The Agile Workforce

Staffing agencies have been at the centre of multiple forms of disruption over the last few years. Whether it is the latest on-demand work platforms or the original freelancer marketplaces, technology is diluting the dominance of staffing firms, slowly and steadily. The use of these platforms enable businesses to engage workers at much lower rates as they don't have to pay markups to staffing firms. These platforms also offer more flexibility to hourly workers as they can match their working hours to client's requirement. While there are so many benefits offered by these platforms and the gig economy, the question that arises is - why has the adoption not gone mainstream and why are enterprises still leveraging staffing firms. There is a one word answer to this i.e. trust. Staffing firms' differentiation lies in offering trust. Now, to put it clearly, staffing firms act as intermediaries and offer trusted transactions which are lacking in the gig economy operating...

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts can't be more true in the current technology landscape. We have IoT which is a combination of multiple technologies to achieve an outcome which can't be fathomed through these individual technologies. There are multiple such examples where we see multiple technologies interacting with each other to produce a result which is considerably more powerful and has much more significant impact than any of these individual technologies. We are seeing similar results being produced in IT departments of organizations. Traditionally, the focus was to bring in softwares or technologies fulfilling a single need. These technologies often worked in silos without any interactions with their adjacent systems and produced sub par results. IT organizations realized this and moved to a systems thinking approach where multiple technologies can be arranged through a systematic approach to achieve more than the sum of individual parts. This is also known...

Organizations, across the globe, irrespective of their industry or size, are leveraging contingent workforce for a variety of purposes. This has resulted in tremendous demand for contingent workers giving rise to what we now know as "gig economy". While the demand for contingent workers continues to increase across companies of different sizes, the underlying reason for engaging these workers cannot be more different. On one side, large market companies are using contingent workers primarily for cost reduction, mid-market firms are using them to scale rapidly and save on the cost and effort that goes into hiring and keeping permanent workers. According to some estimates, 20% of workforce in mid-market firms is contingent in nature. This is a big number even if we consider the relatively decent size of these firms. With the increasing number of contingent workers in their ranks, mid-market firms are finding it difficult to manage them effectively and also to reap the desired ...

Consider a scenario where a recruiter is hiring for high-end niche role such as a “data scientist” facing humongous talent shortage. What is your first reaction? The disadvantaged recruiter won’t be able to find a suitable candidate for this role. What if I tell you that recruiter does not need to panic and can have multiple suitable candidates to fulfill the skill requirements of this role. The key to what I just suggested is the “skill requirement” part. I am not suggesting that the recruiter can get candidates who are currently working as data scientist, but recruiter can target candidates who have the requisite skill set as that of a data scientist but are working in different areas. The fruition of this idea can empower recruiters and help them achieve the unthinkable – “zero talent shortage”. Now, while we have dreamed of achieving the unthinkable, it is time to face the reality and really understand, what on the earth can help us achieve the unthinkable. The answer...

‌The fast changing nature of work, fueled by technology disruption has led to a dire shortage of people with relevant skill sets. As a result, organizations now a days, are not really concerned about the type of talent they want to engage (it can range from temp worker to IC to an SOW worker), but on the skill set that they bring in. This is nothing new but, Total Talent Management (TTM), which has been the buzz word in the HR circles for past many years. It has been touted as the silver bullet which will solve for all talent related challenges of the organization, particularly talent shortage. While TTM promised immense benefits, there was nothing concrete happening in terms of achieving TTM. However, in the last 12-18 months, things have changed considerably for the positive. There are changes underway at large organizations which will enable them to focus on bringing in the right skill set at the right time. These changes include reorganization in the HR and procurement depart...