Why are Australian Companies Missing the Mark on Workforce Experience?

Recently we wrote about the importance of actively encouraging and embracing a fluid and flexible workforce so that you can attract people with the skills you need.

‍

For the purposes of this article, let’s assume you’ve nailed the ‘shop window’ component and there’s plenty of reasons why people want to join and work with your organisation. Everything seems as it needs to be.

‍

So why then do many Aussie companies still fall short when it comes to workforce experience?

‍

The clue is in the question: “workforce”. As we discussed in the previous article, your workforce is anybody who contributes work towards the execution of your company strategy.

‍

Creating a positive workforce experience needs to extend to the entire workforce.

Contingent workers expect their wants and needs to be fulfilled too; desire for things like opportunity, flexibility, communication, wellbeing, personal development and fair remuneration is not unique to the permanent workforce. You work so hard to find and attract talent in the first place, so why not do everything you can to make sure they aren’t lost to the ether once their engagement with you ends?

‍

The return of great talent is just one of the reasons why a great contingent workforce experience is so important. There’s an undeniable business case as to why taking action in this area should be a priority:

• Quicker access to talent in the future - workers will join your talent community and refer their networks to join too, where they can be matched to future projects which suit their skillset.
• Improved business outcomes - the best talent will be more willing to work for you.
• Increased productivity - people are more productive in a supportive and empowering environment. A streamlined experience enables workers to concentrate on their priorities.
• Reduced costs - eliminate unnecessary expenditure on either attracting new talent again and again or, worse, having to re-attract talent after a poor experience drives someone to leave mid-assignment.

‍

When contingent workforce experience is executed brilliantly, your contingent workforce can become an army of advocates actively steering and referring their networks of highly-skilled talent towards you too.

‍‍

What contributes to a great contingent workforce experience?

Some of the things to consider when it comes to the experience contingent workers have with your organisation include:

• Do I make it easy for my contingent workforce to get paid for the work they do?
• Do I empower my contingent workforce to deliver the work output I need in a way (whether location, schedule or project rhythm) which suits them too?
• How do my working practices cater for my contingent workforce’s wellbeing and happiness?
• How are my contingent workforce’s skills developed and refined so that they are increasingly more valuable to my organisation in the future?
• Do I utilise my contingent workforce in a way which gives them the choice to work on projects best suited to their skill set and their preferences?
• How can I make it easy for contingent workers to re-join me for a future assignment?

Creating sustainable access to talent through a great contingent workforce experience could become your newest competitive advantage.