exchange Podcast, Episode 715: A Conversation With Christy Forest, CEO and Executive Director at LiveHire

Podcast by Christopher J. Dwyer on 02/08/2024

The Future of Work Exchange Podcast welcomes Christy Forest, CEO and Executive Director at LiveHire, to discuss the current state of direct sourcing, the future of this high-impact strategy, the reality of total talent management, and much more.

This week’s podcast, sponsored by Worksuite, also highlights the importance of “balance” between human-centricity and digital evolution.

DE&I and Balancing Business and Human Imperatives

Business Leadership Diversity and Inclusion General Insights HR Podcast Solution Providers Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 09/18/2023

The Future of Work movement would not be what it is without Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) playing a significant part in the paradigm. A decade ago, diversity was associated more with supplier initiatives focused on Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses. The term has evolved and expanded into DE&I where the human element is now the priority.

A recent Future of Work Exchange Podcast hosted by Christopher Dwyer, managing director for FOWX, featured Rocki Howard, chief equity and impact officer for The Mom Project, who discussed the role and impact of DE&I on the Future of Work movement.

The Mom Project is a digital talent and community platform serving 1.2 million users (the majority being moms as well as over 3,000 companies from small- to medium-sized businesses to Fortune 500).

This article recaps some of that discussion. Note that this excerpt has been edited for readability.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model from the Future of Work Exchange.

Click here to learn more.

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

Business Leadership by Christopher J. Dwyer on 08/28/2023

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.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

Click here to learn more.

Optimize Your Workforce with Recession-Proof Strategies, Part Three

Business Leadership Contingent Workforce Diversity and Inclusion General Insights HR Talent Technology and Innovation Uncategorized by John Yuva on 08/14/2023

Today concludes our three-part series exploring several contingent and workforce strategies to achieve a recession-proof enterprise.

We’re now two months into the second half of 2023 and economically speaking, things are looking positive. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that GDP grew 2.4% in the second quarter of 2023. The labor market remains tight with unemployment at 3.6%, a rate not witnessed in decades. However, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the tight labor market provides the Federal Reserve with the flexibility to continue raising interest rates to fight inflation. Currently, inflation rests at 3%, a percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve’s longer-run goal of 2%.

Does the state of the current U.S. economy equate to a “soft landing” and the evasion of a recession? Maybe, maybe not.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

Click here to learn more.

The Future of Work Exchange Podcast, Episode 708: A Conversation With Rocki Howard, Chief Equity and Impact Officer at The Mom Project

Podcast by Christopher J. Dwyer on 07/13/2023

The Future of Work Exchange Podcast welcomes Rocki Howard, Chief Equity and Impact Officer at The Mom Project, to discuss the evolution of diversity and the role (and impact) of DE&I on the Future of Work movement.

In addition, this week’s podcast looks back on last month’s Future of Work Exchange LIVE event in Boston and chats about recent inflation news and its link to the volatile labor market.

The Top Four DE&I Strategies in 2023

Business Leadership Diversity and Inclusion Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 05/25/2023

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) is a foundational element of the Future of Work movement. Inclusive workplace cultures, diverse workforces, and equitable treatment of talent are all critical attributes of successful organizations. Today on the Future of Work Exchange, we present an exclusive infographic, The Top Four DE&I Strategies in 2023.