A recent Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) webinar introduced the concept of a “Workforce Solutions Ecosystem” as a means to describe, define and illustrate the interconnectivity of related and unrelated Workforce Solutions.
SIA identifies the six ecosystem components as:
- Staffing Industry
- Talent Acquisition Technology
- Process Outsourcing
- Payroll/Compliance
- Contracting/Consulting
- Other Workforce Solutions
The report does an excellent job of describing and defining the scope of the six workforce solutions as:
- Staffing Industry – Temporary, Placement and Search
- Talent Acquisition Technology – VMS, ATS, Job Boards, Human Cloud
- Process Outsourcing – MSP, BPO, RPO, HRO
- Payroll/Compliance – IC compliance, PEO, Payroll
- Contracting/Consulting – Directly sourced, SOW consulting
- Other Workforce Solutions – Consulting, Testing, Training
The message in this ecosystem report is how each of the six components are offered by competing providers who depending on overlap of service coverage and/or partnership agreements work simultaneously competitively and cooperatively.
Case in point, a SIA infographic identifies five of the top staffing firms and their service coverage across the five other workforce solutions.
It is interesting to note:
- The considerable diversity in the service coverage between the staffing companies.
- CXC Global works cooperatively with all five staffing firms to help deliver a complete solution to their clients.
Another jewel in the report; a SIA infographic defines the term Contingent Worker. In developed labor markets (US, Europe and Australia), I believe most companies/employers understand the term and the methods of how to best compliantly utilize a contingent (flexible) workforce.
Local companies/employers in Asia, specifically Singapore and Hong Kong, seem to be in denial about the existence of a contingent workforce even though labor statistics show otherwise. Two studies, one by SIA and the other a Sector analysis & Trends in Asia commissioned by CXC, highlight the penetration of contingent labor in Asia. I believe the disconnect between third party data and local awareness is due to semantics:
- With the predominate use of SOW consulting firms, the number of contingent workers on a project don’t get counted. The project outcome is the metric not the headcount.
- The lack of strict employment laws (found in the developed labor markets), makes direct sourcing a viable option. If the contingent worker is on the company payroll, they might be aggregated with full time employees and not counted as Independent Contractors.
Historically, SOW consulting spend has not the most efficient use of capital. Local companies might benefit from a strategic look at the Workforce Solutions Ecosystem as a means of segmenting the solutions utilized. Increasing spend in the high value, high return solutions will increase productivity and efficiency while decreasing risk and cost.
Direct sourcing of contractors is a viable option until labor laws in Asia evolve to more closely scrutinize classification of the Independent Contractor. Employee mis-classification is a big issue currently being examined in the US.
CXC Global has successfully helped Cathay Pacific incorporate many of the six components into their business model. Contact us for assistance in designing your Workforce Solutions Ecosystem.
