Plain vanilla full-time employment is so… well… plain.
These days, it’s all about the blend.
What is a Blended Workforce?
A blended workforce is the mixing of traditional and nontraditional employment styles, bringing together full-time, part-time, contract and freelance employees. It’s a business model that really focuses on strategic workforce planning and resonates with companies and professionals alike in today’s job market.
Independent contractors represented 6.9% of the total U.S. workforce while contingent workers were 3.8% which was last re-reported in June 2018 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most independent contract work today is comprised of the gig economy which includes independent consultants and freelance workers in the “alternative” work category. Contingent work today is contract work or part-time employment. Temping and on-call work take small shares, too.
It’s a cost-effective method for bringing in the best: Hiring great talent is always on the mind of business leaders – it’s just not always in the budget. A blended workforce strategy give companies access to top-tier professionals without footing the bill for salaries, health insurance, etc. Companies will all have different reasons for onboarding contract consultants or hiring part-time employees to swell their ranks, but we attribute the rising popularity of blended workforces to a few key factors:
- It’s the preferred working style of today’s go-getters: Being your own boss, setting your own schedule – what’s not to love about freelancing? One 2016 survey revealed that nearly 3 out of 4 people who freelance prefer it to full-time work. Blended workforces, therefore, give the people what they want: professional opportunities on their terms and experience across different industries.
- It meshes with a project-based work: A project-based business workforce strategy is the latest workforce trend to hit creative and marketing agencies. What better way to assemble an all-star team for a unique understanding than assigning from an expansive pool of diverse freelance talent?
What Does a Successful Workforce Strategy Look Like?
Based on contingent employment growth statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, these are the industries most likely to have blended workforces and the roles they’re most likely to blend:
- Creative and Design: animators, graphic and web designers, and video production.
- Computer and Information Technology: information architects, product managers, and front end and back end web developers.
- Marketing and Communications: digital marketers, social media marketing, public relations.
But no matter what industry a blended workforce operates in, they all share the same basic qualities:
Blenders understand how to mobilize:
A blended workforce may include a remote workforce, at least partially. Because of this, blended team members know what it takes to go the extra mile with communication and collaboration since not every stakeholder comes into the office.
Blenders are goal-oriented
To prevent projects from going off the rails, blended workforces all have concise, itemized roadmaps for completing projects. These roadmaps serve two major purposes: to get freelancers up to speed fast and accelerate development once tasks are underway.
Blenders do the math
Blended workforces offer a great reward, but they also require a dedication to measuring and analyzing productivity against compensation. At any given time these businesses know whether the quality of freelance output stacks up with the cost savings and whether their compensation benchmarks put them a head above the competition.
Build Your Blended Workforce with Profiles
Let us help you develop a blended workforce strategy of your own. Profiles is an award-winning contract staffing agency who assists companies as they search for the right creative, marketing, and technology professionals. Contact Profiles to learn more about managed services, contract, contract-to-hire, and direct hire services to support your blended workforce needs.
