The implications of the blended workforce for resource management – expert insights and best practices.
Blended workforce. Gig economy. Contingent workers. External resources. Freelancers. Contractors. Consultants. No matter how you describe it, you can’t escape it. Workforce flexibility is on the rise.
We explored this growing trend in a recent webinar – The Blended Workforce and How Resource Managers Can Adapt – engaging two leading experts to provide their perspective on what a more flexible, contingent workforce make-up means for businesses:
They shared valuable strategies for successfully integrating different employment models and adapting to undeniable new workforce dynamics.
Read on to discover how resource managers can address these unique challenges and position resource management as a critical driver of organizational success.
On the surface, a blended workforce means combining internal and external resources to meet your business needs. It’s about strategically using different types of resources to meet demand, to achieve the best outcomes for your business.
As Laura Dean-Smith says:
When I think about the blended workforce, I think 'What are we blending?' We're blending a pool of internal employees – who enjoy all the benefits that come with being an employee for a company – with a pool of resources who are external to the organization – who really enjoy working on a contract basis for whatever reason."
The purpose is to "blend the stability of your internal employees with a pool of external resources to adapt to resource demand," she explains:
It’s about delivering a staffing model that works for the priorities of leadership at that time."
This could include appointing external workers to:
But it isn’t just about leveraging the unique benefits of different employment types, as Kent Frazier observes. It’s also about blending "people, perspectives, wants, needs, motivations and a whole host of things that matter to people at different stages of life."
And that’s what makes it a rewarding challenge for resource managers. Not only optimizing different sources of talent but "creating inspiring possibilities" for a wide range of people.
Freelance workers and consultants have always played a role in business, but the growth of the blended workforce is a relatively new phenomenon – unlocking powerful workforce transformation.
It’s being driven by organizations’ need for scalable staffing levels, access to in-demand talent, and cost efficiencies, as well as professionals’ increasing desire for autonomy and flexibility.
The rise of remote work technology and talent marketplaces has accelerated this change, creating a win-win workforce ecosystem that benefits both businesses and workers alike.
Some of the benefits to business include:
Not only that, the blended workforce makes sense for freelance and contingent workers too – offering more autonomy, choice, and work-life balance – creating a pool of fulfilled, flexible professionals just waiting to be part of your success story.
Of course, the blended workforce also comes with its challenges, particularly for resource managers.
Resource managers need to merge and manage different talent sources into a single successful workforce – often with less visibility into who’s available, and via an arms-length management process.
Here are some of the main issues you’ll need to overcome – as a resource manager – if your organization is going to fully benefit from a blended workforce.
It’s clear from the example above that managing a blended workforce can be difficult.
Managing internal resources shares many of the same facets as managing external resources. For example, all personnel need to be briefed, paid, and scheduled.
However, there are key differences that resource managers and senior leaders need to know. And – luckily – our experts shared plenty of best practices.
Mindset is a key difference between internal and external resources. While in-house employees might be motivated by security and stability, external workers may thrive on flexibility and change. Understanding those different motivations can help you manage contingent workers more effectively and build productive, repeat relationships.
I think we really can't forget – in this gig economy – that sense of autonomy, control, and flexibility that people who are working on a contract basis really enjoy and take advantage of in their life," says Laura.
So how can resource managers get to grips with those differences? Laura says to take the same time and care to get to know contractors as you do internal employees.
As resource managers, we take a very high level of interest in what the career needs and the goals are of our internal people – what goals they have, helping them to achieve them, and really trying to match up the right person to the right project. Adopt that mindset with your external people as well. Care about them just as much as you care about your internal people and you'll see a very high level of return from them."
One of the challenges we highlighted was lack of visibility into external resources – especially in a distributed workforce where resources may be located anywhere in the world. A way around that is for Resource Management to take responsibility for outside workers – and manage them in the same centralized system as internal employees.
