Effective management of a contingent workforce is crucial for businesses that rely on project-based or remote workers. Providing opportunities for growth and training can help retain valuable employees and save time on re-hiring. A seamless onboarding process is also essential for new hires to successfully transition into the workforce. In addition, it’s important to streamline processes and keep open lines of communication to ensure that remote workers can stay connected and productive. These are just a few of the things to consider, so here is a closer look.
Provide growth opportunities
The definition of a contingent worker is that they operate almost entirely on project-by-project basis, this usually means that they do not stick around for too long. However, that doesn’t have to be the ultimate definition, and simply because these types of employees are hired remotely, it doesn’t mean that they should be left without a possibility to grow and improve their skills. Essentially, you can provide a much better experience for your contingent workers if you simply communicate with them about potential future projects. This will help you filter out the skills that they will be required to have in order to tackle those future challenges. As part of your employee growth plan, you can provide them with adequate training and resources that will make it convenient for them to handle those future projects. This saves a lot of time and resources for both the employee and your company. In addition, you will retain a lot of your contingent workforce this way, and save money in the long run by minimizing the need to hire and onboard new people.
Onboard your contingent employees quickly and effectively
One of the key aspects of hiring new contingent employees is the onboarding process. A well-organized and structured onboarding process will allow a smooth transition into the workforce. If your new employees aren’t welcomed properly, they won’t be able to catch up with the workflow and will deliver suboptimal results, not because of their personal lack of skills or knowledge, but because they do not have the proper information necessary to carry out their tasks. Onboarding can be a delicate process, but it doesn’t have to be too complicated. Make sure you leverage all the latest tools and technology in order to stay agile with your onboarding. That means developing clear onboarding systems and making sure that they’re followed by all of your team members in order to ensure consistent training across all departments and teams. Clear communication where distinct boundaries and expectations are set is the best way to cut to the point and minimize a lot of the unnecessary formalities.
Use the latest solutions
Using tech tools is essential for successful contingent workforce management because they provide a range of benefits that help to simplify processes and eliminate errors. By using direct sourcing solutions, for example, companies can easily and accurately monitor and assess the enterprise workforce strategy that uses their own brand to source talents directly for contingent and freelance positions. This not only helps to ensure compliance with local laws and regulations, but it also promotes trust and transparency with these employees, as they can see that they are being fairly compensated and treated in the same way as permanent employees. Tech tools can also be used to strengthen communication and collaboration among dispersed teams, as well as to optimize and manage workflows, tasks and other key aspects of the contingent workforce management process.
Streamline the workflow
Once the onboarding phase is done, it is important to prioritize the streamlined fashion of working, especially when it comes to remote work. If your company isn’t optimized for remote work, it can be extremely inconvenient for your remote contingent employees to do their best work, especially because they will not be on the same page with others. Maintain communication lines open between HQ and remote workers by setting up frequent meetings or video calls where everyone can stay updated on the overall progress. In order to make sure that your contingency plans are running well, it’s important that you simplify processes as much as possible so that they can be easily handled without requiring much extra effort on the part of your employees or managers. This includes things like developing a simple process for approving time-off requests and creating a simple way for employees to submit invoices online whenever they need them submitted.
Outsource your contingent workforce management
You don’t need to do everything yourself. If your organization has grown too much or become too complex for you to manage alone, consider outsourcing some or all of your contingent workforce management services, especially abroad. This will ensure that local hiring procedures are adhered to and that the entire process goes smoothly.
To ensure the success of their contingent workforce businesses can follow the strategies discussed in this guide. This can include providing opportunities for growth and training, creating a smooth onboarding protocol, streamlining processes, maintaining open lines of communication, and potentially outsourcing workforce management tasks to a third-party service. By doing these things, businesses can effectively manage and support their contingent workforce, retain valuable employees, and keep remote workers connected and productive.
