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Two Years Later…

Business Leadership by Christopher J. Dwyer on 03/10/2022

In some regards, it feels like it was just yesterday. To some of us, it feels like forever ago. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic and began what was (and continues to be) a tumultuous disruption on all things related to both our personal and professional lives.

Do you remember that week? I’m sure you do. The rampant confusion, the anxiety, and the uncertainty? Do you recall the moment it “hit” for you? Was it that week, or was it when your company instituted an immediate work-from-home policy? Was it the moment that your kids were forced to stay home from school?

We all have our own stark reminders and memories of the earliest days of the pandemic. I remember picking up my son’s ride-on truck at a local fix-it shop; the owner, a retired industrial mechanic, asked me to keep a distance and had a surgical mask in his fleece pocket. “I’m closing down the shop for at least the next 30 days,” he told me as I was leaving.

There was a haze over our family that Friday, when the country began to panic-buy items at stores (we certainly remember this, right?). My wife and mother-in-law went to our local Target and came back with $400 in various household staples. The moment it really sunk in, however, was reacting to a robocall from the town’s school superintendent, who stated that the following week’s classes were canceled in lieu of the emerging health crisis. It was only a matter of days before my kids began their first days of remote learning, not to return to a classroom for nearly nine months. And it was only a little a month from then when my uncle, a person whom is ingrained in many of my childhood memories, succumbed to COVID in April 2020. I look back, too, on the day of his funeral, an overcast morning in which limited members of my family would be masked and several feet apart around his grave site, something I know so many of you experienced, as well.

No matter where you were on March 11, 2020, there is no doubt that the pandemic touched your life in some profound manner. When we look back on two years of disruption, transformation, uncertainty, and trauma, there are various ways that we, as humans, have been changed. I’ve often said (many times on the Future of Work Exchange Podcast), that it’s incredibly tough to point to a “silver lining” during a pandemic that has killed over 6 million people across the world. I’d rather think of it this way: we were forced into change, both personally and professionally, and from that, our world was transformed. Think about how many facets of everyday work life have been altered; think of the Future of Work tenets that were rapidly accelerated over the past two years:

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) becoming the preeminent, non-technological components of the Future of Work coming to bear.
Remote and hybrid workplaces not only serving as lifelines for business continuity, but dramatically transforming the way enterprises think about how they get work done.
The extended workforce not only rising in size and prominence, but also in strategic value: 82% of businesses in Future of Work Exchange research stated that the non-employee workforce served as a means of flexibility and agility during the most trying times of the past two years.
The criticality of “flexibility” in all of its forms permeating throughout the symbiotic world of talent and work.
The rise of empathy-led leadership and business leaders integrating more “human” elements into how they manage their workforce.
More emphasis on the overall experiences of both candidates and hiring managers as they traverse both a “Great Resignation” and a “Talent Revolution.”
The continued importance of digital transformation, especially as the events of 2020 forced businesses to operate without traditional in-person processes in place.
“Recruit from anywhere” becoming a viable, trusted, and powerful way for businesses to leverage talent marketplaces, digital staffing, direct sourcing, and enhanced candidate outreach to find, engage, and source top-tier talent.
Direct sourcing emerging as perhaps the most innovative, talent-led strategy within the talent acquisition spectrum.
Purposeful work becoming a foundation of how workers and professionals plan the next steps of their careers.

In totality, the past two years have been a time of trauma, disruption, and loss. They’ve also sparked a revolution of talent, a reimagining of how work gets done, and new applications for technology and innovation.

“The Great Resignation” is Not An Economic Trend

Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 03/03/2022

Here’s a definition of “The Great Resignation” from old friend Wikipedia:

The Great Resignation, also known as the Big Quit, is an ongoing economic trend in which employees have voluntarily resigned from their jobs en masse, beginning in early 2021, primarily in the United States.

While I understand that Wikipedia is easily editable and can sometimes contain basic misinformation regarding history, politics, etc., what is represented in the above definition is unfortunately a common line of thinking in today’s frenetic world of business.

Even though aspects like “flexibility” and “remote work” are buried in that Wikipedia entry, the focus on economic thinking muddles The Great Resignation into a conversation around employees wanting more financial power as they traverse year three of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Remember, my friends, there’s a much clearer reason for this Big Quit, and it has little to do with money: it’s a “Talent Revolution,” and we’re all witnessing it first-hand as enterprises face staffing shortages, business leaders grapple with new models of working, and workers focus their energy on finding positions that bring value and purpose into their lives.

The Future of Work Exchange has been incredibly bullish about the Talent Revolution over the past few months, and rightfully so: placing the focus for tens of millions of voluntarily resignations squarely on economic factors misses the greater concept at hand…that the modern-day workforce has empowered themselves to transform the symbiotic links between “talent” and “employers,” all in the quest for more flexible, purposeful, and meaningful work.

Does The Great Resignation have economic consequences? Of course, let’s not kid ourselves. Staffing shortages are ravaging the financials of businesses, play a pivotal role in certain aspects of today’s inflation crisis, and, of course, contribute to product and supply chain disruptions across the world. (Also, as a side note: rising energy costs and fuel expenses are another complicated layer to the business arena today, as is the ongoing crisis in the Ukraine and its global financial and supply ramifications, as well.)

