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The Future of Work Exchange Meets “The Deep End”

Business LeadershipContingent WorkforceSolution ProvidersTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The business world is consistently evolving, with a global pandemic setting off accelerants that are pushing the boundaries of how businesses address how work is done. Future of Work Exchange research points to a variety of factors that enterprises are focused on today in regard to how they are transforming the way work gets done, including:

  • The transition from manual- and paper-based tactics within workforce management to a world of a digital talent acquisition and recruitment.
  • The prevalence, benefits, and long-term impact of remote work and hybrid work models.
  • The rise of empathy-led business leadership and a greater focus on worker well-being/wellness.
  • The critical interjection of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) into core business operations, and;
  • The continued growth and impact of the agile workforce.

I recently had the pleasure of joining Workforce Logiq’s Chief Solutions Officer, Geoff Dubiski, for the company’s highly-regarded The Deep End vodcast/podcast series. Click below to enjoy FOWX meeting The Deep End for insights on empathy in the evolving world of work, why the hybrid work model is here to stay, and some peeks of Ardent Partners’ new Future of Work Exchange Research Study for 2021:

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Key Providers for 2021: The Mom Project

Diversity and InclusionSolution ProvidersTalentTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

[Editor’s Note: Over the next several weeks, the Future of Work Exchange will unveil its “21 for 2021” list of key solution providers that are shaping the Future of Work through innovative technology, progressive functionality, and overall impact on the evolving world of talent and work. On deck for today: The Mom Project.]

The Background:

In the world of “digital staffing,” which is a wide-encompassing industry that includes talent marketplaces, talent clouds, talent communities, on-demand staffing outlets, freelancer management systems (even though “FMS” as an acronym is seemingly defunct), as well as direct sourcing technology, it’s not often that businesses have access to an end-to-end workforce management platform that also prioritizes talent engagement with a deep community of gender- and ethnically-diverse professionals.

Future of Work Exchange research finds that 62% of businesses expect more focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives over the next year, proving that the technology spectrum within workforce management needs to evolve to meet this expected shift moving forward.

Enter The Mom Project.

Why They Were Selected:

The world for working parents has dynamically shifted…again. The Mom Project’s Greg Robinson (COO and co-founder), who appeared on the Contingent Workforce Weekly podcast earlier this year, said that he and his team fear that we will see another mass exodus of women from the workforce due to the pandemic and its wide-sweeping ramifications. The Mom Project is looking to change that through its unique ability to connect enterprises with qualified and diverse candidates in a nimble, agile, and on-demand manner. That alone warrants selection as a solution that is shaping the Future of Work, but there’s more to the story.

On top of its 500,000+ (and growing) network of diverse candidates, The Mom Project also offers progressive workforce management technology such as true total talent management functionality, an AI neural network learning engine (that incorporates customer culture and DE&I attributes) that helps users identify key DE&I trends and patterns, and automation that assists enterprises in building ready-to-engage, pre-vetted talent from both non-employee/contingent and direct hire/FTE perspectives.

The Mom Project is one of the most progressive and innovative workforce/talent solutions in today’s evolving technology landscape.

In Their Own Words:

More than one million American women will become parents this year, joining the ranks of the working parenthood — a vital segment of the workforce. Simultaneously, businesses are challenged to retain talented employees as they navigate through this period of life, and struggle to find the experienced talent they need to grow.

The Mom Project is the expert partner helping companies create stronger, more diverse workforces that are well-prepared for the Future of Work. These are the big picture problems that C-suites, boards, investors and hiring managers across the country are focused on. We’re proud to be the consultative, action-oriented partner working hand-in-hand with our customers to drive lasting change.

  • Our platform drives community engagement and trust, driving a premium pipeline of over 500,000 members, growing by 20,000 members a month.
  • Our thought leadership and hands-on collaboration with hiring managers and recruiters ensures talent doesn’t get stuck mid-way, and that mom is primed to thrive in her new role.
  • Giving back to our 501.3(c) nonprofit, RISE, ensures that we’re continuously preparing the candidates of the future.
  • Co-branding drives talent perception and pipeline, and each hire becomes a story to further elevate partners as employers of choice for working families.

Women staying engaged in the workforce on their terms is good for families. It’s good for business. It’s good for everyone. .

The Outlook:

Over the next two years, 62% of businesses expect to address DE&I objectives and initiatives with workforce management technology and similar automation, according to Future of Work Exchange research. This statistic reflects just how critical diversity, equity, and inclusion truly is within the digital staffing solutions arena and its crucial place as part of greater talent management strategies.

