By Rob Balfour, VP Enterprise Sales, AllWork
As a society, we embrace instant gratification. We crave getting something the moment we realize we want it. I won’t speak for everyone, but the majority of us know this is true. Let’s discuss instant gratification as it relates to jobs and the trend of an increasing number of people jumping into the “on-demand” workforce.
162 million people – around 20 to 30 percent of the workforce are now working in the on-demand economy, according to research from the McKinsey Global Institute. As I stated above, we are a society that loves getting that something the moment, we realize we want it. What do you do when you realize there is something you want? You go online, order it, and either pick it up in-store or have it delivered as quick as the same day the order was placed. This alone is a major contributor to why there is a new way of doing business that is driving the on-demand economy.
The on-demand economy has drastically changed the employer-employee relationship with the employees consisting of a pool of affiliated workers, from which the firm either simply draws or connects customers directly. What I have found is that companies are struggling with this new staffing model for obvious reasons.
A flexible, on-demand workforce has certain advantages over the traditional staffing model. It improves workforce planning as companies can more easily budget for assignments, projects and spikes in specific selling times. It also encourages individuals to be excited by outperforming on specific projects, tasks and sales.
Small companies benefit from pulling talent from an existing pool of on-demand workers that fit certain desired skill sets. However, mid-larger companies (especially those that are consumer-facing) prefer to build their own talent pool of on-demand employees. The benefits of creating your own talent pool has several benefits. First, the on-demand employee feels that they are a part of the company and that they are able to be woven into the cultural fabric of the organization. Secondly, these are employees of your company thus allowing you to train them to be extremely specialized and focus for the jobs you ask them to perform.
It is difficult to enstill a sense of common purpose within a talent pool that you share with hundreds of other companies. This talent pool is generally disconnected from physical workspace and peers and without a traditional sense of loyalty to their employer. This is why it is critical to choose an on-demand model that is going to meet and, in many cases, exceed your goals. I am a big advocate of the on-demand workforce, but not if it is going to sacrifice my brand image, revenue, and my relationship with my customers. This is why I prefer an on-demand or flexible workforce where the employees are actual employees rather than freelance contractors.
At AllWork we work with small, medium, and large companies to help them successfully and seamlessly integrate an on-demand workforce into their existing staffing model. There is significant upside for companies who successfully implement and manage a flexible workforce.
Want to learn more about how to efficiently manage your on-demand workforce? For more information, or to see a full demo of the AllWork platform, contact us at info@allworknow.com or schedule a demo here.
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