Working Americans in 2018 generally enjoyed many highs and, unlike previous years, minimal lows when it came to earning a living. Among the promise of this upward climb, key themes have emerged as we prepare for the new year. There are more jobs than qualified people One of the prevailing themes that topped 2018 is the job surplus that the U.S. labor market is experiencing – there are simply more job opportunities than qualified workers to fill them. The opportunity to work was shared across gender, racial and educational lines as the unemployment rate, at 3.7%, hit its lowest point since 1969. More broadly, monthly job increases have averaged more than 200,000, and hourly wages have even seen a marginal increase as employers look more to worker retention than acquisition as the qualified worker pool shrinks. While these signs of growth are good, the shortage of qualified workers is projected to continue to increase. Between now and 2030, the prime-working-age population of 25 to 54-year-olds is projected to grow just 0.5% per year – much slower than previous decades when baby boomers dominated, and the working-age population growth averaged 1.8% per year. With fewer people to choose from, the question for 2019 and beyond becomes whether the U.S. can continue to successfully grow as the gap widens between job openings and worker population. Technology’s sustained influence As technology affects everything we do today, workers expect a superior digital experience when searching for, accepting and conducting work. Having the right processes and technologies in place to effectively enable employees, as well as constantly pursuing digital innovation, is critical for companies looking to stay ahead of the competition. Complimenting the effective use of technology is the growing adoption of flexible work environments and hours by companies. With work-life balance becoming an increasing priority for a shrinking qualified workforce, companies have become more willing to adapt to their needs to help retain talent. Companies must also leverage technology to ensure that their employees invest in their mission and culture and provide regular opportunities for growth to achieve retention goals. In 2019 and beyond, the pursuit of innovative technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), will help sustain employment success. AI has made a sweeping impact on human-oriented functions across many industries — 72% of business executives believe AI will be the business advantage of the future. Companies can enable more informed business decisions, process massive amounts of data, and drive faster, more realistic experiences for creating a synergy between enterprise processes and system usability for companies and workers alike. (Learn how AI is driving more informed sourcing and management decisions.) The Gig economy Beyond talent shortages and technology, this year also brought more government attention to the gig economy, including how to categorize it in labor reports, how to regulate it, and how to get gig economy workers’ benefits. A common challenge is that while some categorize gig economy workers with independent contractors, others question grouping them together at all, and many aren’t sure

We’re excited to announce that Wand VMS has been has been named a gold winner in the “Most Innovative Product Feature of the Year – Enterprise/SMB” category in Best in Biz Awards 2018. This independent business awards program is judged each year by prominent editors and reporters from top-tier publications in North America. This year, nearly 700 entries competed for awards. (Read PRO’s official press release.) Wand was recognized for Total Talent Solutions, an extension of our award-winning Wand Discovery business intelligence platform. In short, Total Talent Solutions provides clients with total visibility into both contingent AND full-time resources across the entire organization, which yields a host of benefits, such as: Improved Workforce Understanding and Compliance As organizations expand and (in some cases) branch out globally, it can be challenging to maintain visibility across a worldwide workforce. Total Talent Solutions allows for global visibility to all workers (including full time-employees, agency-recruited workers, consultants, freelancers, etc.) across the organization, helping ensure all workers are accounted for and compliant with any laws and/or policies. Enhanced Cost Savings and Worker Quality When organizations look to fill a position, they have to decide whether supplier-sourced, self-sourced, SOW or full-time talent will offer the best quality at the lowest rate. By providing users with a way to couple rate information and quality scores with job titles across employee categories, Total Talent Solutions provides actionable insights for driving cost savings and talent quality. (Related reading: “7 Contingent Workforce Questions That Wand VMS Can Help You Answer.”) Better Employee Retention With the war for talent high, companies can’t afford to see good talent walk out the door. Total Talent Solutions enables organizations to pull in voluntary worker early termination data from internal and external sources. This provides a window into worker satisfaction and retention from both a contingent and full-time perspective. For more on the 2018 Best in Biz Awards, read our official press release and visit the Best in Biz Awards page. For more on Total Talent Solutions and how leading-edge analytics can help your organization, check out these resources: 1) White Paper: “Analytics and Contingent Workforce Management: 7 Real-World Success Stories” 2) Podcast: “4 Key Workforce Questions That Business Intelligence Can Help You Answer” 3) Fact Sheet: “Total Talent Solutions” If you’re interested in learning more about how PRO is helping organizations implement winning contingent workforce programs globally, please contact a PRO representative at 800.291.1099 or email at info@prounlimited.com. Disclaimer: The content in this blog post is for informational purposes only and cannot be construed as specific legal advice or as a substitute for legal advice. The blog post reflects the opinion of PRO Unlimited and is not to be construed as legal solutions and positions. Contact an attorney for specific advice and guidance for specific issues or questions.

