Freelancers, consultants, independent contractors, professional services…pick your preference; they are all part of the on-demand, non-employee workforce that comprises over a third (35%) of today’s total global workforce. As engagement methods, core contingent workforce management (CWM) solutions, and talent accessibility continue to evolve in the global marketplace, it is crucial for executives in all walks of the corporate culture (not just procurement or human resources/human capital) to understand the impact of real-time talent within the spectrum of business agility.

There are many shades to the evolution of the contingent workforce, from one-time mere supplemental labor strategy to strategic business attribute. Organizations across the world find different means of value from their non-employee talent, whether it be supporting year-over-year projects or managing/driving critical enterprise initiatives. However, at the end of the day and no matter the purpose of utilizing contingent workers, one impression comes to mind in conceptualizing the utilization of on-demand talent: agility.

The very notion of agility is now permeating into the world of non-employee work; freelancers and other on-demand talent types are considered “agile talent” because the accessibility, need, and impact of these workers reflects the agile nature of today’s business world and the dynamic issues that regularly arise. Just yesterday, we discussed the impact of this talent on the “future of work.” Today’s article highlights the reasons why there’s more to the growing concept of “agile talent” than meets the business eye:

• Agility is dependent on intelligence, therefore, an agile talent strategy must leverage total workforce data and insights. The central theme of “agile talent” goes something like this: not only are these services and workers considered “contingent worker-plus” in terms of value to the organization (external expertise such as freelancers with highly specialized skillsets and consultants that are tapped to work on critical enterprise projects), they are also available on-demand and are engaged in alignment with the mission-critical needs of the greater business. When an enterprise need arises, holding “total workforce” intelligence (essentially: visibility into the entire workforce (no matter the source) and the skills/qualities of all talent-based resources) allows a business to leverage flexible engagement strategies and ensure that external expertise is aligned perfectly with the requirement(s) at hand.
• Engaging agile talent and external expertise requires a program that’s built on procurement principles but fine-tuned by human capital management prowess. A trip back in time will tell us that procurement was often the functional group responsible for contingent workforce management. Times have obviously changed; however, even though the non-employee workforce is continuing to grow, thrive, and evolve, core procurement principles are still quite effective. Agile talent must be thought of both in supplier-led and workforce-led ways; any CWM program that builds in agile talent engagement capabilities must ensure that aspects such as supplier performance management and supply chain optimization are leveraged in unique ways. And, perhaps the most significant aspect of this strategy is the “fine-tuning” by human capital management and HR: as external expertise is flexed in and out of the business depending on the need, it is crucial that stakeholders understand the cultural impact of blending outside workers into the critical projects that may already be leveraging in-house talent (and how collaborative efforts between traditional and agile talent will be shaped).
• Adaptation is the foundational key to any agile talent engagement and management strategy. We are living in a world where the very concept of “work” has been transformed. Over the past seven or eight years, more and more organizations have adopted a workforce model that promotes talent-led architectures and real-time talent engagement. And, as business needs become more dynamic in scope, external and specialized skillsets are quickly arising as more critical resources to today’s businesses. Building a general agility strategy is difficult enough (just ask the procurement professionals going through this right now); applying this methodology to talent can be even more complex. It is crucial that business leaders and key stakeholders (such as procurement, HR, finance, IT, operations, etc.) understand and communicate the role of agile talent within the organization, and build a framework that can drive a free-flow of information, data, and insights across the enterprise. What separates “agile” talent from other types of non-employee talent is that agile talent is more likely to be leveraged in a highly-complex on-demand model; that is, stakeholders will pull talent based on the dynamic requirements of various initiatives that may institute recurring projects. This “fluctuating” real-time engagement model will require organizational leaders to adapt to new ways of thinking and addressing internal needs, so at the end of the day, adapting to this new world of work and its many intricacies can be of the utmost value as talent engagement continues to evolve in the years ahead.

The evolving notion of “agile talent” is yet another shift within the progressive world of contingent workforce management. As businesses continue to adapt and transform their greater talent engagement strategies, one thing is clear: the non-employee workforce will continue to shift how companies across the globe think about work.

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Tagged in: Christopher Dwyer, Complex Categories, Contingent Workforce, People, Process, Strategy