In today鈥檚 dynamic world, the workforce is not only confined to permanent employees. A significant change in recent years is the rise of external workers, heightening the need to proactively manage everyone 鈥� from full- and part-time employees to services providers and contingent workers 鈥� all while reducing manual processes.聽This is now an integral part of many companies, including and .
A total workforce management strategy allows businesses to keep the whole workforce in focus for increased agility, productivity, and bottom-line impact. 聽
OG&E鈥檚 experience with contingent and contract labor is unique. Despite the 121 years under its belt, OG&E has embraced the changing landscape of employment with open arms. For over 25 years, OG&E has been utilizing 麻豆原创 solutions, including for over a decade. Together with the HR solutions of , 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions 鈥� a comprehensive vendor management portfolio for external labor 鈥� help pave the way for the successful workforce management of permanent and contingent and contract labor.聽
The challenge lies in determining which positions to fill with contingent workers or profile workers, a process OG&E has mastered over the years. The decision hinges on the specific skills required and the immediacy and duration of the need. This flexible approach has enabled OG&E to successfully bring in workers with diverse profiles for various projects, such as its recent 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Human Experience Management (HXM) Suite implementation project.
Ownership of this process is shared between the departments of HR, the business units, and procurement, reflecting a trend observed across various organizations. A study conducted in 2022 revealed that HR was responsible for external worker functions about 51% of the time.* This is a testament to the rising importance of contingent and profile workers and the need for HR to engage them effectively.
However, this process isn鈥檛 without its complexities, necessitating collaboration between HR and procurement. Issues such as rate cards and other procurement-specific processes require strong cooperation between the two functions. 聽
Previously, a lack of comprehensive understanding about OG&E鈥檚 workforce made everyday HR and finance decisions increasingly challenging. The management of contingent workers through 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions was handled by a third party. However, the transition to internal management provided more visibility. 聽
This has empowered OG&E to make more informed decisions. For example, OG&E had 10 excellent candidates from different suppliers for a position, two of which came at a significantly higher cost. Recognizing the value of the other eight candidates, it challenged the high markup, resulting in one supplier lowering its rate. This type of negotiation was previously not possible for OG&E due to the lack of visibility, but now it鈥檚 an integral part of the process.聽
In contrast, Brightspeed, a company that has recently started out, is managing a dynamic workforce of聽 4,200 employees and almost as many contractors. Its mission? To lay high-speed fiber in the South and Midwest of the United States. Alongside this, it also had a recent divestiture from Lumen, with hundreds of inherited applications and a fresh contingent workforce.
But its workforce needs are ever-evolving. With a contingent workforce that ebbs and flows according to the company鈥檚 needs, Brightspeed is flexible and can adapt, from field workers laying fiber to IT specialists building new applications.
Brightspeed utilized 麻豆原创鈥檚 suite of applications to help streamline its operations post-divestiture. Lumen had already implemented 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions and 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions, so Brightspeed decided to create a seamless transition and continue to use these solutions. The suite it uses now includes 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions, 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions, and 麻豆原创 S/4HANA.
The 麻豆原创 Fieldglass portfolio is used to help manage contingent workers. Within this context, Brightspeed鈥檚 managed service provider plays a crucial role. It liaises with the hiring manager, handles candidate selection, and ultimately delivers the temporary worker in 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions. These workers are then trained in compliance and technical procedures, with all the information interfaced back into 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Learning. From an 麻豆原创 S/4HANA perspective, cost center project activities and other elements are pushed out to its time system and raw time is imported to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, capturing millions of dollars in project cost every pay period.
However, the journey wasn鈥檛 without its challenges. As a young company, Brightspeed had a massive task ahead of it in getting these systems up and running in just 10 months. The team successfully navigated this initial hurdle, but soon realized it hadn鈥檛 fully prepared for the post-go-live period due to the compressed implementation period. This led to a challenging few months, as it scrambled to train personnel and resolve system errors. Despite this, the team has since stabilized operations.
As these examples show, the role of contingent and profile workers is evolving and becoming increasingly integral to the success of organizations. They are no longer just field workers but are being relied upon for specific skill sets. This allows companies like Brightspeed and OG&E to stay agile, adapt to business needs, and manage their contingent and profile workers as well as their permanent employees.
A , when done right, can leverage the full potential of a diverse workforce and make companies more agile. 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions and 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions can work together to help create and manage a dynamic, flexible workforce that can easily adapt. The experiences of OG&E and Brightspeed highlight the importance of strategic planning and the effective use of technological tools in managing the workforce.
Andrea Domhardt is part of Product Marketing for 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors.
*鈥淲orkforce Solutions Buyer Survey 2022, Americas,鈥� Staffing Industry Analysts, 2022.