What's Trending?...Fractional Executives, Consulting 2.0, Open Talent Models

“Work has evolved to being more than a job. With talent having more choice than ever before about where to work and who to work for, building a strong program to attract and retain an extended workforce is vital.”?

The last few weeks have seen a flurry of lists and trends shared by numerous outlets. While I skimmed through many, a few jumped out for me which discuss trends in the Future of Work and the Gig Economy, including from LinkedIn, SIA, and John Younger.?Here's a quick breakdown and some highlights...

LinkedIn’s 34 Big Ideas that will change our world in 2024 really got my attention. ?

The emergence of hiring fractional CFOs and other executives was one big idea that particularly resonated for me. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve discussed the concept of a fractional role with different people. In my opinion, certain roles and functions lend themselves nicely to being fractional e.g., financial reporting, risk. Others would be more of a challenge to maintain consistency and rigor e.g., a Chief Revenue Officer. That being said, the fractional model works nicely for startups or firms where capital might be stretched. ?

The Great Negotiation was another trend that popped for me. With the strengthening of labor unions in 2023 and the continued challenges for the younger generations to get on various ‘ladders’ (jobs, housing), the gaps in trust, earnings, and opportunities continue to expand. Unretirement and the continued emergence of AI in the recruitment world were others that resonated – but I won’t give it all away. The full trend report is well worth a read. ? ?

Aside from LinkedIn’s view of the world in 2024, Jon Younger provided a phenomenal perspective as usual on all things freelance. Among the 23 big trends that he considered, a few caught my eye. Obviously there has been considerable growth in all things contingent labor – highlighted by a couple of the research reports (including MBOs State of Independence). Consulting 2.0 was a concept I’d seen in other articles recently. The notion of the ‘Big 4’, McKinsey, Bain, and BCG being replaced in part by smaller engagements delivered by independents or boutique firms accessed through talent marketplaces is fascinating to me, and the data backs that up with more and more independent professionals emerging, often having grounded their expertise in those bigger firms. ?

With the management consulting market expected to grow to over $850B by 2030, there’s some prevailing trends to keep an eye on. Some firms are ahead of these more so than others already. In the coming weeks?look out for some thoughts my colleague Holly Kehrer, CCWP and I will be sharing around workforce optimization in Professional Services.?

SIA's take on 2024 focus areas is more tactical with some great pointers for current program leaders looking to take their contingent workforce program to the next level. Whether that’s by focusing more energy on making direct sourcing real, not just theoretical, or thinking more holistically about the technology to enable a successful operation. ?

The use of AI in the recruiting space had a lot of ‘noise’ generated around it in 2023, but there wasn’t much application in the real world. As Brian Robinson details in his recent article, while robots invading may be a little sci-fi still at this stage - AI is not going away.?

Talent marketplaces had a strong 2023 – becoming relevant to all firms, and vital to many. Some firms like Booz Allen and Unilever have been particularly successful establishing internal talent marketplaces – mapping out the goals, strategy, and execution plans. I’ve commented on this before, that often people get lost in the transactional considerations – how many people do I need to talent pool, what skills, what locations? But instead, they forget or lose sight of the ‘why’. Why are we standing up this initiative, what metrics will we measure to determine success? What stakeholders could be/should be involved to ensure success? ?

I’ll wrap this week with the newly published book and report from John Winsor – a renowned voice in the open talent community. He and Jin Paik talk about the need for a modern approach to hiring, which would replace the typical linear, top down recruiting process that’s existed seemingly forever. They discuss the emergence of open talent platforms (over 800 worldwide), and the increased adoption of them for agile deployment of talent. This is often done down in the business, outside of the per view of corporate functions like Procurement, Finance, and HR. From a business perspective, I completely understand the desire to act fast. But as the authors discuss in their writings, this comes with risks – most notably ‘rogue spend’ and a lack of compliance. ?

Stat of the Week?

117% - increase in the number of workers aged 65 or older over the past two decades.?