By Rob Balfour, VP Enterprise Sales, AllWork
It is a fact that the contingent workforce is changing the game when it comes to the way employee performance is measured. Today’s workforce is a hybrid of seasoned employees working alongside hourly employees that make up most of the jobs that fall into the contingent workforce realm.
As the hybrid workforce model grows, so does the need to manage it. What I have found most interesting is that only 16% of leaders believe they have an effective performance management process to supervise the contingent workforce. This is not a trend, but a mere fact that companies – especially those that have consumer-facing roles – will be increasing their contingent workforce in the coming years. The most effective way to do this is to transform an existing labor pool or create a specific team of contingent workers that remain working for YOU. In order to get the necessary results from this workforce, maintaining control is a critical component to achieve success. Here are several tips to consider when creating your contingent workforce.
Understand the Value of a Contingent Worker
In order to move your current workforce into a hybrid model is best to KNOW the value of a contingent worker and how you will benefit from having a hybrid workforce. Companies should explore how this flexible talent could be leveraged to achieve certain business goals like creating an agile workforce that can respond quickly to business demands. By creating a hybrid workforce model, you can and most likely will increase your business KPI’s across all forms of measurement. You will reduce talent costs, increase sales, avoid time-sheet fraud, and have full visibility into what your team is doing at all times.
Policies and Procedures
I have been asked time and time again how to set up a process flow for the hiring and managing for contingent workers. In many cases, a contingent worker will yield a higher hourly rate than a non-contingent worker and this can create internal conflict amongst employees. I don’t mean to sound apathetic, but a flexible worker is giving up steady hours with a steady schedule. They should be paid more! I always suggest using your internal process for internal employees and optimize for the contingent employees.
Utilize Technology to Manage Your Contingent Workforce
Technology is essential to effectively manage your contingent employees. Management teams at all levels should be using a technology tool to onboard, budget, schedule, pay, and monitor these employees. Interview technology companies that provide these types of tools. It is always best to have a tool in place that both the company and contingent employee interact with. This will allow contingent employees to access certain information, from training material to submitting their timesheets, via a mobile app.
With the contingent workforce growing at a rapid pace, staying ahead of how to manage them will save your company time and money in the future. Depending on what your company does will dictate how to best set up this model. Some companies simply want to tap into an existing talent pool for low hourly wage positions while others that want to keep control and maximize their KPI’s choose to do it in-house with the right tools.
Want to learn more about how to efficiently manage your contingent 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.
