Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/65226
Contingencies The Global Market The swaying economic tide has also had an effect on what a contingent workforce looks like. No longer is it just a flexible resource to fill the gap, but an important part of managing increasing labour costs and global skills shortages and the wider part of an organisation's overall talent resourcing strategy. In the slow economy that is prevalent in the majority of regions across the globe, the contingent workforce can bring a positive contribution to the labour market as it can act as a stepping stone, influence job creation, and decrease long-term unemployment. Organisations are now finding mature economies stagnant or failing, but business can be booming in emerging markets. BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries have both the fastest growing and largest emerging market economies, but due to aging and shrinking talent pools they are lacking the skilled workforces to deliver on this growth. There is also an imbalance in an emerging market between the cultural attributes of the workforce and the commercial requirements of a business. The existing workforce and even those coming up through the ranks don't possess the specialist skills that are now required to match the dynamics of growing businesses. A highly skilled and mobile contingent workforce could plug this gap. There has also been a notable change in the use of a contingent workforce across different industry sectors. Sectors that have previously been buoyant are under heavy scrutiny to reduce costs; so, they have formed a reliance on temporary workers to offset the pressure to reduce headcount. This has certainly been true for the financial services sector, which has seen a huge pressure from the organisations themselves as well as from international governments to curb their spend. Whilst the IT and telecoms industries are faring better than most, a contingent workforce is being greatly utilised to provide the flexible specialist skills when demand creates it. The construction industry, however, which has always been heavily reliant on the flexibility that a contingent workforce offers, has in recent years seen the industry shrinking across most regions and, with it, the need for contingent workers. However, the industry has recently seen a few green shoots of growth due to periods of investment. With international governments facing harsh austerity measures, the public sector is feeling the pressure more than most to reduce costs, which has had a very negative impact on the associated contingent workforce. The public sector is indeed running a tight ship by implementing more robust internal mobility and redeployment models to prevent the need to resort to the use of temporary labour. New Paradigm Time And what does this all mean for companies operating in more than one country? For organisations that have different locations across the globe, a paradigm shift needs to occur, and they truly do need to integrate the role of the contingent workforce into their overall talent resourcing strategy rather than utilise it as ad hoc additional support. With skills shortages in emerging economies and increased legislation in mature markets, global organisations need to plan their contingent workforce alongside their resourcing models. Organisations are beginning to look at a virtual talent pool on a global scale of contingent workers that have a long-term relationship with their organisations—a "bench" with none of the overheads. People who can quickly reenter an organisation they have worked with previously and then depart again, add value. They are able to work for other companies in the interim, increasing their knowledge, experience, and market value until the organisation needs them again for the next project. This community will be expert and empowered and should be integrated into the resource strategy. The shortage of science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) skills in emerging economies is a prime example of how global organisations need to resource effectively. There is certainly talent of this nature available in mature market locations, but they will be few and far between, or not present at all in developing countries. But what global organisations need to be cautious of is trying to impose a mature model on a developing or new market. Companies need to be sensitive to what the local market is on the ground. Contracting may be prestigious in one country, but it may not be the cultural norm in another. Where contracting work is not high profile, you cannot rely on the contractors in those regions for the specialised skills that are being demanded. Local legislation, local cultural differences, varying global economies, and specialised skills shortages all support the need for a globally mobile contingent workforce and for it to fit into the organisations' global talent resourcing strategies. Sebastian O'Connell is U.K. director of Randstad Managed Services WINTER 2012 | www.hroglobal.com [19]