Over the last 10 years there has been a rapid rise of contingent workers globally. Many organizations and leaders appreciate the deep skills and experience that this talent pool brings to the table. They also appreciate the flexibility that contingent workers offer in terms of compensation and tenure commitments.  As employers have continued to expand their spend on contingent workforces, many have adopted a model that has Procurement rather than HR managing this segment of the workforce. As a result, there is little understanding of the engagement, experience and brand perception of these highly skilled resources.  Resources that are often considered thought leaders in their respective industries.

What is a Contingent Workforce?

A contingent workforce is one that works for an organization on a temporary basis. They can be classified as an independent contractors, consultants, temps or freelancers. Often times there are clear separations between contingent workers and employees to avoid any “deemed employment” issues. As they do not receive typical employee benefits offered by a company such as benefits, career development, training, and mentoring, the employment experience and EVP can vary quite dramatically.  Their perception, impact and promotion of your employer brand, however, is increasingly critical to business success.

How Significant is The Contingent Workforce Issue?

This group of talent is rapidly increasing in size, across North America. To put this trend into perspective, according to ECS, between 1995 and 2012 the contingent workforce grew by 4.3 million people. This number is expected to rise by another 40% through 2020, to 64.9 million workers. A staggering 90% work from home. Further, according to business leaders, the issue of effectively managing a contingent workforce has increased in level of importance from 62% to 70%, yet their perspective on their readiness to manage them has declined from 46% to 43%. Understanding that this growing workforce is typically not involved in engagement surveys, employer brand research, and performance management, is it any wonder that worker productivity and culture continue to be the fastest growing issue for leadership?

The Contingent Worker Value Proposition (CWVP) Solution

Your employer brand is the combined perceptions of employees, contingent workers, and outside talent of your organization as a place to work.  Therefore it is critical that you understand, build, communicate and measure perceptions and experience for all stakeholders to ensure success.

Step #1 ‐ Understand Their Perceptions through surveys, workshops, and interviews

Step #2 ‐ Build the Contingent Worker Value Proposition and Engagement Strategy

Step #3 ‐ Develop an Internal and External Communications Strategy that Aligns And Attracts this Key Talent Pool. 

Step #4 – Measure Engagement and Employer Brand Perception Regularly

Why Care About Doing This?

The strength of your employer brand is correlated to the degree to which your employees, and your contingent workforce is engaged. For as long as you employ Human Capital, the emotional connection to your employer brand for the entire talent pool is a critical to your organizational success or failure.  Your contingent workforce (past and present) represents your brand to future talent and customers.

Blu Ivy Group Employer Brand Consultants have researched, hired and managed the contingent workforce for dozens of years and are more than happy to answer your questions on building a winning Contingent Workforce Employer Brand. Feel free to reach one of us at info@bluivygroup.com for insights.