PRO Unlimited’s expert Business Validation, Legal, Immigration and Client Payroll teams have published this quarter’s U.S. and Global Regulatory Newsletters (November 2018) as it relates to the contingent workforce.  This quarter’s newsletters highlight the following topics: U.S. Independent Contractor Compliance, Employment Law, Immigration and Payroll Global trends and events in Australia, Japan, Switzerland, China, Ireland Within each of these sections, readers will find more detail, including: State-Specific Worker Misclassification Actions and Labor Restrictions Renewed Attempt to Revise FLSA White Collar Exemptions Proposed Rule-making for Joint Employment Standard Under the NLRA Legislation Updates and Case Review Effect of NAFTA Change on TN Category Updates from USCIS General Payroll Updates EMEA and APAC updates, including an editorial on IR35 and Brexit To download your copy of the full newsletters, learn more here. If you or a member of your team would benefit from a further discussion on how PRO is helping companies implement winning contingent workforce management programs globally, please contact a PRO representative at 800.291.1099 or email at info@prounlimited.com.   Disclaimer: The content in this blog post is for informational purposes only and cannot be construed as specific legal advice or as a substitute for legal advice. The blog post reflects the opinion of PRO Unlimited and is not to be construed as legal solutions and positions. Contact an attorney for specific advice and guidance for specific issues or questions.

In the latest of HR.com’s Talent Acquistion Excellence ePublication, PRO Unlimited’s SVP of Strategy, Analytics & Metrics, Dustin Burgess discusses the benefits of workforce visibility. As mentioned in the article, “A recent Houston Chronicle article suggests that an employee making $75,000 per year incurs almost $40,000 annually in hard costs, including things like training and benefits.” Hiring high quality talent comes at a cost, whether it comes in the form of contingent labor or full-time employees. Contingent labor comes with very few embedded costs – no sick time, holidays, or benefits, but incurs them through salary and markups. Meanwhile, full-time employees come with significantly more embedded costs, from onboarding and training to benefits, as mentioned in the quote above. Savvy organizations that can compare ‘all-in’ costs by all types of workers are at a distinct advantage when it comes to workforce planning. If there is flexibility in how a worker is engaged, organizations can ask which type of engagement makes the most sense from a cost perspective. Organizations that proactively plan and reduce costs through workforce visibility can: Quickly and easily access their skills inventory Allow hiring managers to understand engaged workers that possess the skills they need Reduce cycle times and eliminate disruptions to the business Increase efficiency via overtime reduction Anticipate demand swings and provide guidance on the most cost-effective ways to staff up or down As organizations embrace people analytics and total talent management, the competitive advantage between the haves and the have nots will continue to widen. Gaining access to workforce data that increases visibility into your people can help your organization realize many benefits that will help you find greater success in the future. To learn more about the benefits of full workforce visibility, read the full article here. If you or a member of your team would benefit from a further discussion on how PRO is helping companies implement winning contingent workforce management programs globally, please contact a PRO representative at 800.291.1099 or email at info@prounlimited.com.   Disclaimer: The content in this blog post is for informational purposes only and cannot be construed as specific legal advice or as a substitute for legal advice. The blog post reflects the opinion of PRO Unlimited and is not to be construed as legal solutions and positions. Contact an attorney for specific advice and guidance for specific issues or questions.  

