Millions of skilled candidates today are attracted to contingent employment opportunities. At the same time, corporate leaders are touting the flexibility afforded by contingent talent. That said, managing contingent workers is no easy feat. As companies grow their contingent workforce, they may find that in-house teams can quickly become overwhelmed by administrative burden, redundant processes, and evolving employment laws. In this article, LevelUP provides three tips to help organizations introduce process efficiencies, resource optimization, and compliant employment practices to their workforce management strategy while providing relief to internal teams.
Why Are Contingent Workers Easily Mismanaged?
When it comes to managing contingent workers, many organizations operate in independent divisions or silos. What this means is that HR, procurement, and other business units within the organization each have separate processes for engaging with contingent workers and staffing suppliers. Considering the many ways in which contingent talent can be employed, what results is a highly disjointed approach in which each department is faced with an overwhelming number of suppliers, contracts, SOWs, and payroll and invoicing documents to manage. This approach can negatively impact process efficiency and workforce visibility while posing risks to compliant employment methods.
What to Keep in Mind When Managing Your Contingent Workforce
Break Down Silos to Create a Seamless Workforce Management Process
Employers must bridge the silos of contingent workforce management to ensure resources and their channels of activity are managed and documented through a single program. Strong leadership involvement and time investments will be required to build a formal and collaborative framework between HR, procurement, and all other departments engaging with contingent talent. Teams must work in tandem to determine priorities and accomplish common goals for how to best optimize contingent resources across skillsets, locations, and projects. What results is a clearer picture of worker supply and demand, consistent spending, and compliant employment practices.
Know the Difference Between Your Contingent and Full-Time Employees
Unsurprisingly, managing contingent talent comes with several legal pain points. One common mistake made by companies as they build out their contingent workforce is the misclassification of salaried employees as contingent workers. Misclassification cases can be very costly to an organization. For each employee misclassified, organizations could face penalty fines and employment tax liabilities. In addition, misclassified workers can take legal action against employers by suing for benefits and protections to which they are legally entitled—these include minimum wage, overtime, and health insurance.
The degree of supervision required, compensation, and services performed are just some of the factors used to distinguish contingent workers from salaried employees. For more information on worker classification, US employers should refer to the Department of Labor (DOL) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS). When engaging with contingent workers globally, employers should refer to specific labor laws and regulations set by their respective countries.
Partner with a Contingent Workforce Management (CWM) Provider
A CWM provider is an outsourced team that can assume primary responsibility for managing your contingent talent. Cost savings are just one reason organizations implement a CWM program, along with visibility, quality, and risk mitigation.
An CWM program can break down the silos in a contingent workforce management process, introducing a centralized process for engaging, documenting, and managing contingent labor. On top of this, CWM experts know where and how to source and engage quality contingent talent in competitive markets. In addition, customized program reports, analytics, and real-time data provide companies with enhanced visibility of their contingent workforce. Lastly, CWM partners offer expertise in worker classification and employment compliance.
Need a CWM Partner?
LevelUP focuses on designing customized CWM programs and providing superior high-touch service that leverages our resources, on-site or near-site, who specialize in talent acquisition and human resources. How LevelUP recruits and manages your candidate experience through our CWM solution is unparalleled. We use our extensive technology stack as well as white glove service to ensure that your contingent workforce experience is second to none. Additionally, our RPO services allow us to offer real-time comparison of the full-time and contingent talent markets.
If you’re curious to learn more about Contingent Workforce Management, check out our complete guide at this link.
