By Hans Dau (Mitchell Madison Group) & Gregg Spratto (PRO Unlimited) - May 21, 2021
Global contingent workforce spending is estimated to be well over $5 trillion annually and often poorly managed. In the global post-Covid recovery, the contingent workforce share of total labor will likely increase dramatically, making sophisticated total workforce management imperative for cost savings and winning the war for talent. When Covid-19 hit in the first quarter of 2020, businesses were forced to operate with a remote workforce, leveraging video conferencing technology and relying on fast network access speeds at home. This significant change took place without any ramp-up, compressing what may have been a natural, decade-long adoption S-curve into days and weeks. Covid was essentially a large-scale forced trial of remote working for employers and their employees. The first order effects are clear and largely positive: Employers liked the ability to operate without interruption and the reduced real estate footprint while employees by and large enjoyed the flexibility to work from home and the ability to relocate, independent of their employers’ location. Additionally, employers now had the flexibility to draw on national or global talent pools to find the best talent at the most competitive wages.
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