But these are consequences of a larger issue, one that has only been exacerbated by a global health crisis that has unfortunately shined a very, very bright light on the inequities and rigidity of today’s workplace and workforce structure. There is an underlying inequity in how workers are treated, how they are paid, how they are provided benefits, and how flexible their roles are considering the tremendous change in the world of talent and work over the last two years.

The Talent Revolution was always on its way; it’s unfortunate that it has resulted in an across-the-board, jarring “Big Quit” that has shaken the way businesses deal with extreme staffing shortages. However, there’s a reason equity, inclusion, better working conditions, and flexibility have become so critical: this is the power the workforce should have.

Every worker deserves a position that serves and aligns with his, her, or their purpose. Every worker deserves the flexibility to attend to personal and private needs and achieve a better work-life integration. And, every worker deserves equitable treatment, safe working conditions, and an inclusive culture that inspires them to thrive, think, speak, and innovate.

The NFL’s Diversity Problem Is a Wake-Up Call For the Business World

Diversity and Inclusion by Christopher J. Dwyer on 02/17/2022

If you don’t know the story by now, here’s a quick recap from Mother Jones:

Earlier this week, former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit accusing the league of “systemic racism” and identified examples of teams conducting “sham interviews” with Black coaching candidates without any intention of hiring them.

As evidence, he included text messages with New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick that seem to show Belichick congratulating Flores for winning the New York Giants coaching job days before Flores had even interviewed. In fact, Belichick had meant to text Brian Daboll, who would eventually be named coach. Roughly 70 percent of NFL players are Black, but the only Black head coach out of 32 teams is Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin.

There’s a little more to this story, including claims by Flores that he was offered $100,000 per game lost in the 2019 season in order to secure a higher draft pick. That issue, which may end up costing Dolphins owner Stephen Ross his franchise, is only a piece of this entire saga.

The bigger trouble at hand, of course, is this: the NFL has a HUGE diversity problem.

At the time of Flores’ suit, there was only a single Black coach in the NFL (Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers). Years ago, to boost the diversity profile of its coaching candidates, the NFL introduced the “Rooney Rule,” in which the league mandates that teams interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior-level football positions. This clearly has not worked to improve the diversity across the NFL’s coaching ranks.

The rule was adopted and mandated in 2003, when there three Black head coaches in the league. Today? There are three Black head coaches in the league. Something’s not right.

During last week’s Super Bowl media week, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated that “a diverse workforce is a better workforce.” (Has he been reading the Future of Work Exchange?) Well, clearly, Goodell cannot be trusted to follow through on this statement, especially because he’s more known for needlessly aggressive punishment for naturally deflated footballs than he is for his track record on diversity.

Granted, the NFL is a different beast than the typical organization in the business arena. Interviews are publicly known, there’s always conjecture about who is going to move where, etc. However, when a multi-billion-dollar entity (not to mention America’s most-watched sport) cannot effectively leverage its vast resources to improve its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) goals, what type of example does that set for every other corporation?

DE&I has become perhaps the most critical non-technological component of the Future of Work movement. Nearly 84% of businesses today say they expect to develop a more inclusive workplace environment over the next 12 months, a statistic that accurately reflects just how important it is for an enterprise to prioritize how it handles diversity and diverse hiring.

The NFL has incredible resources at its disposal; it could easily develop a Chief Diversity Officer (which nearly 70% of businesses expect to implement within their ranks by the end of 2023) that is accountable to all 32 team owners, not to mention the fans and the media. It could create reskilling and upskilling opportunities for diverse coaching candidates to ensure that there is no excuse for passing over diverse talent when major positions are open. And, it should re-tool the Rooney Rule in a manner that moves away from incentives and pushes a better strategy (one of Flores’ issues, which is 100% on point, is that Rooney Rule-led interviews are often shams, as was his with the Giants and Broncos).

For businesses across the globe, this should be a wake-up call. DE&I should be top-of-mind for every organization; “The Great Resignation” is tearing apart the traditional measures of talent acquisition, leaving businesses scrambling to find top-tier skillsets and expertise. Diversity is a gateway into innovation and business progression, enabling organizations with a deeper, more robust community of hyper-qualified candidates that can drive better business outcomes. The “Talent Revolution” at hand dictates that enterprises do all that they can to become more attractive to workers…and that starts by building a diverse and inclusive workplace environment (and culture!).

The NFL’s Rooney Rule has been nothing but a “box-checker” for nearly two decades. The parallels with “diverse spend” goals are uncanny, aren’t they? This is why the NFL’s diversity issues should hit close to home for business leaders. The NFL needs to do more; that’s wildly apparent. And so don’t typical businesses, as well. Fast Company published a piece nearly a year after the George Floyd protests and found that while dozens of the world’s biggest tech companies collectively donated nearly $3.8 billion to charities, there was little movement on the actual change within their organizations; even though societal change was at the forefront of talent acquisition, diverse talent represented a tiny percentage of engineering or leadership roles.

Right now, it is feared that the NFL will take a similar approach and throw money at charity, spin these issues into marketing and communications fluff, and hope that everything blows over. For the business arena, leaders should take a much, much different approach: start truly investing in diverse talent, provide opportunities for growth and upskilling, and, most importantly, view DE&I as a true gateway to innovation, a deeper workforce, and better business outcomes.

No, For Real: We’re Not Going Back

Business Leadership by Christopher J. Dwyer on 02/15/2022

Last summer, I wrote why the business arena was never going back to “normal,” my arguments owed to the fact that the vast majority of enterprises across the world were now operating in a corporate landscape that encouraged flexibility, innovation, and new and strategic ways of getting work done.

