Learnings from CWS & GigE San Diego

In my work, connecting professional freelancers with leading enterprises, I have the opportunity to learn from all spectrums of the staffing industry. I'll share here a few thoughts and memories from Staffing Industry Analysts' 2019 Contingent Workforce Solutions (CWS) and Gig-Economy (GigE) conferences.

A Buzz Is In The Air

San Diego is my favorite locale for this annual event which is often held in Dallas, Texas. The weather was picture-perfect, 75F, sunny, and the conference attendees seemed to be joyous to soak in the weather and collaborate as colleagues. As attendees arrived on Sunday, the day before the event, the topics of discussion ranged from delayed flights, aspirations to visit the Gaslamp Quarter, and arguments over which concurrent session was better than the next. For me, I knew I would be in an executive briefing suite with clients most of the time so I had to significantly pare down my list of sessions to attend. Here is what I settled on:

• Evolving Your CWM Program in the Age of Digital Darwinism
• The Future of Work is Here and it's the Flexible Workforce
• Making Total Talent a Total Success: Why Tech is Only One Piece of the Puzzle
• Know the Ropes: Talent Engagement is an Unpredictable Economy
• Zero to Breakthrough: How A Breakthrough Mentality Creates Breakthrough Results
• Are You Measuring what Really Matters in Your CWM Program?
• Gig Economy Convergence and the Talent Supply Chain
• Disruption or Convergence? The Future of Tech and Talent
• Optimizing the Independent Workforce: Making the Most of IC's and Freelancers
• NextGen Staffing: Driving Innovation in Traditional Staffing Models
• Online Staffing Platforms: Where Next for Innovation?
• The Gig Economy and the Talent Supply Chain: Where Next?

Then, as anyone who has ever attended this annual meeting of the minds, only 50% of this event is about the sessions, the other 50% is about the offline and impromptu conversations had at the multitude of events held outside of the formal conference. For me, these were:

• The Beeline Event @ Petco Park
• The Fieldglass Event @ Casa de Reyes
• The Toptal Event with Top Chef Richard Blais @ Juniper & Ivy
• The Toptal Suite Event @ Petco Park
• The Ad-Hoc Event at (a difficult to find speakeasy, shhh) @ Room 56

Use New Ingredients To Make New Things

No this is not about Chef Richard Blais, this is about contingent labor of course and overheard at the Chef's restaurant was the start of a broader conversation here.

I didn't know you could do that with chicken!

New ingredients = new things. That would be a great theme for this year's show. Let's break this concept down a bit. First, what is the new ingredient? I'd urge you to circle back to the top of this article and determine for yourself what might be new in that list of sessions I attended. To me it is simple:

1. Technology - The introduction of software to execute staffing
2. Globalization - The expansion of talent sourcing and engagement from local to remote
3. Transparency - The direct connection of talent to the hiring manager

If Chef Blais were writing this, he would explain to you how it is possible to leverage common or traditional ingredients, add one or two things more, and come up with an absolutely stunning new outcome which was never expected. Why did Chef Blais figure this out and go on to win Top Chef All-Stars before anyone else? From my 1:1 time with him last week, he's not at all patient with the status-quo and bored with discussions around why we can't change. Put simply, he knew there was something better so he started to experiment, most notably with liquid nitrogen. In our case, the industry started to experiment with Technology and Global Talent which afforded increased Transparency and access to a broader pool of experts to get things done at work.

So What Is This New Thing?

For those of you reading this who actually attended the conference, you will most likely recognize a familiar character here. For those who did not, the attendees were graced with a Spok impersonator who sparked conversations about his purpose and origin. Most of these conversations led to discussions about the multitude of the new exhibitors showcasing this year, how many were unknown, and how much the staffing industry is changing year to year. It is not known if the introduction of Spok added to the brand recognition of a yet to be remembered sponsor, but we appreciate you for providing us some entertainment.

New Ingredients = New Things <leads to> A Shift In Power

My main thesis on stage on the last day of GigE was that talent is your new customer. I do not mean that your business will now send invoices to your talent, the flow of monies will likely remain mostly unchanged in the future world of staffing. What I meant was that a shift in power has occurred due to the introduction of these new ingredients. The 'new thing' formed from the injection of these new ingredients is simply the freelance platform industry, better known as Toptal, Upwork, BTG, and many more. A shift in power has occurred in the staffing industry and it is not temporary or fleeting. (Do note I am constraining this discussion to the 'knowledge worker' space for simplicity sake. A similar pattern is happening in the manual labor market as well for example with the introduction of Shiftgig and others.)

So what does this shift in power mean for the staffing industry? Simply put, the industry will need to refocus efforts on talent. This means that development efforts, metrics, theories for success, and general business alignment will have to change in order to first serve talent and then serve your end client. For example, it is now more interesting to measure the percentage of times the talent engaged on an engagement stays to complete the work than the number of candidates that are presented for that role. It is more important to directly connect the talent candidates to the hiring manager than it is to find talent that fits into a pre-set rate card. It is more important to measure the success of the project talent is working on than the number of suppliers in your contingent program. The commodity-focused gates that currently occupy the contingent labor supply chain need to be removed and the focus needs to be on affording these new ingredients, Technology, Globalization, and Transparency a way seep into the depths of the industry to ensure the final product is well brined. (I'll save the sous vide cooking method analogy for another article.)

Talent is your new customer

So where does this leave us? Well, it leaves us with a lot to do. We can no longer ignore the desires and power of our talent and hiring managers. If we can agree on the above concepts we can work together in true collaboration to serve our new customer. All else is noise. See you in London at CWS/GigE 2020!

What are your thoughts?