Project Success - The Rise of the Contingent Worker
A contingent workforce consists of a number of individuals that are hired to execute work on a non-permanent, per-project basis.
The skills and services are engaged subject to the needs of the organisation. Contingent labour can offer a cost-effective strategy that can flex to changes in the project.
However, the engagement of contingent workers is not without risk. Poor visibility of the workforce can trigger concerns surrounding contracts and compliance.
But with 70% of executives planning to source more external workers in a post-COVID world, leaders must integrate this growing talent network as part of their project-based workforce strategy, or bear the greatest risk of all – being left behind.
Gig workers, flexible labour, non-payroll workers, independent contractors, freelancers and agency workers – while the terminology differs, one thing prevails: contingent labour is quickly becoming a staple of the modern organisation. SIA and Statista reports place the number of contingent workers in the UK at 1.7M, totalling 6% of the nation's workforce (and increasing), and 51.5 million (35%) in the USA.
Although non-permanent workers have been deployed for over three decades in the oil, gas and engineering industries, global megatrends have accelerated the integration of the contingent workforce model across all industries, at all levels and in all job roles.
Sourcing skills:
Interest in the contingent labour market is being driven, in part, by a talent-supply disparity. With 9 in every 10 businesses reporting skills shortages, contingent workers offer some confidence in plugging the skills gap.
Leveraging the niche skillsets of temporary talent will become crucial as we operate in an increasingly digital environment. Research indicates that nearly two-thirds of executives believe that the external workforce will help them ‘compete’, with the outsourcing of specialised skills.
Responding to change:
A desire for flexibility is also encouraging more organisations to embrace the contingent workforce solutions approach.
For employees, the forces of globalisation and technology allow individuals to move freely between roles. Intermediary platforms connect supply with demand, enabling talent and employers to ‘seek each other out from anywhere in the world’.
Flexibility will be vital to companies tackling market-driven fluctuations and rapidly evolving project needs. Contingent workers allow dramatic growth to occur overnight, creating an agile workforce model that mirrors the ‘ebb and flow of project demand’.
Drawing on the contingent workforce also offers a more strategic approach to change management. Contingent workers provide a critical bridge in the integration of new services, helping organisations to overcome resistance from ‘legacy’ or permanent staff.
A New World of Work:
The onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is restructuring the term ‘the worker’. Research by Deloitte concluded that the ‘job’ will soon become a relic of the Industrial Era. Companies will instead build cross-functional ‘SWAT’ teams, borrowing talent for limited time periods to tackle the increasingly complex problems that project managers face when working to tight timelines.
To thrive in the new world of work will therefore require a change in mindset, adopting a total talent approach that breaks down the silos between permanent and temporary staff to deliver the right talent, at the right time, regardless of source or classification.
This is no easy feat. Indeed, the market suggests that many businesses feel as though they are yet to deploy an operating model suited to the next normal.
Policy:
Before engaging with this growing talent pool, organisations must ensure oversight of the relevant rules and regulations that dictate the contingent workforce.
Misclassification remains one of the greatest risks, with severe financial and reputational repercussions for those who fail to comply with legislation.
Organisations will need to build rigorous processes to ensure data and intellectual property are protected as the workforce becomes more fluid. A thorough selection and vetting process, onboarding and the off-boarding programme can protect against the loss of valuable information or security breaches.
Productivity:
‘Hard work’ used to manifest itself in the individuals who arrived first at the office and left last, contingent workers have rendered this definition obsolete.
No longer bound to the office, or even a 40-hour week, contingent workers must be managed with metrics that monitor outcomes. Organisations are required to place a high level of trust in their temporary workforce, and a clearly defined Statement of Work can foster a sense of accountability, tying talent to defined timescales and deliverables.
People:
Recent data highlight the fragmentation of teams, with 58% of gig workers feeling as though their permanent counterparts are treated better by organisations.
With efforts to disseminate organisational culture already the source of many corporate headaches, the rise of the contingent workforce adds an additional layer of complexity to the work of HR. When so many of the ‘traditional levers’ don’t apply, how can leaders support temporary talent? We’d advise creating a version of your culture that is intentionally shaped toward your contingent workforce and their valuable contributions.
Creating opportunities for development, for example, can deepen the relationship with contingent workers. Author Dan Pink states that most freelancers are ‘starving’ for input. Carving out time to regularly revisit the targets negotiated as part of the Statement of Work will benefit both parties.
Once the pillars of Policy, Productivity and People are in place, you can turn to technology to realise the true potential of your external workforce.
Streamline your strategy
A Vendor Management System (VMS) allows you to plan, engage, deploy and measure with purpose.
During requisition, time-consuming tasks such as background checks can be automated, enabling a quicker time to deployment. Once integrated into the workforce, a tailored VMS can increase visibility, providing vital insights into skillsets, length of service and project progression, allowing you to build talent pools that can be deployed and redeployed to serve the needs of the organisation's projects.
And with an estimated 1 in 4 projects undertaken not completed on time or on budget, a VMS can drive strategic cost-efficiency gains. Leveraging a range of real-time data analytics linked to specific project goals offers oversight of those who are performing well (and at what cost), but also the milestones that have been missed. Instant identification enables you to work with teams to identify barriers and put the project back on course, avoiding substantial rework or delays.
The implementation of a simplified VMS can elevate the integration of temporary talent from ‘last-minute’ workers to key assets of your workforce strategy, sourcing and placing the right talent where it’s needed most.
A new world (of work)
The new world of work is more complex. Skills shortages, rapid market fluctuations and an emerging ‘revolution’ will force organisations to adapt at speed if they aren’t already doing so.
The good news is that these challenges have ‘spurred’ many VMS providers to innovate, developing end-to-end capabilities that incorporate compliance and shift management, leverage next-generation artificial intelligence and provide holistic insights by combining multiple data sources.
To survive, companies will need to embrace contingent labour. But to thrive, organisations must wrestle with compliance, monitor performance and manage a resourcing process that consists of thousands of interactions between a variety of stakeholders and often disconnected technologies.
Talk to the team at TRS Workforce Solutions to find out more about how technology can enable you to take control of your flexible workforce.