That was in the summer, a time when most of us were just a few weeks removed from being fully-vaccinated and ready for some semblance of normalcy in our personal lives. Could we attend a sporting event in-person? Could our kids finally return to school full-time? Would we be able to have dinner with our older relatives?

We now know that the Delta variant of the coronavirus had much different plans. And, shortly on the heels of that surge, Omicron brought its own playbook.

So now we’re within the end of the winter months. Many of the cities and states that experienced horrible caseloads and hospitalizations around the 2021 holidays and into January are now seeing those waves start to subside. And, inevitably, as things gets better, that question makes its return:

When do things get back to normal?

I was struck by this article in The New York Times by Charles M. Blow this past weekend. Blow writes:

All of us, I believe, were simply waiting to see when our lives would reset, and what the new normal would look like. We still believed that if we did the right things — at least if enough of us did them — that the pandemic would pass and things would snap back to the way they were.

But, as each month passed, and then each year, it became more and more clear that COVID would most likely move from pandemic to endemic.

There are many reasons why our personal lives will never return to normal, given the tremendous change we’ve collectively experienced over the past two years. Blow’s article, “There Is No Post-COVID,” illustrates how “COVID has made us reconsider everything, the meaning of home and work, the value of public space, the magnitude and immediacy of death, what it truly means to be a member of a society. We are still finding the answers to those questions, but the America we knew ended in 2019.”

While business itself doesn’t straddle the line between life and death, a novel virus that has upended the lives of billions of people across the world was always likely to bring permanent change to the way we work, how we work, and, of course, why we work. There should not be a single business leader that could honestly ponder when we would return to the “normal” ways of getting work done.

Societal change has dictated that we invest in and prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion. Technological change has pushed us into new realms of digital transformation and automation. Leadership has transitioned into empathy-led business culture that pushes the “human” side of business into the forefront. Talent has undergone a revolution that has fundamentally altered the relationship between a business and its workforce, resulting in a “Great Resignation” that will forever transform the dynamics of talent engagement and talent acquisition.

We can see, however, how businesses would apply Blow’s quote above to their corporate world. Those early months of the pandemic, well, more like the first year (before the first vaccine campaigns), heavily-dictated just how much we in the business arena yearned for those halcyon days of 2019. No masks, no social distancing, no supply chain disruptions, no economic uncertainty. Instead, we faced layoffs, furloughs, and a veritable rollercoaster ride that seemingly had no end.

But the world has changed tremendously since then, both from personal and professional perspectives. Remote and hybrid workspaces are flourishing, while the power has shifted to the worker in today’s revolutionary war for talent. Businesses now know that the volatility of today’s market can be flipped to become competitive advantages. The economy is thriving. “Adaptation” has become a foundation for the future. Digitization has come full circle and is now driving innovation within the business stratosphere.

And, most important of all: the Future of Work has been realized.

How Hidden Biases Can Affect Hiring And Diversity Initiatives

Diversity and Inclusion by Featured Contributor on 02/14/2022

[Today’s guest contribution was written by the team at Prosperix.]

Businesses often pride themselves on their diversity initiatives in the workplace, but the hidden danger of recruiting bias means limiting your candidate options during the hiring process. Maybe you don’t even know you’re doing it, but everyone has internal biases, whether consciously or unconsciously. Besides the most common bias that is already being tackled, like gender bias in hiring, the workplace is rife with unconscious bias, and since you aren’t aware of it, it’s hard to stamp out. It’s detrimental to both current and prospective employees, recruiters, and the companies themselves. Unconscious bias can inhibit diversity, recruitment efforts, promotions, and the retention rate in companies. For being an unknown factor, bias has a lot of harmful side effects.

Are You Guilty of These Common Biases?

The good news is that once you know about your own hidden biases, you can take steps to correct them with knowledge and training. This means that you won’t always be affected by them, or, if you are, at least to a lesser extent. What exactly are these biases that might be affecting your hiring decisions? Listed below are some of the more prevalent ones:

