“Do you believe that this will be a catalyst for business change in the decade ahead?”

Over ten years ago, a USA Today reporter asked me for some quick commentary on the rise in utilization of contingent labor. At that time, around 20%-to-22% of the average company’s total workforce was considered “non-employee,” a sharp rise from the few years before. As I’ve written before, the Great Recession of 2008/2009 should be considered the “perfect storm” for the tipping point of the contingent workforce (businesses finding talent- and cost-led value in shorter-term engagements, independent workers finding value in lifestyle flexibility and freedom from a single employer). From Ardent’s annual State of Contingent Workforce Management study:

In the 2010s, the contingent workforce narrative was one of growth in both size and strategic impact. A decade ago, Ardent Partners’ research determined that, on average, 20% of the average enterprise’s overall workforce was considered “contract,” “contingent,” or “non-employee,” built on freelancers, independent contractors, professional services, and traditional temporary workers (sourced via staffing suppliers/agencies). Today, that percentage has more than doubled to 43%, showing that the contingent workforce has become a driving business force and a genuine revolution of talent, technology, and work, by becoming a foundational element in the way work is done — the Future of Work movement.

Back in 2010, however, the “Future of Work” wasn’t a movement quite yet. And, businesses were just beginning to see the incredible benefits of the contingent workforce. There are no cyclical guarantees in the greater business world; some transformations, be it technology-led or human-driven, occur just as rapidly as the pace of corporate evolution. It’s fitting, however, that a little over a decade passed before we experienced the next great shift in the worlds of talent and work.

The value of the non-employee workforce has never been more clear…especially today. As a (hopefully, once-in-a-lifetime) pandemic continues to rage across the globe and leaving economic chaos in its wake, the vast majority of businesses are “re-discovering” the incredible value of contingent labor. And, some even believe that 2020 will mark a possible rise in the utilization of this type of talent (a topic that we’ve covered here on CPO Rising just a few weeks ago).

However, it’s not just a simple renaissance of the contingent workforce that will forever transform the way we address talent and work. The expected growth in the utilization of non-employee labor is a catalyst that is actively pushing other talent- and work-led arenas, such as:

• Direct sourcing, which is actively becoming a go-to strategy for businesses that are mindful of both traditional talent acquisition costs and the depth of their candidates’ skillsets and expertise. By building and curating deep enterprise talent pools, businesses are finding that they can directly-engage top-tier workers without the added costs, extended time-to-fill rates, and lags in productivity.
• Digital and on-demand staffing technology and services, which are booming in utilization after a near-fourfold growth in adoption over the past five years. With more talented workers displaced this year, digital staffing tools can help independent professionals find fulfilling projects that are suited for their unique skillsets (and, in alignment, businesses that require that expertise).
• Diversity and inclusion initiatives, which are the linchpins to finding the best and innovative voices and talent. Businesses are finding that diversity cascades into more diverse customers and more diverse business outcomes; being inclusive of all talent opens a business up to more innovative thinking and the best possible convergence of skillsets and new ideas. (And, as the Contingent Workforce Weekly podcast often states: “The best talent pool is a diverse talent pool.”)
• The purposeful usage of next-generation technology, like artificial intelligence, which can help businesses navigate these strange times with a predictive eye towards the future. As AI becomes more prevalent in the corporate world, business leaders can develop deeper responses to shifts in the economy, its customer base, and, most importantly, its talent, based on “forward-looking” perspectives gleaned from predictive data and intelligence. (Not to mention the value of treating AI as a “partner” that helps us from both tactical and operational perspectives and deeper and strategic enterprise planning.)
• The fluidity of skillset-driven workforce planning, which places more emphasis on how the business is structured from an expertise perspective rather than traditional modes of organization. Businesses do not want to be woefully unprepared from a workforce/talent perspective in how they address future skills gaps and unpredictable needs for volatile expertise requirements. Since the non-employee workforce has long been a core strength for those organizations that need unique and on -demand skills in short order, it will be even more vital to those organizations in the years to come (especially in a post-COVID-19 economy).
• And, finally, the “agile workforce,” which, quite simply, is the natural evolution of the contingent workforce with one major caveat: non-employee talent becomes an agile mode of getting work done, and, in conjunction with its cost, flexibility, and skillset advantages, assists the greater business in developing dynamic responses to real-time challenges and pressures.

The way businesses optimize how work is addressed in the face of recent challenges is dependent on the symbiotic relationship between themselves, the myriad of talent sources around it, and the innovation that propels them forward during uncertain times. The expected uptick in contingent workforce utilization speaks volumes about the greater transformations in how work is ultimately done in the disruptive year that is 2020.

RELATED RESEARCH

The Workplace of the (Near) Future

Why Direct Sourcing is Your Key to Better Talent…Even Today

The Reality of Contingent Workforce Growth in 2020 (Part I)

The Reality of Contingent Workforce Growth in 2020 (Part II)

Tagged in: Ardent Partners Research, Chief Procurement Officer, Complex Categories, Contingent Workforce, CPO, Direct Sourcing, Future of Work, Strategy, Talent Management, Technology