The Mom Project is uniquely positioned to continue its rampant growth in the market from three perspectives: 1) it is one of the most visible workforce management platforms that is actively prioritizing and truly aligning DE&I within the very fabric of its functionality, 2) it offers one of the industry’s deepest communities of gender- and ethnically-diverse skillsets and talent, and, 3) its progressive technology platform enables a spectrum of innovative talent acquisition, talent engagement, and workforce management solutions that harness the incredible power of artificial intelligence and machine learning while forming a foundation of total talent management automation.

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

Contingent WorkforceHRSolution ProvidersTalentTalent AcquisitionTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

In the world of talent and work, intelligence must be on every executive’s agenda. “Business intelligence” as a pure strategic asset has, for years, been a core objective for many an enterprise leader. In the workforce management arena, however, the realm of business intelligence traverses far beyond simple data and information regarding the organization’s current utilization of talent. The power of artificial intelligence, machine learning, predictive analytics, and other progress forms of business intelligence tools can support enterprises in their ultimate quest for true workforce agility.

Veteran Managed Service Provider (MSP) and Vendor Management System (VMS) provider Workforce Logiq has been one of the industry’s forerunners in regards to talent intelligence through its unique suite of offerings that power deeper workforce visibility. I had the opportunity to chat with the company’s Chief Strategy Officer, Joe Hanna, about the criticality of AI in the Future of Work, the strength of total talent intelligence, and the future of the agile workforce.

Christopher J. Dwyer: Joe, thanks for taking the time to speak with me. The last time you and I were in a public forum together, we were fresh off the heels of Workforce Logiq acquiring ENGAGE Talent. Safe to say that a lot has happened since then!

Joe Hanna: Thank you for having me, Chris. Workforce Logiq has certainly been busy since we last spoke, and we wouldn’t have it any other way! For starters, we’ve rolled out our proprietary Total Talent Intelligence platform® globally to the US, UK, Sweden, India, Germany, and France and have more geographic expansions planned throughout 2021.  And, you should know our platform is powered by the analytics, benchmarks, and insights delivered by what the ENGAGE team developed prior to – and after the acquisition by Workforce Logiq.

We’ve also innovated and developed several new offerings to help employers attract and retain talent during this transformative time for the industry. We launched IQ Talent DiversitySM, an AI-powered tool that enables organizations to build bigger pipelines of diverse talent faster by predicting candidates most likely to have diverse backgrounds. Employers can use the intelligence to drive progress toward their diversity and inclusion (D&I) goals and compare their company’s diversity hiring performance against industry, competitor, and national benchmarks.

To support companies through the shift to remote work and in making return to office decisions, we released our IQ Location Optimizer SM last summer. The solution enables data-driven decisions on the best markets from which to source talent and whether remote arrangements make sense for a given role.

We also recently teamed up with LinkUp to offer the market’s first 360-degree predictive view of both talent supply and demand. We’re very excited about this partnership because the unique picture gives employers deep, strategic insight into the competitiveness of specific markets that they can use to gain a tangible edge, especially as we continue to navigate through this period of ‘Great Resignation.’

Other updates include the release of our IQ Supplier Optimizer SM which marked our sixteenth patent filing, and IQ Rate Optimizer SM which benchmarks how much an organization needs to pay to attract and win contingent and full-time talent based on unique, company-specific factors.

CJD: Workforce Logiq is known for their innovation within the talent intelligence arena, something that is critical in today’s evolving world of work. Why is this such a differentiator?

JH: Today’s labor market is incredibly dynamic – and hyper-uncertain. One day can look drastically different from the next, especially during global shocks like COVID. Proactivity and the ability to make confident, fast, data-based decisions about talent are what sets companies apart and helps them build an optimal workforce to navigate the uncertainty. Leveraging predictive intelligence is what creates that differentiator for organizations so that they stay one – or multiple steps ahead of their competitors.

At Workforce Logiq we’re committed to delivering those advanced and predictive capabilities and continuously innovating to help our clients solve both today and tomorrow’s workforce management challenges. We’re able to do this because of our talented and dedicated data science and talent economist team. This team designed our existing sixteen patented and patent-pending innovations and built our Total Talent Intelligence platform®, which is the most complete, modular, and integrated workforce management technology solution on the market.

CJD: Exciting news about the exclusive data partnership with LinkUp! Tell us a little more about it.