Confirmation bias: Confirmation bias means you only take in information that confirms your beliefs and ignore everything else. It also means you don’t look for details or under the surface since you believe your first impression. If you see a well-dressed candidate or resume or both, and you think that means they are a good candidate, then you will ignore anything negative about them after that. This generally means that you form your opinion, positive or negative, based on one detail (like from a resume) and simply see everything as confirming that opinion or as unimportant if contrary.
Affinity bias: This is where you identify with a candidate based on a similar or likable trait, so you act warmer towards them during the interview and speak better of them afterward. There was no fundamental basis for this warmth, just a feeling, which is subjective and can hurt other candidates.
Similarity bias (Ingroup bias): Similarity bias means you want to hire those most like you (same group interests or hobbies, etc.). While this is a great way to make friends, it’s not a successful tactic for hiring the best, unless they are applying for your job. You need to remember that most jobs have different competencies and, on top of that, you want diversity in the workplace.
Projection bias: You believe that others share your own goals, beliefs, etc., and so you think they’d be suitable for the company you are hiring for. But people have their own priorities and goals that have nothing to do with you and yours, so assuming this just leads to confusion and disappointment.
Halo effect: The halo effect is where you think that since the person is good at A, they will also be good at B, C, and D. But you need to see if they have the requisite skills and not judge the candidate based on one trait.
Pitchfork effect: This is the opposite of the halo effect where you see or hear something negative and then assume all of the candidate’s other traits are negative too. For example, during an interview, if the candidate answers the first couple of questions badly, you think they’ll answer everything that way and assume they’re not qualified for the job.
Status quo bias: The status quo bias is where you like everything the way it is and want it to stay that way. There are two sides to this coin: a) You are only looking for past experience to find a good candidate, which means you miss out on someone just entering the field, but who could be perfect. This means you keep focusing on those already in the field while ignoring fresh talent. Alternatively, if you are filling a previously held position by someone you liked, you’ll try to get a carbon copy of them in the next hire, which adds internal blinders to your search for the best candidate.
Nonverbal bias/Effective Heuristic: This is where you judge a candidate’s ability to do the job based on a superficial trait like tattoos or body weight. However, a one-dimensional characteristic doesn’t mean you can perform a full analysis to see if they are qualified. (It’s also dangerous on legal grounds, beware.) For example, if you think CEOs should be tall, then you will discount anyone shorter than your assumed cut-off height.
Expectation Anchor: If you are convinced that an earlier candidate was the best for the job, you don’t consider any of the later candidates even while still conducting interviews.
Contrast effect: The contrast effect happens when you see a ton of resumes or interviews in a row, and so you start to compare how they are to the previous candidates, even though you should be comparing individual skills and experiences to the job posting only.
Conformity bias: This bias is where, if you form a different opinion than the rest of a group, you’re more likely to change your mind to agree with them. This can be seen as the “Majority rules” idea or the “Mob mentality” that happens when a group of people form and one idea takes hold even when not everyone agrees with it.

There are quite a few biases you need to be aware of which makes hiring an even more difficult process. As, you don’t even realize that you might be missing out on the best candidates when you believe your first impressions and take things at face value.

Tips to Overcome Unconscious Hiring Bias

Refine Job Descriptions

Different words attract different candidates. Hence, it is essential to choose the right words while writing job descriptions. Job descriptions act as a primary filter and can in fact influence both the hiring process and the candidate’s opinion of the business brand, even before they get into the interview. While writing your job descriptions pay attention to making them standardized, job role-specific, and inclusive of supporting all forms of diversity.

Use a Hiring Marketplace

Hiring Marketplaces offer businesses a wide variety of candidates to choose from, with varying sets of skills and diversities. An open marketplace encourages anyone to apply and helps remove intrinsic bias. Rather than scrutinizing a worker’s background, this model gets to the heart of what matters most: finding talent that performs and produces results at the highest level. Moreover, modern-day Hiring Marketplaces built using the latest technology help in bias-free candidate matching by using smart algorithms and assessments to objectively match the best candidates with the right skills and motivations to the relevant jobs.

Improve Interview Processes

While conducting an interview, it is important to stick to a structured process so that everyone answers the same standardized questions. This makes it easier to compare candidate abilities without being influenced by superficial traits. It is also helpful to ask behavioral questions to see how candidates have reacted in the past to assess possible future situations.

Additionally, try to have many pairs of eyes on the interview, either with a transcript or with a panel interview. You could even try to have live or recorded phone or video interviews so that more people can hear the candidate and weigh in on the matter.After conducting the interview, take a minute to see if you are dismissing or pushing forward a specific candidate. Is this action based on actual concrete data from their resume, skills test, or interview, or is it based on something else like a gut feeling or a physical characteristic? If it’s the latter, then you are being biased. Once you recognize a bias, you need to get back on track for an objective analysis. You need to train yourself out of making decisions based on superficial traits (appearance, culture, comfort level during the interview, etc.) and look deeper. If you still have issues, you need to ask better questions during the interview or look into interview training. You need to avoid making snap decisions since they are not the best way to hire someone. Don’t forget to test your conclusions. This is where reference checks come in. Always verify that the candidate is who and what they say they are.

Explore Digital Solutions to Curb Hiring Bias

Just as we can’t remove emotions from people, we can’t suppress their biases. However, by deploying the right digital workforce solutions, businesses can eliminate hiring biases to a great extent. Prosperix aims to help businesses identify and conquer all forms of hiring biases to onboard exceptional professionals — regardless of who they are or where they came from. Our solution is a combination of the latest technology catalyzed with our white glove MSP/VMS services that guarantee organizations the best hiring outcomes. We reinforce technology with active human curation to handpick and thoroughly vet candidates before presenting them to businesses. Since we are a certified tier 1 diverse supplier, all hires made through Prosperix’s VMS count towards tier 1 diversity spend, and our built-in AI makes hiring outstanding candidates easy, matching you to the most capable suppliers and candidates in real-time.

The Extended Workforce is a Cornerstone of the Future of Work

Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 01/26/2022

Over the past several months, I have been focused on (amongst many other research findings) a key statistic in Future of Work Exchange research: 47% of the average organization’s total workforce is considered “extended” or “non-employee.” This means that nearly half of the staff surrounding you (or, of course, working remotely) is comprised of temporary staff, SOW-based labor or professional services, gig workers, independent contractors, freelancers, etc.

Back in 2014, based on the trajectory of the growth of the contingent workforce, Ardent Partners had boldly predicted that it was a matter of when, not if, this workforce comprised half of the average company’s total staff. “Accelerants” along the way, particularly the growth of digital staffing, advanced Vendor Management Systems, Managed Service Providers expanding their breadth of offerings, and direct sourcing, all played vital roles in pushing the extended workforce to where it is today.

