Over the past several years, more and more companies have started to implement contingent workforce programs (CW programs) into their talent acquisition strategy. A contingent workforce program, in short, is the hiring and managing of non-permanent employees. Working with a talent partner who can manage your organization’s contingent workforce activities is a great way to ensure you are hiring and retaining the right talent, and this is especially important in today’s volatile market.
Since the hiring market has been so unpredictable for the past few years, many companies have strayed away from hiring permanent employees at one point or another. Investing time and money into a new permanent hire typically is not worth it when demand is fluctuating and no one knows what will happen next – which is why the scalable nature of CW programs makes this a sensible solution.
However, if your talent acquisition team does want to adopt a new CW program, there may be some roadblocks to overcome. The first roadblock is receiving program buy-in from your organization’s decision-makers. Once you get past this roadblock, your next challenge will be getting the employees at your organization to embrace and support the changes as they occur. In this blog, we will explore how to overcome these bottlenecks and get your organization to embrace the new CW program.
5 Steps to Get Your Organization on Board with Your New CW Program
1. Identify ROI Drivers
When you are ready to start the process of introducing a new contingent workforce program, your organization’s decision-makers will want to know the impact it will have on ROI. You should start by calculating the ROI of your company’s current talent acquisition activities. Next, use forecast data to determine the projected ROI potential of a new CW program. This ROI can be calculated using cost-per-hire, time-to-fill, nonfinancial effectiveness of a hire, etc.
Once your organization’s key decision-makers are presented with these figures, they will be able to make an informed decision on whether or not it’s worth it to invest in the CW program your team is pitching. You’ll never get them to embrace the initial program adoption if they don’t see any financial benefit to it.
2. Survey CW Macro Trends
Simply put, macro trends are persistent and widespread shifts that occur on a global scale. These trends tend to have a major impact on the hiring market, and utilizing a contingent labor program is a strategic way to be prepared to keep up with changing macro trends. The scalability of a CW program will allow your organization to efficiently adapt to any shift in the macro environment. Having this program in place will allow you to scale your hiring up or down depending on the current state of the macro environment.
Therefore, your organization should have a system in place to continuously monitor current and future CW trends so you can be ready to alter your talent acquisition plans at a moment’s notice. Surveying these trends will also help you build a business case. Trends will give you insight into what your new CW program should include, and you can share this knowledge with your organization to convince them that the new TA program is needed.
3. Define As-Is-State
If your company does not have visibility into the as-is-state of your talent acquisition program, then you will never know if it makes sense to implement a new TA strategy. It’s crucial to analyze your program and determine which aspects are working well and which aspects should be improved upon, and be sure to back these claims with real-time metrics and data. Once you know what should stay the same and what should change, you can move onto the desired state.
4. Characterize Desired State
After defining your talent acquisition program’s as-is-state, it’s time to make the appropriate iterations and define your desired state. You need to set tangible goals that your organization will strive to achieve through the new CW program.
Building a roadmap with details about program implementation and how it will evolve over the next several years is also a good way to exemplify the desired state to any concerned parties. Overall, you need a clear vision of what this program will look like once its implemented and an understanding of how it will impact other parts of the organization.
5. Build Business Case
After completing the steps above, it’s finally time to build a business case for the CW program to present to leadership and provide justification for why your organization should adopt this new program. Include all the necessary details that decision-makers will be interested in so they can make a well-informed decision about whether or not the organization should invest in the new program. Present this business case in a professional and concise manner to improve your chances of receiving approval from all necessary stakeholders.
Prioritizing Change Management
Once you receive program buy-in, change management is key for a successful implementation. You need to help your organization’s people throughout the transition to make sure they are handling the changes well. Changes in the workplace can be difficult, so if you are leading the new program adoption, you are responsible for making the transition as seamless as possible for everyone involved.
Here are some tips to guide you through the change management process:
- Be transparent and communicate often
- Allow your teams to provide suggestions about the new program implementation
- Acknowledge people's feelings and encourage them to talk about them
- Be a strong leader, but also listen to feedback
- Have a strategy to deal with any bottlenecks in your plan
Don't overlook the importance of involving your teams in the program adoption process. Your new CW program will never reach its full potential if you don't fully convince your teams to get on board with the program and get excited for the changes to come.