JH: Absolutely! LinkUp’s proprietary demand data and analytics, which are a perfect complement to Workforce Logiq’s patented supply intelligence, now integrate directly into our Total Talent Intelligence® platform. This means that clients get the first 360-degree predictive view of both talent supply and demand within the labor market.

The alliance gives clients deep insight into the competitiveness of specific markets, the full-time and contingent roles competitors are actively looking for, the skills most in-demand, and more. It’s a major development that enables employers to uncover their biggest talent-related risks and opportunities, and equips them with even more data-driven insight to win the talent they need for an optimal workforce.

The partnership is mutually beneficial. LinkUp’s insights enhance our algorithms and enable our clients to make impactful and cost-effective talent decisions. LinkUp’s financial and capital market customers get special access to our anonymized volatility, job, skills, and company-level data which are based on one billion data points, 40,000 sources, and analytics on over 19 million global companies. This puts them in an even better position to drive forward their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies.

We chose to partner with LinkUp because their mission around predictive intelligence aligns very well with our own, and unlike other job search engines, LinkUp is the only to index jobs solely posted by companies on their own websites. This makes LinkUp the highest quality index of global job postings on the market.

CJD: “Workforce agility” has become paramount, especially in a business world that relies on on-demand data to make more educated, real-time talent decisions. How can Workforce Logiq clients tap into your multiple intelligence-led offerings to become more agile?

JH: All our offerings are built to give employers the real-time and forward-looking insight they need to be agile. Having predictive data and insights at your fingertips is key for making smart decisions quickly and acting confidently under pressure.

Consider the current ‘Great Resignation’ trend that is impacting all sectors. Navigating this dramatic increase in resignations means quickly winning over external candidates who are eager to make a move, while simultaneously identifying and getting out in front of internal retention issues.

From a talent acquisition perspective, our predictive tools identify the best markets to look for new talent and competitors’ employees open to jumping jobs so that employers can sustain a strong talent pipeline and fill future skills gaps. On the retention side, our algorithms surface insight on employees most at risk of quitting and why they might be inclined to resign by identifying the workplace attributes most important to these workers. This enables employers to proactively address attrition before it impacts the business.

This is just one powerful example of how technology can help organizations be agile, resilient, and equipped with an optimal workforce.

CJD: Do you feel that the LinkUp partnership is a seismic event for our industry? The Managed Service Provider (MSP) model has evolved so much over the past few years.

JH: Yes, we consider this partnership a significant industry development. The truly unique combination of predictive talent supply and demand intelligence gives Workforce Logiq expert advisors even better and more strategic insights to help clients with their recruitment and retention strategies.

The MSP-client relationship is significantly evolving. Providers are increasingly stepping up to help clients through the fundamentally changing talent landscape. Workforce Logiq is committed to developing our technology and service offerings in the ways that best support our global clients and help them meet their goals, whether that’s navigating the hybrid work transition, building rich and diverse talent pipelines, optimizing candidate searches, or another strategic imperative.

CJD: What does the Future of Work look like over the second half of 2021? What’s in store for the greater world of talent and work?

JH: We expect more workers to be receptive to changing jobs and unsolicited recruiting calls well into the Fall. Data from our recent benchmark flash report shows a nearly 70% quarterly increase in volatility (i.e., workers interested in exploring other job opportunities or unsolicited recruiting messages in the next 60-to-90 days) across the top 35 job categories that we track.

This high number isn’t surprising. Employees are actively looking for more flexibility, work/life balance, money, and career advancement opportunities. As talent continues to rethink job and career choices, employers also need to adapt and hone their workforce strategies, processes, and technology infrastructure to effectively attract and retain talent and foster appealing work environments.

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Preparing for Tomorrow’s Workforce

Contingent WorkforceHRTalent by Featured Contributor on

[Editor’s Note: Today’s article is a guest contribution from Neha Goel, Vice President of Marketing at Utmost.]

Tomorrow’s workforce is changing at a pace we have not experienced in past decades. The pandemic expedited what was already happening in the market: emerging technologies leading to automation and digital transformations; the desire for flexibility in how and where people work; a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I); and globalization. It’s become clear organizations require a shift in how they think about and manage their entire workforce.

The Future of Work, which Ardent Partners defines as work optimization via the transformation of business operations, talent usage, seamless and comprehensive workforce management solutions, and flexible enterprise thinking, requires a change in how companies are tracking, managing, accessing, engaging, and reporting (i.e., spend, worker type, performance) on talent at an enterprise level.