Of course, the pandemic played a role, too, in that more and more businesses found that the best way to be agile, and the best way to scale their workforce up and down as the market dictated, was to heavily-involve extended talent into their organizations. Future of Work Exchange research found that 82% of enterprises derived true workforce scalability and flexibility from extended talent throughout 2020 and 2021, with another 70% of businesses stating that the extended workforce assisted them with “business continuity” initiatives in the face of uncertain economic times.

That’s right: the extended workforce wasn’t just a way for businesses to leverage on-demand talent when and where they needed it…it was a way for enterprises to survive and thrive when the world was in utter chaos.

There are other critical aspects related to work optimization that were accelerated due to pandemic times, including remote and hybrid work becoming table stakes, DE&I becoming more integrated into core talent acquisition initiatives, and the rise of the empathy-led, inclusive workplace. These are all crucial attributes of the Future of Work that have been, since this site launched, significant conversation pieces around how enterprises effectively get work done.

Think about it: the Future of Work movement has always followed, amongst other key focal areas, a considerably powerful mantra. Optimize how work is done. In both the good times and the bad, non-employee talent has been there to help businesses maintain continuity, support resiliency efforts, and, most importantly, serve as a talent-fueled boost to true workforce scalability. Getting work done today means tapping into the very strategies that support Best-in-Class extended workforce management, including:

Boosting candidate experience and hiring manager experience efforts with “Direct Sourcing 2.0” technology and approaches.
Applying the next-generation functionality and purpose-driven technology of today’s extended workforce platforms to both tactical and strategic elements of extended workforce management.
Deriving value from integrated workforce management systems that can play “platform” roles in managing all facets of the extended workforce, from direct sourcing and SOW management to DE&I.
Providing upskilling and reskilling opportunities to talent pool candidates as a way to enhance talent redeployment efforts.
Developing true talent sustainability that can blend total talent intelligence with talent nurture processes to ensure that all networked workers are amiable and open to reengagement for new and/or continued projects and initiatives.

The extended workforce will soon comprise half of the total global workforce. As enterprises continue to optimize how work is done, this workforce will continue to be a crucial cornerstone for the Future of Work movement.

The Link Between DE&I and Direct Sourcing

Direct Sourcing Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 01/24/2022

In 2022, diversity is no longer a “check-a-box” factor for many enterprises around the world; rather, it has become a cultural movement within business that emphasizes the depth of talent pools, talent communities, and talent networks without bias or barriers. The truth regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) is that direct sourcing programs (and contingent workforce management (CWM) programs) that are diverse tend to be more successful. If businesses can embed a spirit of inclusion within their direct sourcing processes and act in accordance with this mindset, they can broaden the existing talent landscape and improve upon it with new ideas and opportunity.

And, while established diversity programs previously existed in many enterprises, the events and civil unrest of the past two years drove many businesses to develop and communicate more purpose-driven goals, which are linked to societal, economic, technological, and sustainable shifts. To achieve these goals, a large number of businesses are trying to harness the power of a diverse workforce.

Using direct sourcing to hire diverse talent gives HR teams a direct ability to link purpose with DE&I efforts. For example, businesses can opt to tap into professional networks that were already designed for diverse workers from various backgrounds, cultures, and genders and link these to talent curation efforts. Direct sourcing initiatives can also benefit from “diversity automation” that is enabled from direct sourcing platforms that have partnerships and integrations with diverse job boards and networks. They can also offer anonymizing functionality that can hide specific information about different candidates.

Layering DE&I into direct sourcing is about changing behaviors and removing hiring barriers and unconscious bias from talent engagement and talent acquisition. Utilizing technology to help guide and enforce a new mindset can be extremely valuable and create awareness that the deepest talent pools are diverse talent pools.

Future of Work Exchange research finds that DE&I initiatives will be boosted with next-level intelligence over the next year-and-a-half. DE&I remains a critical piece of direct sourcing and talent acquisition overall. Today, roughly a quarter of all businesses utilize AI within direct sourcing for DE&I purposes (27% for worker diversity data and 24% for general diversity and inclusion insights). More than half of all enterprises plan to use AI to drive these initiatives over the next 18 months. Businesses that invest in developing AI-led data collection will be able to cast a wider net within the realm of diversity, capturing gender, culture, background, neurodiversity, etc. These insights can provide hiring managers and executives with the intelligence needed to monitor and improve DE&I initiatives.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion represent, perhaps, the most important of the “strategy-led” Future of Work tenets and deserve a rightful place in the pantheon of work optimization approaches. Diverse workforces, inclusive workplaces, and an overall environment of equity can pay massive dividends for businesses seeking to spark innovation within their total talent community, especially in an unsettled labor market that will see a hopeful end to the so-called “Great Resignation” in early 2022.

Reminder: Join WorkLLama, Ardent Partners, and the Future of Work Exchange this coming Thursday (12pm ET) for an exclusive webcast on “Direct Sourcing 2.0,” which will highlight how businesses can develop powerful, repeatable, and scalable direct sourcing processes to drive next-generation talent acquisition and recruitment strategies. Click here or on the image below to register.

Forget About Resolutions…Let’s Optimize 2022

Business Leadership General Insights Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 01/03/2022

In the early evening hours of December 31, 2020, I gathered around a fire pit with my wife, children, and dear friends from around the neighborhood. When we made a toast, I said, “Good riddance, 2020.” The stress, the trauma, and the uncertainty of what was probably the most anxiety-inducing year of our lifetime was ending, and, on the horizon, a 2021 filled with hope and optimism.