At Clarivate, Laura’s successful resource management office has a dedicated External Resource Manager, as she explains:
We have approximately 300 internal resources and up to 50 external individuals at any time. Our External Resource Manager attends every kick-off call to ensure expectations are clear and shared between the internal team and the external resource. They’re a named point of contact for the external partner, which helps deepen and strengthen our partner relationships. And they provide impartiality in the event of conflict resolution."
The contingent workforce is made up of skilled professionals who choose to be masters of their professional destiny, freelancing out of choice and with their pick of clients.
However, some managers believe freelancers should be grateful for the opportunity to work with them, rather than the other way around - which is sometimes the case!
This mindset can lead to high turnover, as freelancers quit clients that don’t recognize their value or deliver a positive experience, explains Laura.
There used to be a time in organizations when the view of contract workers was that “They need the work from us”. And that mindset really has shifted and changed, and needs to continue to change.
These are individuals who are professionals, who have chosen this. Not because they don't have any other option. They've chosen this because this is what’s best for them at this moment in their life. So organizations need to view them as professional partners and treat them with that level of respect – recognizing that it is a two-way relationship and it has to work for both for both parties."
External resources are often in-demand professionals – hard to find, onboard, and retain. You need to afford them the same respect you would any other type of appointment.
While some external resources may work for you on a full-time equivalent basis, others will be working flexibly for you and other businesses. This means they won’t be available at short notice or to attend last-minute meetings like your internal people can."
For resource managers, managing this internal expectation can be a challenge. It may require a program of education for leaders and managers, so they don’t have unrealistic expectations of external providers.
All successful organizations are committed to providing an exceptional customer experience – and most understand the value of a positive employee experience too. However, our experts suggest that organizations now need to consider another front – the external partner experience.
The external partner experience is one that recognizes the unique needs and motivations of freelance service providers. And then creates optimum processes to attract, engage, and retain them, in pursuit of the organization’s goals and purpose.
We want them to have a great experience working with our company,’ says Laura. ‘So that they have the opportunity to deliver the best, high-quality results for us – which is what we what we're hiring them to do, that's the best outcome for us – and then to continue deepening that relationship over time."
Kent agrees, saying that all employees – regardless of employment type – want to know they matter:
Whether it's an internal person or an external person, if you want me to care about what you’re doing, you have to show me that I matter. You have to show me that you care about me if you expect that reciprocity. If the person doesn't feel like they matter, why should your business matter to them?"
A positive external partner experience might look like:
Aside from recruitment and retention challenges, how can you get the best from your contingent workers? And how do you assess the success of your current workforce strategy?
The answer is to establish a centralized methodology for partner performance management – and to use both quantitative and qualitative information to get a holistic understanding of performance.
In resource management, we have this beautiful blend of the qualitative and the quantitative in everything we do, says Laura. "We’re very data-driven – utilization data, return business data, skills data – and it’s really helpful for that objective standpoint. But you can't just have the data. You have to have the qualitative stories to tie everything together, to connect the dots, to fill in those gaps."
So what information does Laura recommend collecting and reviewing? Data first…
When we're looking at the blended workforce, we have to look at what’s important to track – what is the usage, what is the frequency, what are the expenses, what are the different project types or skills areas – so we can decide whether we should continue to fill those gaps externally or invest internally instead. That's an important part of workforce planning because it contributes to the success of that blended workforce model because everybody is on the same page about how and when we use external resources."
But it isn’t just about stats.
Then there’s the qualitative side. The quality of the output. The quality of the deliverable. Customer feedback surveys. Feedback from the project team about the individual who came in – Were they helpful, responsive, pleasant to work with? Did it feel like they were part of the team, or did it feel like the team needed to pull them along? Then we check in on what the experience was like for the external individual too…"
By combining quantitative and qualitative feedback, resource managers can build a holistic picture of external hires – both whether individuals are working out, and whether external resources are the best solution in each scenario.
