Towards a project-based workforce
Establish a strategy
After you have evaluated your organisation’s current condition, you will have a better idea of where you are and where you want to be; putting you in a perfect position to establish a workforce model that is going to support your goals. Align your recruitment and employment/engagement plan to that of your business goals by designing a strategy according to the outcome of your evaluation.
Now you need to establish what the team that is going to support your outcomes will look like. Consider what functions you need performed and what skills are required to perform those functions. This will help determine how your workforce needs to be structured in terms of permanent employees to perform core business functions and IPros to assist in areas where critical and specialised skills are required for a pre-determined period.
Engage the right people for support
With an established plan in place, your organisation now needs to seek out the skilled professionals to support you in achieving company goals. Recognise that there is a fundamental paradigm shift taking place in the workforce and adjust your mindset about your workforce options. It’s not about creating a full-time or a part-time position any more. It’s about finding the right people to perform the role; may it be a full-time, part-time or a contract role.
Creating a fertile environment for IPros
As the engagement of IPros continues to emerge as a critical strategy to support businesses’ sustainability, it’s important to recognise that they often do not go through the same search, select, recruit and induction program as permanent employees. This evolving workforce landscape presents many time consuming and complex challenges to organisations wanting to engage IPros.
A professional engagement services company or contractor management services agency can provide invaluable services, as well as elusive benefits, to both IPros and the organisations that engage them. Some of the tangible benefits include, but are not limited to, risk mitigation, financial reward and time and cost efficiencies.
You must also know who you’re dealing with. IPros differ in how they want to be treated. According to the IPro Index 2011 a research study conducted by Monash University and sponsored by Entity Solutions, IPros are highly competent and self-aware individuals, who are happiest when working intensely.
Don’t just focus all of your attention, time, energy and resources figuring out how to attract and retain the talented permanent workforce; also do the same for the contract workforce. The more you understand about the attitudes and motivations of the IPros, the better your ability to develop relationships of mutual benefit.
How we engage and manage people is transforming and being an Employer of Choice is now defined in completely new ways that go well beyond the traditional human resource management model. To create a sustainable business that will continue to flourish in the new world of work, organisations should remain agile, flexible and progressive in their mindset about workforce options to ensure that they have the best people to deliver the best outcomes for their business.