Disparate systems make it difficult for companies to have visibility into their entire workforce. Even if an organization has a vendor management system (VMS) to track their contingent labor, they support as little as 10% of the total external workforce, which is now made up of project-based workers, freelancers, independent contractors, gig workers, and outsourced resources not captured in a VMS.

The Time is Now

As the non-employee utilization rate nears half of the total workforce (nearly 47% of the total workforce, according to Ardent), and more than 80% of large corporations planning on substantially increasing their use of a flexible workforce in the coming years, the time to prepare is now. The fastest-growing part of the workforce is the one that is currently not being tracked, which poses huge challenges for organizations.

This impacts activities like on/offboarding, classification, tenure, performance, payment, and reporting if only a portion of your total workforce is captured in your current ERP, VMS, and project-management tools. More importantly, it becomes impossible to assess and engage your total workforce in a scalable way without a single system of truth.

The Workforce is Changing

By 2025, 75% of the workforce will be made up of millennials — the most diverse group in American history, with 44.2% identifying as “non-white.” This should be a wake-up call for organizations who are not putting their DE&I initiatives at the top of their priority list. Having a platform that allows organizations to easily access, attract, retain, and report on diversity measures to meet their goals is crucial.

Millennials are also the first “digitally-native generation,” according to Pew Research, which means they expect to interact with work in the same way they interact in other aspects of their lives like ordering meals, rides, movies, and other services. They are demanding flexibility, engagement, diversity, career advancement, and a cultural fit regardless of how they are employed — be it full-time or contingent.

Future-Proof Technology

Together, all of these factors require organizations implement a technology platform built for the extended workforce. This can mean anything from connecting to new sourcing channels in an agile way to configurable back-end processes to managing distributed teams in a worker-centric way.

Utmost helps organizations fully engage and optimize their entire extended workforce. Built as a native application on the Workday Cloud Platform, Utmost provides a seamless experience for Workday customers to gain full visibility into their changing workforce composition, quality, and spend in an agile and scalable manner.

We believe the Future of Work is getting “the most from your all,” meaning the enterprise is getting the most out of its workforce, and talent has all the tools in place from their employer to bring their best selves to work. We believe this combination will set organizations, and their most significant competitive advantage, their talent, up for success.

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

Contingent WorkforceTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Beeline’s Tech Expo Reinforces the Growth and Impact of the Extended Workforce

Contingent WorkforceHRSolution ProvidersTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Going into 2020, 43.5% of the average company’s workforce was considered “non-employee,” a figure that was vastly larger than it was only several years ago. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated many of the Future of Work movement’s most transformational attributes, including a renewed focus on digital transformation, diversity and inclusion, direct sourcing, and workforce agility. Today’s extended workforce, representing nearly 47% of the total workforce, has become a force unto it own, pushing businesses into a new realm of work optimization that promises to forever alter the alignment between talent and corporate initiatives.

Veteran Vendor Management System (VMS) provider Beeline has long been an innovator in the contingent workforce management (CWM) solutions arena, bringing progressive technology to an industry that continues to evolve in the face of incredible market shifts. Last week, the organization hosted its Technology Expo, which featured a series of demonstrations of its core product line and some early peeks at newer offerings, as well as a firm reinforcement of its recently-unveiled Extended Workforce Platform. (Check out our coverage of this recent news here.)

No matter what we call the evolving contingent workforce, its underlying impact is still that of a powerful, market-shifting force that drives competitive value and supports overall business agility. Tweaking its name just slightly to include “extended” is yet another natural progression for this industry; contingent workers are sometimes thought of as mere line-items or “faceless” workers across the greater organization. Calling this spectrum of talent the “extended workforce” reflects the symbiotic link between an enterprise and all of its workers and how that relationship enhances the very idea of how work gets done.

Beeline’s dedication to the technological revolution happening within the world of talent and work was on display during last week’s Expo, including remarks by longtime CEO Doug Leeby regarding “where” the company was in relation to the market’s powerful transformation. “Doesn’t matter how you get paid…in the end, it’s all about people,” said Leeby. “There’s myopia when we think about what VMS is, and we’re so much more than that. Resource tracking, SOW, contingent labor…those pieces are all vital. We just want to be a piece of something greater that has total focus on the individual and the talent.”