Just a couple of months later, I stood in line in the upper concourse of Gillette Stadium (home of my beloved New England Patriots) and awaited the first of my (now) three jabs of the groundbreaking Moderna vaccine. To me, it wasn’t just a vaccine, but rather a representation of how we could collectively move forward from everything that pushed us to our emotional limits in the year that was 2020. Of course, we know what happened next:

The biggest vaccination campaign in our lifetime kicked off in early 2021 and provided the world with some measures of optimism entering the spring and summer months.
The Delta variant upended some (or most) of those “hot vax summer” plans and caused COVID cases to surge across the world.
Talented professionals began leaving their roles in droves, kicking off what is still referred to as “The Great Resignation,” although should now be considered “The Talent Revolution.”
More focus than ever before was placed on DE&I, empathy-driven business leadership, and the shift to remote and hybrid work.
Vaccine mandates became sources of political, business, and social disagreements.
Another coronavirus variant, Omicron, proved to be the most transmissible of all variants to date and is now responsible for hundreds of daily cases in the United States alone.

We’re about to enter the third full year of a global pandemic. We’re still dealing with large swaths of the workforce voluntarily resigning and leaving their jobs. We’re fighting a battle for equity and inclusion. We’re feeling the ramifications of extreme staffing shortages. We’re continuing to battle for true workplace and workforce flexibility. We’re continuing to feel, hear, and see the exhaustion in the essential workforce community. And we’re still experiencing (even at this point) blow-back to the benefits of remote and hybrid work.

All true. All true. However…

We have the most innovative tools ever designed to better manage talent and talent engagement. We know that empathy is the heart and soul of the best mode of business leadership. We understand what we need to do to solve staffing shortage issues. We have the ability to open our minds and hearts to do the right thing. We have the ability to build digital workplaces and digital workspaces. We know that a diverse talent community is the deepest talent community. We know that the extended workforce represents nearly half of all global talent for a very good reason. And we have access to solutions that can provide next-level, AI-fueled data to help us make better business decisions.

The phrase “work optimization” is frequently used in our industry (and here on the Future of Work Exchange) to describe the essential goals of the Future of Work movement: get work done in the most effective way(s) possible. And as the calendar flips to another year, I believe we should take those ideas a step further.

Let’s optimize 2022. Entirely.

That’s right…let’s optimize everything about the year ahead. Let’s look at our talent, how we acquire that talent, how we manage that talent, how we treat that talent, and optimize it all. Let’s optimize the use of technology and automation. Let’s review the ways we manage our staff and the benefits we offer them. Let’s take a long, hard look at just how truly diverse our workforce actually is. Let’s continue to lean on remote and hybrid workspaces to boost both safety and productivity. Let’s take that great leap and get closer to being a truly “digital enterprise.” Let’s rethink how technology aids talent engagement. Let’s enable our hiring managers, talent acquisition leaders, and other stakeholders with real-time, AI-fueled total talent intelligence that can revolutionize workforce decision-making.

Let’s focus on how we enable our workers to prosper. Let’s think about the human side of business and how we can improve the emotional connections between leadership and the workforce. Let’s prioritize employee wellbeing and mental health. Let’s take a new approach to enterprise operations and ensure we are embracing change, progression, and evolution.

Let’s make 2022 a time to thrive. Let’s optimize the year ahead and push the Future of Work movement into a new stratosphere.

What Does 2022 Hold for the Future of Work?

General Insights by Christopher J. Dwyer on 12/21/2021

Over the past several months, I’ve written extensively about the evolution of talent and work and what it means for the modern business. Today, we collect various thoughts, insights, and predictions from extended workforce, contingent workforce, digital staffing, direct sourcing, and HR technology leaders about the key trends that will shape the Future of Work in the year ahead:

Kevin Akeroyd, CEO, PRO Unlimited

The importance of data: “The future of external workforce management is data-driven. And as the world of work continues to evolve, talent becomes more geographically dispersed, and top talent becomes even more sought-after, “five-star” data has become critical to capitalizing on both worker quality and savings opportunities worldwide. In 2022 and beyond, we will see the increasing importance of quality data within non-employee workforce programs and how it can drive significant program benefits.”

Direct sourcing and leveraging your company’s brand: “In the new era of integrated workforce management and heightened competition for key talent, organizations are adopting new processes and enabling solutions – such as direct sourcing – to maximize talent, no matter when and how that talent is sourced/engaged or how it ends up being categorized and classified. Historically, talent acquisition teams have long relied on employer branding for permanent employee hiring, while not being fully aware of its power for the other half of the workforce (contingent). In contingent direct sourcing programs, leveraging employer brand is essential to maximizing talent acquisition effectiveness and, therefore, multiplying positive financial benefits. Given this, most enterprises should be taking steps toward adopting contingent direct sourcing to meet its non-employee program and organizational goals.”

The benefits of the integrated workforce platform: “More than ever, enterprises are finding they need to address a greater and more complex set of requirements to manage their expanding multi-category, multichannel, non-employee workforces, which poses new challenges and questions for organizations. For example, the number of technology and service solutions has been significantly increasing across established and new solution categories. It’s no longer just a program management office and a Vendor Management System (VMS), which presents enterprises with the challenge of choosing between a single vendor or multi-vendor approach. Leveraging an adaptable, scalable, and fully-integrated workforce management platform provider that offers an ecosystem of software, professional services, and total talent intelligence will be key to an organization’s success.”

