The world is changing and changing fast!
Future workforce composition will look dramatically different to what we understand to be the norm today. Innovation, Social change and the Millennial employee will all have an impact on the structure of our workforce, how you attract it, utilise it and manage it.
The changing face of who and how we engage our future workers varies between industries and the cycles some industries endure. A move towards a contingent workforce as part of an overall workforce plan offers a range of benefits and challenges.
The 5 keys to Engaging and Managing a Contingent Workforce?
1 Strategic Workforce Planning – identify the need, plan and forecast. A plan should consider, “What’s the right mix? How many should be contingent? How many should be core, and who should be core? And why are they core? And how do we train our core contingent workforce really quickly so that when they come in the door they can do whatever it is we need them to do, according to our process, and our methodologies?”
2 Management Alignment – ensure your workforce has the necessary skills to manage a contingent workforce. The best results come from those who treat a contingent workforce employee with the same manner as a fulltime employee. On-board effectively and communicate regularly.
3 Strategic Partner(s) Alignment – engage the right Strategic Partner/ platform for your business – look at a partner who will value add to the workforce, provide innovation and technology, is agile in service delivery and will work with you as though they were business unit.
A good Partner is often a great source of market intelligence, particularly in respect of current labour demand and skills availability and can provide you valuable information ahead of any project launch, enabling you to map your needs against the current supply curve.
4 Technology – the myriad of HR/ Recruitment platforms is ever increasing as companies look to increase productivity and increase spend. A good strategic partner will have a cloud based solution that is agile, collaborative, informative and easily integrated into your internal processes. A good platform will be accessible to the company and the worker and transparently manage processes like Recruitment, Workforce Planning, Safety, Payroll, Accounts, Reporting and Communication.
5 Communication – the most important part of ensuing the success of utilising a Contingent workforce is the communication. Between Company and Partner, Company and employee and Partner and Employee. Effective communication leads to a range of benefits for all parties involved and addresses risks around HR, IR and Safety. Great communication can lead to innovation and productivity improvement
Conclusion
The contingent workforce option is particularly timely given current market and regulatory conditions. The dynamic nature of marketplace conditions and the skills available are leading organisations to rapidly increase their use of contingent workers so they will have the flexibility to respond as market conditions quickly change, and to help secure workers that are otherwise a challenge to source.
Having a well-run and effective contingent workforce strategy in place will allow you to reap the benefits you need to stay ahead of the competition. Use of contingent labour is on the rise and those organisations that take advantage of it early and strategically will shine. Contingent labour allows you to find and utilise specialised skill sets, outsource non-critical roles, “test” candidates before fully hiring them, and ultimately move ahead of competition by executing your business strategy in a quick and cost-effective manner.