With skills and labour in such short supply at the moment the external workforce has never been more important to organisations.<\/p>\n
Our research[1]<\/strong><\/a>, conducted in collaboration with Oxford Economics, involving over 2000 executives indicates that on average 42% of total workforce spend is on external workers.\u00a0This is projected to increase in the future with Martin Thomas, Head of Total Workforce Management at Royal Philips, saying:\u00a0\u201cI can see a world where the external workforce makes up an even greater proportion of the workforce. That\u2019s a future we anticipate for Philips.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0The McKinsey Global Business Executives Survey[2]<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0reveals that\u00a0approximately 70% of executives anticipate they will hire more on-site temporary workers and freelancers in the next two years, compared with pre-COVID levels.<\/em><\/p>\n Finding those external \u2018super talents\u2019 that are going to \u2018work with you but not for you\u2019 is just half the challenge!\u00a0How do you develop the \u2018love\u2019 between you when you engage them and as they begin to work with your organisation? Once they\u2019ve completed their work with you how do you keep the love between you if you need their super skills again in the future – when everyone else is also looking to attract the same amazing contingent workers and service providers?\u00a0This is an important point as in our research with Oxford Economics 55% of executives said their company would be unable to conduct business as usual without an external workforce \u2013 yet less than 1 in 3 companies have the technology in place to engage and manage the external workforce effectively!<\/p>\n Crucial to effectively engaging the external workforce is driving a focus on diversity and inclusion.\u00a0While this was traditionally focused on the \u2018full time\u2019 workforce leading organisations are now ensuring that there is an integrated approach around diversity and inclusion across both full time and external workers.\u00a0This important agenda goes beyond race, religion, age, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. It also extends to talent diversity. As organisations increasingly look to external workers to drive business performance, these workers drive critical projects and make significant contributions to organisational strategy. Talented external workers switch from one company to another upon completion of projects and it\u2019s crucial, if you\u2019d love them to return in the future, that they have an excellent experience during their time with the organisation.\u00a0This will enhance the reputation of the organisation when looking to attract new external talents while also supporting the successful recruitment of those external workers it may decide it would like to make full time employees.<\/p>\n This holistic focus on diversity and inclusion across an organisations total workforce will drive improvements in financial performance, productivity and of course innovation and creativity as the best people want to work with you and your teams.\u00a0It will also create differentiation for you in the marketplace and drive better business outcomes.<\/p>\n In our research with Oxford Economics Lisa Zak, Director of Strategic Sourcing at Medtronic, the world\u2019s largest medical device company, summed it up well:\u00a0\u201cMany C-level executives don\u2019t have the external workforce on their radar because they are not aware of the extent to which it comprises their total workforce mix and fuels growth and innovation of their business\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n JP Stadelmann, Head of Purchasing for the External Workforce at Swisscom, also remarked:\u00a0\u201cFor us, the value of the external workforce has never been cost. It\u2019s flexibility. It\u2019s strategic.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Driving this focus on diversity and inclusion starts the moment you commence the recruitment process.\u00a0Candidate can anonymize candidate profiles to avoid bias.\u00a0This enables them to identify candidates based purely on skills and expertise\u2014not by their name, gender, race or ethnic background.\u00a0Having clear communication around the company\u2019s diversity and inclusion policies during the onboarding<\/a> process will educate external workers about the company\u2019s values and make them feel included from the very beginning of their time with the organisation.<\/p>\n While external workers can be sourced directly from an organisations own talent pool they are also sourced and engaged through 3rd party organisations.\u00a0It\u2019s essential that these partners are reviewed to ensure they share the same values around diversity and inclusion as that of the hiring organisation.\u00a0If there is lack of alignment then the partners may find they lose business to those that have an inclusive ethos at the heart of their business.<\/p>\n External workers must be provided with the access, technology and assets necessary to do their jobs.\u00a0If there are any differences between how things are organised for full time employees versus external workers then these should be explained to ensure the external worker feels supported rather than excluded simply because they are an external worker.\u00a0The organisation should have in place the necessary technology itself to allocate assets, access and technology to the external workers and of course recover those elements once the external worker has completed their time working with the organisation.\u00a0Our research with Oxford Economics indicated that very few organisations had the capability to do this.<\/p>\n Creating a diverse and inclusive environment is everyone\u2019s responsibility and requires on-going effort, consistency and focus.\u00a0Leaders must encourage an inclusive culture and lead by example.\u00a0Where external workers are seen as \u2018separate\u2019 to full time employees this leads to unnecessary and damaging silos, damaging an organisations culture and diversity and inclusion efforts.\u00a0Every individual connected to an organisation matters and diversity and inclusion should matter to every individual within an organisation.<\/p>\n At 麻豆原创 we are committed to being one of the most diverse and inclusive software companies in the world.\u00a0We provide world class technologies that drive forward diversity and inclusion initiatives, support organisations to find and retain the best talents in the world and enable those resources to successfully deliver outcomes to their employers as efficiently as possible \u2013 what\u2019s not to love about that !<\/p>\n [1]<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0麻豆原创 & Oxford Economics – External Workforce – Agility isn’t always on the payroll<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n [2]<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0The postpandemic workforce: Responses to a McKinsey global survey of 800 executives | McKinsey<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With skills and labour in such short supply at the moment the external workforce has never been more important to organisations. Our research[1], conducted in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3990,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"related_posts":[],"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5593047,41,2607111],"tags":[],"sapn-display":[5593034,5593032,45027],"sapn-type":[2607062],"class_list":["post-133396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corporate","category-ecosystem","category-technology","sapn-display-feature-hero","sapn-display-feature-spotlight","sapn-display-hero","sapn-type-feature"],"yoast_head":"\n