One of the highlights of the expo was the “high-volume workforce” session (led by frequent Contingent Workforce Weekly podcast guest Brian Hoffmeyer), which recapped Beeline’s recent acquisition of JoinedUp and how the new solution will help businesses better facilitate and manage its shift-based workforce. Beeline also reaffirmed its dedication to Future of Work movement attribute diversity, equity, and inclusion, with discussions around its deep Diverse Talent Cloud (DTC) offering (partnering with The Mom Project).

As businesses navigate the “next normal” ahead, they will require strategies, solutions, and technology that can effectively manage the full facet of its extended workforce in order to maximize the inherent skillsets and expertise offered by non-employee talent.

“Every person, given the right opportunity, has the potential for greatness,” said Leeby. “We want to put a spotlight on that talent. Every business, given the right talent, can truly drive great outcomes.”

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The Future of Total Talent Management

Contingent WorkforceTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

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.

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The Value of Total Talent Intelligence

Contingent WorkforceTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Back in early 2012, I began work on what would be perhaps the industry’s first large-scale research study on “total talent management,” an initiative that is also known as “total workforce management.” Back then, while businesses understood the true value proposition of such a program, the vast majority of enterprises could not picture a way to tightly-integrate core human capital and contingent workforce capabilities and systems in such a way to make the program viable. Eight years may have passed since I formulated those initial thoughts on TTM/TWM, however, the underlying principles remain the same: there is clearly a need for total talent management, but its components are akin to organizational and technological puzzle pieces.

Ardent Partners defines total talent management and total workforce management as the standardized and centralized means for engaging, sourcing, and managing all types of enterprise talent under a single banner program. The fundamental principles of total workforce management include integrated procurement and HR competencies and systems, prioritization of visibility into the total talent pool (FTEs, contingent workers, gig workers, freelancers, independent contractors, professional services, etc.), and streamlined and standardized means for engaging and acquiring all types of talent. As the contingent workforce continues to rise (43% of all talent today is considered non-employee or contingent, according to Ardent’s State of Contingent Workforce Management research study), total workforce management initiatives, of course, become more critical.

Thinking about integrations, cross-functional coordination, blending core HR and contingent workforce management competencies, etc. can be maddening, for sure. This is why, especially in today’s strange 2020, businesses should consider taking a much more streamlined path and prioritize total talent intelligence as an initial cornerstone for what could blossom into full-blown total talent management in the months and years to come. In essence, total talent intelligence gleans valuable worker-based insights from both FTEs and non-employees by harnessing collective data from Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS), Vendor Management Systems (VMS), time and attendance solutions, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), Freelancer Management System (FMS), and similar platforms to gain the deepest possible view into an organization’s total talent pool. There are several reasons to prioritize total talent intelligence today:

  • In an age when worker health and safety is paramount, businesses need to know where you workers are at all times. Although many portions of the globe are in much different situations now than they were months ago, the initial weeks of the pandemic caused many an executive to panic regarding where their workers were situated, what they were working on, and, most importantly, their relative health and safety. Total talent intelligence allows businesses to pinpoint which workers are currently sitting in hotspots (or geographical locations that might soon become high-risk zones) and act accordingly (shifting work to different regions, placing workers in remote work setups, etc.).
  • Total talent intelligence begets workforce agility. Sometimes lost in the overarching discussion of total talent management is the very underlying purpose of this program: driving towards the ability to make workforce- and talent-related decisions in near-real-time. Having intelligence into the business’ total talent pool allows business leaders and hiring managers to very quickly understand how to approach a new project or initiative given the depth of expertise and skillsets within the greater organization (including, yes, both FTEs and non-employees). This level of intelligence and its associated, enhanced reactions are paramount in the quest for true workforce agility.
  • Businesses can better understand the true complexity of its workforce’s expertise. Pertinent to the above bullet, we are living in a skillset-led world. Ardent’s upcoming Direct Sourcing Toolkit research study finds that 72% of businesses are fixated on new and evolving skills. Executives today understand that the next influential project or initiative may not be completely supported, driven, and/or managed by existing full-time workers or other in-house resources, especially considering the quick-paced advancements occurring in the world of technology and automation. Total talent intelligence enables business leaders to truly understand the depth of its total available resources and expertise, allowing them to begin developing an approach for the evolving skillsets that they may need in the future.
  • Total talent intelligence can enhance diversity and inclusion initiatives. Enterprises are (finally) learning that the deepest talent pool is a diverse talent pool. Diversity and inclusion initiatives often involve several pieces of the organization working in unison, however, a key strategy in understanding a business’ true diversity is harnessing total talent intelligence to understand the relative makeup of the organization’s total workforce (such as employee demographics). This intelligence, of course, must be leveraged into talent-based decision-making to enhance future D&I initiatives.
  • Businesses that have experienced (and will continue to experience) massive shifts in remote work will require deeper intelligence for workforce planning and performance measurement. Although the world will soon return to some semblance of traditional office life, today’s workplace environment is still mired in social distancing measures (some pundits peg that metropolis-level offices, such as those in New York City, are average 7%-to-10% capacity today, with those in suburban locales at twice that level). This can be incredibly difficult on managers and executives that are used to in-person interactions to gauge worker performance. As more one-on-ones and reviews shift to a remote setting, these leaders will have to become more reliant on “business outcomes” for performance measurement in lieu of traditional benchmarks. Total talent intelligence can provide excellent perspectives on total worker output and the work performed by both FTEs and non-employees.