Brian Hoffmeyer, SVP of Market Strategies, Beeline

“2022 is going to bring more of the same things that we saw in 2021 and that is (at least mostly!) a good thing. The extended workforce will continue to grow in importance to companies of all types and talent shortages will likely get even worse. Taken together those two things will push companies to look to expand the markets and places they find talent in, continue to reinforce the intersection of quality, time-to-fill, and cost (rather than a myopic focus on just cost savings), and underscore the importance of talent diversity (and related initiatives like upskilling and giving people second chances). Companies need to ensure that their extended workforce programs consider all of these things and that they set goals that are directly tied to company strategy.”

Neha Goel, VP of Marketing, Utmost

“Extended workforce systems must be worker-centric, making it easy to take into account the various needs and preferences of the worker, allowing them to be mobilized in a scalable way. They also need to give workers and suppliers more control over their data and how they interact with technology, providing the flexibility and configurability necessary for them to get work done.”

“Flexibility comes in many forms, both in remote vs. office settings, and includes how workers set their schedules. If you aren’t actively listening to what your workforce wants and providing the technology that makes it possible to seamlessly engage and communicate with them in this new world, you will miss out.”

Saleem Khaja, COO and Co-Founder, WorkLLama

“While the usual priorities around cost optimization and DE&I will stay top of mind, there will be an increased focus on talent wellbeing and tools that will contribute towards that, e.g., tools that maximize efficiency while minimizing stress in the new way of doing work, tools that predict outcomes towards achieving this objective both from a talent and organizational perspective, etc.”

Sunil Bagai, CEO, Prosperix

“I predict that there will be some banner acquisitions for talent and workforce solutions in 2022. I also expect that some of the big investments that have happened this year in startups will go bust. The technologies that I expect will gain momentum are ones that tackle the end-to-end lifecycle of hiring, facilitate hybrid work, and infuse blockchain for transparency, faster outcomes and automation.

“What 2021 showed is that there is a huge appetite for talent and workforce solutions. 2022 will carry forward that same momentum into new offerings, investments and acquisitions. The areas to keep an eye out on are consolidation of marketplaces, enterprise solutions that combine direct sourcing, VMS and ATS together, and an infusion of blockchain technology for facilitating frictionless transactions.”

Allison Robinson, Co-Founder and CEO, The Mom Project

“By 2025, millennials will make up 75% of the workforce, and they are the most diverse in American history. If you aren’t actively creating a diverse and inclusive environment for future talent that is front and center in every aspect of your business and culture, you will miss out on this talent. Technology investment and digital transformations mean little without the commitment to a more diverse workforce behind them to drive results.”

“The end of 2021 marks a critical moment as talent – and moms specifically – re-enter the workforce, but they are not looking to go back to how it was before. They are looking to continue fueling progress with a more flexible, supportive and more human Future of Work.”

Wayne Crowley, SVP Talent Solutions RPO, Manpower Group

“We’ve realized a seismic shift in employment control away from employers to the talent these employers need. Rigidity in hiring processes, work location, compensation, and work schedules will severely limit employers’ choices for finding candidates with the skills they require. Employers of all sizes, brands, and industries should revisit their employee value propositions to make sure there is resonance with the talent they seek.”

Sam Bright, Chief Product & Experience Officer at Upwork

“We’ve seen monumental disruption occur in the workforce over the last two years. The Great Resignation has shown us that generations-old beliefs about the world of work have been upended. ‘Remote natives’ have become the norm, just as digital natives before them. Remote freelancing has become an essential part of the U.S. labor market and economy – contributing $1.3 trillion in 2021 alone – and we’ve seen firsthand how organizations effectively use marketplaces like Upwork to engage highly-skilled independent professionals to grow, scale and reinforce their teams.

“Our 2021 Freelance Forward report found that freelancing increased to the highest share of the labor force in the eight years that we’ve been surveying, and we see this continuing into 2022. Hybrid, distributed, flexible work models are the future of work. To succeed, business leaders must shift how they look at their workforce and create hybrid teams made up of full-time employees and independent professionals, so they can be appropriately resourced to charge ahead on their critical business initiatives, no matter how complex or tight the timeline is.”

Tammy Browning, President, KellyOCG

“Heading into 2022, a trend that we’re watching closely is employee experience. As the labor market tightens, building a comprehensive and positive employee experience is critical for greater retention, productivity, and engagement and translates to better business results. Organizations that want an edge on their competition and are driven to succeed in the war for talent are focused on employee experience. In fact, our research finds 91% of leading companies say that improving the employee experience is as high a business priority as improving the customer experience.”

“We expect 2022 will bring a greater need for organizations to adopt a single robust talent management platform. According to our research, 72% of executives say they should adopt a talent management platform and use predictive analytics to determine future talent needs, but less than a third are using technologies to achieve these goals. As more employers embrace all forms of talent, hiring managers will require a tool that provides a complete view of their contingent and third-party workforce as well as relevant workforce analytics to make strategic decisions about future workforce needs.”

Matt Pietsch, Chief Strategy Officer, High5

“Organizations need to be ready to embrace managed direct sourcing by forming strategic partnerships, not simple vendor or supplier relationships, with partners that can execute on a strategy that incorporates People, Processes and Technology in order to win the war for talent.”

