Reposted from Jon Younger at Forbes
Interesting copy in the global war for talent appeared this week. Two large and well-respected U.S. companies reported workforce challenges in the face of current events. You may have read about it in the papers.
The first case was Eli Lilly, Indiana’s largest hometown business. A great global pharma company, Lilly has 37,000 employees around the globe, and over 10,000 of them are working in corporate and executive departments in Indianapolis. The problem is, Indiana has announced a new law restricting abortion. Lilly management worries that it will make Indiana a less attractive career destination for top talent. Their press release puts it this way:
“’We are concerned that this law will hinder Lilly’s — and Indiana’s — ability to attract diverse scientific, engineering and business talent from around the world,” according to the statement. ‘Given this new law, we will be forced to plan for more employment growth outside our home state.’”
The other story was Pella. Also headquartered in the Midwest, Pella is a large construction materials company. Despite a global marketing reach and manufacturing, Pella is the quintessential hometown company, loyal to its small rural Iowa town. Its challenge: Attracting talent to a rural lifestyle and narrower local opportunity. Here’s what the Wall Street Journal wrote recently:
“Pella says it will take time to increase its local workforce. Currently, about 2,550 people work for the company in the town, but only about 640 live there. The others live and commute in from neighboring Iowa communities.
“Pella executives say the company tried more traditional solutions to boost its ranks. It raised pay, automated some tasks in factory work to widen the appeal, and doubled down on recruiting from the local high school and college—but with limited success. Tapping a larger labor pool isn’t easy. Some candidates relocating may fret about adjusting to life in an overwhelmingly white town with more than two dozen churches and two bars, they say.
“’We can bring in all the amazing talent from across the country, but if they get here, and they don’t see themselves reflected in the community, they don’t feel at home,’” says Nicolle Picray, a company spokeswoman.”
Both companies, and so many like them, are missing the big picture, the chance to rethink their workforce for a digital era. The future workforce is discontinuous with the past, and has liberated individuals and organizations from the constraints of geography. It’s no longer just a question of shifting physical locations. Bigger goals are achievable if we ask the right question. For example: “How can we take full advantage of workforce trends and preferences, a global network of remotely available expert freelance talent, and the important role of communications and collaboration technology on who, where and when we work.”
Too many smart companies are avoiding the opportunity to challenge traditional assumptions. Pacesetters like Unilever, a global company that has embraced a forward-looking solution to their future talent challenges, are too few and far between.
There has never been a more important time to bring together a company’s HR, Purchasing, Finance and IT departments and task them to follow the example of Google’s recent Simplicity Sprint: help us reimagine a different workforce and way of working.
Imagine a challenge like this one:
“At Company XYZ, we need to be smart about our future workforce. Experts in areas like HR, Purchasing, IT and Finance, working together to help us build a vision for a more agile future workforce, can significantly accelerate our growth and profitability. I’d like to invite you to be part of the team.’”
Part of that decision is undoubtedly the shift to a flexible, blended workforce.
Companies like Lilly and Pella know the value of freelancers. Over 90% of corporates regularly utilize freelance resources, and are increasing their reliance on open talent. Here’s what attracts executive interest: Quicker access to talent; a larger talent pool than locally available; greater cost control versus full-time employment; and direct and indirect cost savings.
But challenging old talent assumptions and shibboleths isn’t easy. For example, the belief that remote workers are less productive is a belief that’s been fully discredited during the pandemic. Yet, more leaders are calling for employees to abandon hybrid and remote arrangement and return to the office five days a week. This despite clear data that hybrid is a red line for many employees.
Or the assertion that freelancers are less competent because otherwise they’d have a “real” job. We know that’s just not so, that freelancing is increasingly the choice of highly talented and marketable experts in a wide variety of professional areas from AI and robotics to project management and strategy.
Many older executives hope their organization will eventually return to a pre-pandemic “normal”. But nostalgia doesn’t square with the facts. New generations are more project centric than employer focused. They are more confident and competent than ever, and far more worldly-wise. 45 million professionals are part-time freelancers as well as full-time employees. These “freelance lite” employees are demanding, impatient, they know they have options, and rarely stay beyond two years.
And a flexible, blended workforce also delivers obvious benefits at the organizational level. It increases agility, adds to a diverse talent mix, and improves the ability to scale, pivot, and respond more immediately to a changing external and competitive environment.
A Support Ecosystem is Growing
A welcome development is the growth of a support ecosystem that’s helping corporates successfully implement an open talent workforce architecture. This is essential: data from our Global Survey on Freelancing found that fewer than half of freelancers described their typical client company as skilled in working with freelancers.
Open-Assembly is a good example of the new “pathfinders’ leading workforce reinvention. Created by serial entrepreneur John Winsor, Open-Assembly combines a think-tank, consultancy, and not-for-profit community platform of several hundred members, and helps large enterprises design and implement a more flexible “open talent” workforce. CEO Barry Matthews, a well-known U.K. based thought leader explains: “It’s uncomfortable for some organizations to throw off ingrained processes and assumptions. They may see freelance talent as a higher risk, or as a second-best option. At Open-Assembly we help these businesses see how an open talent resourcing strategy pays for itself in terms of business growth, satisfied customers, and a more diverse, innovative culture.”
As economic uncertainties grow, and layoffs increase, it’s a good time for organizations to open to new thinking about their workforce. The open talent movement is creating more possibilities for workforce design, and technology provides an ever-broader continuum of productive relationships between professionals and hiring organizations. But the essential first step is opening up to the possibilities of a forward-looking vision of the future. Bringing together the right experts to set out the options, implications, and feasibilities for corporate leaders is a logical and potentially powerful first step in embracing the freelance revolution.
Viva la revolution!