Total talent management and total workforce management are still incredibly valuable concepts that will one day become widely-adopted. In fact, Ardent’s research finds that upwards of 75% of businesses today expect to implement such a program within the next five years. Businesses must look at total talent intelligence as a critical area from which to start and an arena from which to drive short- and long-term value independent of bigger total talent management initiatives.

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Total Workforce Management’s Place in the New World of Work

Contingent WorkforceTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Editor’s Note: If you’re interested in learning more about the progressive workforce model discussed in today’s article, download our latest report, The Modern Guide to Total Workforce Management, by clicking here, here, or here.

Any executive that takes a short peek outside of their business will notice something astounding: founded on innovative talent engagement methods, the world of work has evolved in just a short period of time. New demand for talent, along with the fading of archaic recruitment strategies and rise of real-time talent engagement, have revolutionized nearly every facet of work within the modern business:

  • Jobseeker behavior, now more than ever, is changing to reflect the desire for a more flexible lifestyle that promotes entrepreneurship.
  • Online talent platforms, labor automation systems, and digital staffing outlets (as well as social networks) have transformed how talent is found and engaged.
  • Everything, from data and intelligence to process delivery, is expected on-demand within the average business…and talent engagement is following suit.
  • Mobility and mobile applications are taking their cue from the consumer world and expanding into the business realm.
  • Skillsets and expertise (and their alignment with enterprise projects), not costs or budgets, have become the top requirements for new talent.
  • Management of an increasingly strategic element of business (the contingent workforce) has had to evolve such that the “great divide” between organizational functions like procurement and human resources/human capital management is starting to fade. More and more businesses understand that all talent, regardless of its source, must be managed under a standardized and centralized program that promotes visibility, skillset alignment, adherence to budget, real-time engagement, and an open network that can be tapped for talent in an on-demand manner.

The above attributes of the new world of work are magnified by a simple fact: the non-employee workforce shows no signs of slowing down in the coming years. Ardent Partners has, for the last four years, predicted that, by 2020, between 45%-to-50% of the world’s total workforce will be classified as non-employee, which includes freelancers, independent contractors, professional services (and consultants), temporary workers sourced via staffing agencies/suppliers, “gig” workers, and robotics. The time is now to bridge the gap between traditional and non-traditional talent management and truly define the means by which all workers can be managed under the same standardized and centralized program.

Total Workforce Management: The Time is…Now

Many of today’s business functions are either built on a foundation of holistic and seamless processes, or the desire to reach a similar state knowing the core benefits of such a model. It would only make sense, then, for the world of talent to follow suit. The very simple argument for building or developing a total workforce management (TWM) 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 TWM 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 workforce management a reality within the next two years.

The crux of any total workforce management is deep and complex. The underlying structure of such an initiative is usually wrought with functional, technological (i.e. integration), cultural, and strategic shifts, all of which contribute to a development plan that is near impossible to implement within a short time span. Unlike larger, better “known” initiatives related to talent acquisition or even contingent workforce management (CWM), TWM is a new area, and industry-wide standard practices have not yet been fully-developed. Thus, many organizations are unsure of where to start and which functions to engage. Sixteen percent (16%) of businesses today have some form of a total workforce management program in place (9% in place for several years, 7% only just within the past 12 months), but the real value in this set of findings is not found in looking at the “haves” within today’s marketplace…it is knowing that many of the “have nots” do have something that proves that TWM’s place in workforce, labor, and talent management history is now: a desire to implement this forward-thinking concept sooner rather than later.

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