Despite technological advancements, SOW services procurement remains an area of significant pain for many businesses. Procurement teams are short staffed, leading to rogue spend, inadequate involvement and compliance risk. There are typically multiple systems in place without a centralized repository for all elements needed to effectively manage engagements. By following PRO Unlimited’s proven SOW spend assessment methods via the Vendor Management System (VMS), Wand, and supported by the Managed Services Program (MSP), a leading medical organization’s procurement team found success. This organization was able to tap into extensive research and analytics from across PRO’s client base to better understand resource allocation to SOWs, worker quality and rate guidance to achieve cost savings. With the help of PRO’s MSP team, benchmarking and vendor performance data helped ensure that each project was negotiated and competitively priced, resulting in cost savings per project of 15 to 25 percent. PRO’s SOW spend assessment reviews all relevant and related data, which includes: Independent contractors: Engaged for unique subject matter expertise and engagements are usually around a specific deliverable for a defined project Consulting firms: Group of contractors that could be small, mid-sized or large vendors; deliverables or due dates are typically established Strategic partners: Perform functions not found in house and systems access generally not required Outsourced services: Functions outsourced to a specialty provider and multi-year engagements Find out how PRO’s SOW Spend Assessment can be used to provide holistic workforce visibility, cost controls, vendor performance measures and access to accurate workforce planning methodologies. If you’re interested in learning more about how PRO is helping organizations implement winning contingent workforce programs globally, please contact a PRO representative at 800.291.1099 or email at info@prounlimited.com. Disclaimer: The content in this blog post is for informational purposes only and cannot be construed as specific legal advice or as a substitute for legal advice. The blog post reflects the opinion of PRO Unlimited and is not to be construed as legal solutions and positions. Contact an attorney for specific advice and guidance for specific issues or questions.  

Today, we’re excited to announce the release of the Wand Mobile Supplier Android App, which brings the groundbreaking functionality of the Wand Mobile Supplier App for iOS to Android users. The first mobile app built specifically with suppliers’ need and workflows in mind, the Wand Mobile Supplier App empowers account managers, recruiters, sourcers and billing specialists to increase efficiency throughout the contingent workforce lifecycle. Now, Android users can use the app to respond faster via mobile device, including: Instantly viewing and acting on new action items right from the app dashboard Scanning push notification alerts even when not logged into the app Easily forwarding interview times to candidates via SMS messaging or email Managing, contacting and withdrawing job candidates as availability changes Since the Wand Mobile Supplier App for iPhone was released in late July, a significant number of account managers and recruiters have already downloaded the app and seen outstanding results, using it to help them accomplish more when they’re between meetings, off-site, commuting to/from work, or otherwise away from their desktop or laptop computers. “Our iPhone users have had an outstanding experience with the Wand Mobile Supplier App thus far, and we’re thrilled that our Android users will be able to achieve similar increases in efficiency with a few simple swipes and taps,” said Brad Talwar, founder & CEO, TalentBurst, Inc. By offering total freedom of mobility to schedule and coordinate candidate interviews, view new job requests, review and confirm expenses, and much more, the Wand Mobile Supplier Android App improves the overall user experience and helps account managers, recruiters, sourcers and billing specialists increase efficiency. For more on the new Wand Mobile Supplier Android App, please check out PRO’s official press release or listen in as PRO’s EVP of Product Development Ted Sergott discusses the app in a recent podcast. If you’re interested in learning more about how PRO is helping organizations implement winning contingent workforce programs globally, please contact a PRO representative at 800.291.1099 or email at info@prounlimited.com. Disclaimer: The content in this blog post is for informational purposes only and cannot be construed as specific legal advice or as a substitute for legal advice. The blog post reflects the opinion of PRO Unlimited and is not to be construed as legal solutions and positions. Contact an attorney for specific advice and guidance for specific issues or questions.