“Work with a workforce solution company that understands the importance of leveraging your brand and working as a seamless extension of your talent acquisition program, regardless if it is full-time, contingent, EOR/payroll, etc. This is one way to ensure an effective candidate experience and a much more efficient recruitment program.”

Taylor Ramchandani, Vice President of Strategy, VectorVMS

“In 2022 I believe that the candidate experience for the contingent workforce is going to be paramount. With the power sitting with the worker, regardless of employment determination, organizations need to prioritize being a desirable place to work. The need for a positive candidate experience will drive greater adoption of direct sourcing platforms, diversity initiatives across the workforce, learning opportunities and more for the extended workforce.”

Jenna Dobbins, VP, Human Resources at Pontoon Solutions

Prioritize the value of employee wellness. “For talent providers like Pontoon and our customers, worker wellbeing will be a core tenant in 2022. Talent attraction and retention will be directly correlated with how workers are cared for and how employers meet their needs. We all have a responsibility to put mental health, wellbeing, and inclusivity above all else.”

Cultivate an ecosystem of talent sustainability. “At Pontoon, we have put a focus on employee learning and development in 2021. Our continuous learning culture has resulted in over 78,340 learning hours completed across our colleague population this year. In 2022, we have challenged ourselves to break this record as we continue to upskill our colleagues across Pontoon.”

What Did We Learn About the Future of Work in 2021?

Business Leadership Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 12/20/2021

I’m sure that the end of any year, not just 2021, warrants some level of deep reflection. However, the year that we just collectively experienced certainly calls for some retrospective insight, doesn’t it? 2021 marked the second full year of the worst public health crisis of our lifetimes and along with it, many transformations in how we all viewed both our personal and professional lives. From the business perspective, 2021 brought a host of talent-, technology-, and forward-thinking-led shifts that have forever altered the way we conduct business. Here’s what we learned:

No matter how rooted a business leader is to pre-pandemic times, remote and hybrid work are now foundational facets of the working world. Unified communication tools, better collaboration between leaders and their staff, and the general shift towards “flexibility” are all attributes of the new world of work.
Call it “The Great Resignation” or the “The Big Quit,” but what’s really happening is a true revolution of talent. The “talent revolution” is occurring all around us, with millions of talented professional voluntarily leaving positions in search of better working conditions, more flexibility, more empathy from leadership, more inclusive workplace culture, and, of course, better pay. The talent revolution is a stark reminder that leaders must reimagine talent engagement and talent acquisition if they are to thrive in the new year.
The extended workforce drives the Future of Work. Nearly 47% of all talent today is considered part of the extended workforce, a 10% leap from where it was at the every beginning of the pandemic. It’s not just a matter of tapping into the “evolution” of contingent labor, but rather truly robust communities of talent that take various shapes, including talent pools, talent marketplaces, niche staffing suppliers, personal and private talent networks, etc. Today’s extended workforce is a key element in how work gets done.
Empathy is a key Future of Work attribute. Leaders have to be in tune with the “human” side of its staff, as workers across the globe face personal and professional challenges that continue to eat into their thinned patience after 20+ months of pandemic ramifications (including severely ill relatives, lack of daycare, remote schooling, facing COVID themselves, etc.). Empathy-led leadership is, essentially, the only way forward.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) aren’t just buzzwords, but rather truly impactful pieces of the Future of Work movement. Let’s say it again: a diverse talent pool is the deepest talent pool. Bringing in diverse talent sparks innovation by bringing in new voices to the table, including talent from various genders, cultures, and nuero-diverse backgrounds.
Direct sourcing has become a transformational means of finding, engaging, and retaining top-tier talent. By the end of 2022, nearly 30%-to-32% of all talent will be engaged and acquired via direct sourcing, according to Future of Work Exchange research. Direct sourcing isn’t just a way to segment “known” talent into talent pools, but rather a strategy, program, and set of automated tools to develop true talent sustainability via recruitment marketing, leveraging the power of enterprise branding and culture, and cultivating deeper relationships with candidates.
Services procurement strategy is due for an overhaul. Collaboration, rather than control, is the Best-in-Class way to enhancing management of an extended workforce category that sometimes (or, often) dwarfs traditional staff aug from a spend perspective. Procurement executives must reevaluate how they approach SOW management and services procurement in 2022.
Talent communities will be more critical than ever in 2022. As we wrote recently: “The power of talent communities is driven by the innovative ways businesses are leveraging talent pools, talent networks, and talent clouds, converging with the nuances of the employer brand, social and emotional connections with both active and passive candidates, the the ultimate development of omnichannel, experience-driven candidate engagement.”
Business leadership needs to change its mindset heading into a new year. The talent revolution, combined with the pressure of a new coronavirus variant in a globalized yet disruptive world, means that leaders and executive personnel cannot go into 2022 with archaic strategies for managing operations and staff. Whether it entails “reimagining” or “rebooting” core leadership strategies, aspects such as inclusion (i.e., inclusive workplace environments), flexibility, agility, and a better understanding of employee emotional wellbeing (yes, including empathy!) are all necessary moving forward.
Technology is often considered central to the Future of Work movement, and 2022 proved that many times over. From digital staffing and direct sourcing to artificial intelligence and blockchain, the pathways of technological innovation all lead back into the very idea of work optimization.