Leverage Your Contingent Labor Workforce The Right Way
In the age of the technical nomad, the best candidates for a task may not be available locally. They may not be needed for a permanent position, and might not even want one. If top talent can be acquired on-demand in a fraction of the time, does it make sense to have only full-time employees?
"Only 42 percent of this year’s survey respondents tell us that their organizations are primarily made up of salaried employees, and employers expect to dramatically increase their dependence on contract, freelance, and gig workers over the next few years."
For this contingent workforce, there are some best practices to keep in mind:
- Keeping clear and fair management of both task and quality
- Standardize onboarding and culture fit across the company
- Continue growth and incentive programs even though the workforce is not permanent
- Manage technology and security around the intellectual property
- Make sure that each individual added makes financial sense
A Clear Sense of Direction
Where many employees can be assigned an area of responsibility, it is essential that contingent workers have a clear understanding of the deliverable required of them. The more defined the outcome, the more likely both parties will see success from the relationship. Any shortcomings or work issues can be accurately measured and identified early so the final product meets expectations.
Meticulous Change Management Processes
Explain why this is important to workers and why this can make or break a contingent workforce program.
Longer projects may find a change in requirements. To be fair to the business and the contingent worker, a clear change management process will ensure the business can achieve its objectives while the worker can be confident that their work will be rewarded.
An example may be a worker working on a new website. While critical path could be meeting time and budget, additional requirements might be added which increases the work and effort to reach completion. A proper change management process will allow a detail of the change and an adjustment to the budget to compensate the worker for variables outside of their control.
Repeated Evaluation of Strengths and Weaknesses
Every employee should have a review at least annually. However, this might not be frequent enough for a worker who might not be allocated for a full year. A calendar of review should be set to evaluate standards of quantity and quality of work as a part of the onboarding of the contingent workforce. These metrics should be defined across the organization to be fair and equal to all participants.
Without clear and defined standards a company might lose its ability to control the workers. If the standards aren't fairly used across all workers it can be seen as favoritism or harassment to protected worker classifications and open the company to litigation.
Documented (and Readily Shareable) Workflow Guidelines
Clarity and transparency is key to ensuring successful outcomes of tasks and projects. A small effort in planning will save many more hours in the execution. Have a place that all stakeholders can access to ensure the right work is being done, in a timely fashion, and with the expected level of quality.
It's All About Clear Expectations
The common theme in all of the points above is setting clear expectations and treating workers fairly. By setting these practices for a contingent workforce, you might find additional gains by implementing for your permanent workforce as well!
You will be able to share your best practice for managing your contingent workforce at ProcureCon Indirect West 2018, taking place this September at the JW Camelback Inn Resort & Spa, Scottsdale, AZ.
Download the agenda today to highlight the sessions that can best help you in your business!