In recent years, a combination of factors has led to organizations increasingly relying on contingent workers to support growth. The latest SIA gig economy report estimates that 31 percent of U.S. workers in 2017 (48 million workers) are contingent workers. (Europe and much of Asia Pacific are tracking similarly.) Furthermore, the report found that $864 billion in revenue was generated from U.S. contingent work, a growth of nearly 10 percent from 2015. With almost $1 trillion at stake in the United States alone, many leading organizations have embraced a more strategic approach to these workers: contingent workforce management. What Is Contingent Workforce Management? In short, contingent workforce management is the hiring and managing of non-permanent employees, including temporary agency workers, independent contractors, SOW consultants, human cloud workers and other temporary “gig” workers. (Read more on the gig economy.) Many of these laborers – particularly in the fields of arts and design, computer and information technology, and media and communications – are professional knowledge workers who are working independently by choice. While these knowledge workers offer unique skillsets that are valuable to organizations, they also bring with them increased risk of exposure to tax, misclassification and labor laws. To help address these issues, contingent workforce management includes, but is not limited to: Contractor Compliance: Providing proper classification of 1099 workers, self-employed workers, etc., as well as co-employment risk management. 3rd Party Payrolling: Serving as the employer-of-record alternative for client self-sourced professional project workers. (Learn more about self-sourcing.) Managed Services Provider (MSP) Services: Delivering strategic workforce management recommendations, while also serving as an outsourced extension for HR and procurement functions. To best manage a contingent workforce, organizations typically pair an MSP with a vendor management system (VMS). The VMS centralizes contingent workforce management into one cloud-based platform, where users can perform actions such as initiating talent or project requests, evaluating project bids and hiring workers, reviewing timecards and expenses, onboarding and offboarding workers, and much more. (Learn more: “What Is a VMS, and Why Use It?”) Assessing Your Contingent Workforce Management Needs An organization’s contingent workforce management needs can vary depending on several core factors, such as: Organization Size: Generally, larger organizations will have more complex contingent workforce management needs, especially if they have workers in multiple countries Number of Contingent Workers Engaged: An organization’s industry, hiring approach and other factors can impact whether it has a higher or lower percentage of contingent workers versus the norm Amount of Time Workers Are Engaged: Longer-term assignments can blur the lines between temporary and permanent workers, creating legal and compliance issues that are best tackled with the help of an expert MSP Given variance in the areas listed above, a one-size-fits-all services approach to contingent workforce management doesn’t work. For example, some organizations may want an MSP to oversee all aspects of their contingent labor programs, while others may not be ready for or need all these services. (Learn more: “Positive Business Outcomes of an Integrated MSP and VMS Solution.”) Benefits of Effective Contingent

Hiring is hard. The constant pursuit of the perfect candidate that fits your company’s needs, expectations and culture doesn’t just happen overnight. This is especially true now, even in the strong economic time that we are currently in. Not only must the stars align on a combination of factors for a successful candidate search, but now, more than ever, the pool of eligibility is shrinking, and employers are clamoring for the attention of the workforce. There are three reasons why the war for talent is only heating up: Unemployment is the lowest in decades: According to the latest report by the Department of Labor (DOL), the unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been since 1969, declining to 3.7% in September 2018. In fact, in their July 2018 report, the DOL estimates that the amount of open jobs outnumbers unemployed people. While full-time positions are the primary driver of decreasing unemployment, the statistics are also bolstered by the increasing prevalence of the contingent workforce. By embracing temporary or contract-based work as an alternative to full-time, the contingent worker population has increased general participation in workforce, enticing non-participants to take up work and keeping many out of the category of unemployed.   Employers are increasingly accommodating: As baby boomers are retiring, leaving the workforce and a traditional 9-to-5 behind, there is a rise in support for embracing a new perspective on employment. Workers, from post-graduate to pre-retirement age, are asking for more flexibility and autonomy and employers are making accommodations to attract the talent they need. In many cases, this means trading a full-time commitment for contract work. In fact, a recent study conducted by EY estimates that, by 2020, 25% of businesses will have a contingent workforce comprising at least 30% of its talent resources, with one in five workers across the globe actively engaged in gig or freelance work. To win the war for talent, employers are trading their traditional outlook for a more flexible one.   High-profile attention to benefits: While average hourly earnings are on the rise, name brands like Amazon are jumping on the benefits trend. The retail giant that has a history of making disruptive moves, recently announced its intent to increase minimum wages to $15 per hour, likely forcing many across industries to reevaluate their own benefits. With less available workforce on the market, benefits have become a means for organizations to edge out the competition. Not only are hourly workers seeing an uptick in benefits, the contingent workforce is driven by 47% of executives that are looking to hire contractors to fill management and senior executive roles, including the C-suite. This top-tier talent demands a benefits package fit for seasoned professionals including remote work locations, more paid time off, better healthcare, higher salaries and more, demonstrating that the war for talent is at every pay grade. Check out our white paper, “The Gig Economy: What’s Hot vs. What’s Hype,”  which will help guide you beyond buzzwords and separate the insights from the hindsight. If

