Metasys Blog

Routine, repetitive operations are the enemies of productivity and innovation. Every hour your Human Resources and Procurement teams spend on acquiring, deploying, and managing contingent workers is an hour stolen from more valuable activities. Many aspects of business, from marketing to production, have taken advantage of machine learning and artificial intelligence to free skilled workers from mundane and monotonous tasks so they can perform more creative cerebral work.

Everyone in business seems to be tapping into the power of big data, and the field of workforce management is no different. The availability of billions of data points presents hiring organizations with the potential to optimize the entirety of the human resources function, from attracting potential job candidates to planning their retirement parties and every step in between. The expanding prevalence of contingent workers only widens and deepens data’s status as a central pillar in workforce architecture.

Using artificial intelligence to identify, attract, and convert prospects has long been the purview of the marketing department. Marketing teams segment customers based on their likelihood to buy and their total lifetime value to the company. Marketers want to know what drives customers to choose one brand over another, when they are most interested in engaging with the product, and what kind of messages will induce them to load up their virtual shopping cart.

Flexibility has become a watchword in the current business and hiring climate. Businesses are encouraged to build flexibility into their talent strategies by increasing the variety of worker types they employ. By making greater use of freelancers, contract workers, and consultants in addition to traditional, full-time employees, firms become better prepared to deal with market fluctuations. This approach assumes the nature of work will change often, and companies should be able to shift their workforce to take on new challenges. Of course, the ability to pivot manufacturing, operations, marketing, and supply chain procedures is a key component of firm longevity and success. But meeting the dynamic demands of buyers, vendors, and workers also requires companies to have access to diverse skills. Hiring workers who possess many in-demand skills and developing new capabilities among employees and contingent workers allows firms to expedite refinements to their go-to-market strategies, absorb market shocks, and take advantage of emerging trends.

The concept of “work” and “career” are undergoing a major shift. The COVID-19 pandemic may have expedited this adjustment, but contingent work is an idea whose time has come. Many workers have pivoted nicely into roles as freelancers, contractors, and part-timers. Some companies, on the other hand, must adapt quickly if they are to remain competitive in the battle for talent that will re-emerge with the reopening of the U.S. economy.

Companies always have boasted that their people are their most important asset and the source of their greatest competitive advantage. And while that may be true, for much of the last decade organizations rarely were forced to compete for talent the way they fight for customers. That all began to change several years ago, as work became more technical, collaborative, and specialized. COVID-19 has temporarily eased the talent crunch, but it already is showing signs of returning as the curve flattens and more and more states reopen. To attract and keep employees and contingent workers, successful firms of the future must approach their workforce assets strategically, building their brand as talent-centric hiring organizations.

The state of your company’s talent strategy and pipeline as at three months ago has probably been altered dramatically. At the top of your list, you probably are looking at ways to cut costs, and limit new hires currently. In light of these circumstances, your hiring program and talent pipeline may need to be rejuvenated in preparation for when the economy gets moving again. This is why you need to put your talent pipeline rejuvenation plan into action now, before the hiring frenzy begins.

In our recently released whitepaper, we discussed some of the unexpected work-from-home benefits the COVID-19 quarantine has uncovered. Now we turn to some pitfalls companies and managers must navigate in order to realize all those advantages. To get the most productivity out of employees, companies should avoid making these mistakes.

Peacetime CEO/Wartime CEO by Ben Horowitz is one of the most commonly cited management think pieces of the last decade.

The COVID-19 quarantine has shone a spotlight on the skills employees need to successfully work from home. Communication and productivity issues top the list, and Metasys has addressed these challenges in previous posts, but we have found several other psychological, professional, and collaboration hurdles remote workers need to overcome in order to avoid burnout and maintain their careers – and their sanity – during the pandemic.