Exploring a more fluid workforce opportunity

Companies want the agility of a more fluid workforce. For staffing and services companies, the opportunity is significant but the demands from workers embracing the gig economy are different. From onboarding to performance management, fluid workers represent new processes and systems.

The key will be for staffing and services companies to overcome the most common barriers to really make the fluid workforce run smoothly. Furthermore, staffing and services companies must work with their clients to smoothly integrate with their processes and systems. These include:

• Procurement: the process for hiring a fluid worker is not the same as for a permanent employee, so procurement policies need to reflect the hire-as-needed movement
• Matching: finding the right person with the right skills at the right time is vital. Technology needs to dynamically match open jobs to people’s skills and interests
• Onboarding: systematic processes to explain the job contract, policies, and procedures to workers and ensure they have the right information
• Resources: fluid workers still need tools and technology to do the job. Resources need to be provisioned appropriately
• Performance management: create a structured feedback mechanism for fluid workers throughout the engagement, so they understand how they are performing
• Offboarding: create a process to gather feedback from fluid workers and a thorough separation process to eliminate any confusion
• Retention: build a database of fluid workers to be ready for future requests and ensure there is a communications plan in place.

A fluid workforce needs to be integrated into processes and procedures if companies expect these people to mesh seamlessly into their work culture. They want to feel like they are a part of a team, even if their employment is temporary.

The fluid workforce is the future. Companies need integrated talent strategies, processes, and culture to support this growth, and the governance to ensure the operating model works. This is the changing future of work and it is being driven by the younger demographics.

This requires new mindsets and technologies to capitalize on the opportunity. Staffing and professional-services companies need to balance the requests from their clients with the demands on the fluid workforce pool. It is a significant growth opportunity, but it will mean moving away from the traditional boundaries of recruitment. A new workforce requires new HR thinking, and also new ways of working. Transformation is necessary, and my next post will cover what needs to happen.

Brian Girouard is EVP, NA Services Industries Leader, at Capgemini and can be reached at brian.girouard@capgemini.com.

Brian Girouard

Expert in Customer Centricity, Digital Customer Experience

My priority is to match the key business challenges of our clients and prospects with our most effective capabilities and solutions.
At Capgemini, I am in charge of our service industries portfolio in North America. This includes clients in the engineering, construction, real estate, professional services, staffing, and other business-services sectors.
My team and I help our clients develop strategies for growth. We work to transform their business processes, improve their approach to cybersecurity, deploy and manage their business applications, and much more.
Some of my recent work includes:
Implementing an enterprise-wide system for a logistics services provider
Developing an application-integration strategy for a global management-consulting firm
Leading the application development, operations, and management of the customer-facing and back-office systems for a large professional-staffing organization.
I joined Capgemini 23 years ago. During my long tenure, I have held global positions in consumer products, agribusiness, retail, and manufacturing.
I have published many articles and reports on the future of supply chain and consumer trends, and on other topics of relevance to the digital shopper. I have shared my insights and provided thought leadership at numerous industry conferences, including Sapphire, JDA Connect, Oracle Open World, and Dreamforce.
Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my wife at our home in Saint Paul, Minnesota. We are also fond of our lake getaway trips to the Northwoods of Wisconsin.