The COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impact on the Contingent Workforce Industry (Part Three)

April 14, 2020Posted inArticles, Complex Categories, Solution Providers

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After nearly a month of sheltering-in-place and social distancing not only across the United States, but the world as well, the global business world has faced the type of massive disruption it has never seen before. Although some organizations can thrive due to the viability of work-from-home and digital setups (as well as offering products and services within specific verticals that are ramping up during this uncertain time), too many others are actively faltering in the face of supply chain disruptions, sharp customer shortfalls, and general business anxiety. I had the opportunity to speak with many contingent workforce, digital staffing, and HR technology leaders over the past several days on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world of work:

Joey Frasier, CEO, Shortlist

“The short-term impact for many independent contracts will be severe. The economic uncertainty that’s followed the quarantine measures has led to a reduction in capital spending directly affecting contingent workforces. We’re seeing client projects, even those that were currently in progress, being scaled back or cancelled completely. With that said, we’re optimistic on the medium- and long-term labor opportunities for independent contractors. We believe organizations will continue to heavily invest in their contingent workforce programs to become more agile so to meet market demands and internal financial goals. This capital agile workforce of the future will be more lean and better capable to tackle specialized projects, directly benefiting independent contractors with in-demand skills.”

Rick Bowman, CEO, Shiftgig

“We believe staffing is being extraordinarily impacted by COVID-19 because they’re feeling the pressure on both sides—supply and demand. Some of our clients are being severely impacted like those in the hospitality, events, and education industries, but others are seeing a huge increase in demand like nursing, warehouse, and logistics. Our staffing clients are being really responsive to their client needs, increasing and decreasing orders as the pandemic continues to evolve. On the worker side, our staffing clients are seeing some workers choosing to stay home, which is completely understandable. However, we are seeing people continue to browse and claim available work in the app, so there is absolutely still some demand and people who are looking for work.”

Ashish Kaushal, CEO and Founder, HireTalent and ConsciouslyUnbiased

“This pandemic has caused much uncertainty and will have a lasting impact on our society and on how business gets done. On the upside, if you look back on every recession, adversity has created opportunity, and there is no doubt that we will all come out of this stronger. We’re seeing corporations step up to take care not only of their full-time employees, but many are also actively supporting the contingent worker who isn’t able to work remotely by providing paid time off during the COVID-19 crisis. This is resulting in productivity gains and greater loyalty by the contingent worker to the companies they support. In the long term, this disruption will accelerate the adoption of work-from-home policies, as well as spark organizations to eventually evolve into managing temporary labor by objectives and more measurable productivity KPIs, rather than just by facetime and hours worked.”

Rich Oakes, President, Gigsmart

“This crisis has highlighted the positive impact gig workers are making within our labor market.  Gig workers have been critical in keeping the supply chain open for our families and our communities during these challenging times.  From warehouse to trucking to food delivery and more, gig workers are one of the many heroes during these historic days.”

Ivana Cvejic, Co-Founder, Renhead

“While we will see further overall headcount cuts before this crisis is resolved, we believe there will also be a movement to convert full time into contingent headcount, accelerating the contingent workforce movement at a faster pace over the next two years.  It will be painful, as all changes are, but as a result of this crisis we will see more efficiencies in how programs are run, more demand for visibility in spend and quality of resources. We will all be working smarter, with more purpose, and hopefully developing stronger relationship-based vendor management programs as a result.”

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