With so much data available to companies today, there’s a lot of interest among leading organizations in leveraging it to better understand the contingent workforce. With the right technology and expertise in place, analytics can help organizations better understand what they’re spending, how they could be saving money, why trends are occurring and how they measure up to the competition. The challenge for many organizations is to take their workforce data and reports and translate them Into actionable business intelligence that drives better results. To that end, we recently sat down with PRO Unlimited’s Senior VP of Strategy, Analytics and Metrics Dustin Burgess to discuss the state of workforce data and analytics, as well as some key areas in which organizations can use business intelligence to improve performance. (Listen to the podcast.) Here are three of the many ways Dustin mentioned that workforce analytics can help organizations: 1) Paying Competitive Rates Overpaying for contingent labor can negatively affect margins and profits, while underpaying can result in increased turnover and a loss of talent. Yet many organizations lack the visibility and reporting tools to understand where they fall in this area. On the other hand, leading-edge analytics tools can empower hiring managers with accurate market intel at the point of decision, providing helpful information on savings opportunities they might realize by adjusting required skillsets, job location and more. 2) Improving Employee Retention Organizations can ill-afford to see good people walk out the door. Understanding why these workers are leaving is imperative so companies can refine their business practices and potentially tweak a policy here or there to ensure they’re reducing turnover. Pulling in both internal and external data sources can help organizations better understand worker satisfaction. Furthermore, by drilling into voluntary terminations, companies can gain insights into why people are leaving assignment early. Would a shift in pay rate or benefits drive a significant increase in retention? Are there correlations between hiring managers and people leaving? 3) Speeding Up Time to Fill Figuring out ways to reduce time to fill is difficult because there are so many different steps that go into hiring someone for a position, each of which can’t typically start until the prior one finishes. To make matters more challenging, there are often lots of stakeholders involved – MSPs, staffing suppliers, hiring managers, etc. And to further muddy the waters, every organization usually has unique hiring processes. The best workforce analytics tools, such as PRO’s Wand Discovery, reflect each organization’s specific processes, help them understand hiring manager behavior, and suggest best practices they might employ. Small tweaks early in the process might have a large impact on speeding up time to fill. Interested in learning more about how workforce analytics and business intelligence can help your organization? These resources can help: 1) Podcast: “4 Key Workforce Questions Wand’s Business Intelligence Can Help Answer” 2) Data Sheet: “Using Reporting and Analytics to Improve Contingent Workforce Management” 3) White Paper: “Analytics and Contingent Workforce Management: 7 Real-World Success Stories” If

We’re in Rancho Mirage, CA this week for the SIG Global Executive Summit – a multi-day event focused on sourcing best practices with some of the best in the industry, including our session presented in partnership with Intuit on, “Transforming your Contingent Labor Program.” For more information on this session, refer to the detail below. We look forward to meeting you in person! Transforming your Contingent Labor Program: A Sourcing Perspective – Day 2, October 17, 2018, 12:55pm In this presentation, the Sourcing Category Leader for Intuit’s Global Contingent Labor and FTE Recruitment Programs, Nick Schultze, will briefly explain Intuit’s recent journey, taking a tenured, localized program to market, in an effort to gain visibility and cost savings opportunities on all non-employee spend. More importantly, Nick will devote most of the session to answering all of the attendees’ questions regarding Intuit’s journey, successes, challenges, learnings and current state. Speakers Include: Nick Schultze, Sourcing Category Leader for Intuit’s Global Contingent Labor and FTE Recruitment Programs Neerav Shah, Director of Client Solutions, PRO Unlimited If you or a member of your team would benefit from a further discussion on how PRO is helping companies implement winning contingent workforce management programs globally, please contact a PRO representative at 800.291.1099 or email at info@prounlimited.com.   Disclaimer: The content in this blog post is for informational purposes only and cannot be construed as specific legal advice or as a substitute for legal advice. The blog post reflects the opinion of PRO Unlimited and is not to be construed as legal solutions and positions. Contact an attorney for specific advice and guidance for specific issues or questions.