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Introduction
As part of our continued exploration of how freelancers and the companies that hire them come together to get great work done, we’re taking a deep dive into each of the five recommendations that came out of our 2024 Team Up Report.
Increasingly, the future of work is defined by effective blended teams. A study by MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte found that 33% of work is being performed by external workers and 86% of global business leaders said the effective management of external contributors was critical to their organization’s overall performance.
Not surprisingly, given the increased importance of external workers, Wripple’s 2024 Team Up research finds that the future is bright for freelancing—both freelancers and companies expect to increase the amount of work they do together in the coming years.
However, we also found that friction limits the contributions of blended teams. In this second follow-up deep dive of our Team Up Report, we focus on the opportunities to use technology to modernize end-to-end so blended teams can work together more seamlessly.
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Opportunity Areas
We see three opportunity areas for tech to modernize how blended teams work together to realize their full potential.
1. Talent Assessment & Selection
Currently, tech is used most widely in the upfront process for finding talent and assessing whether the talent’s background matches the company’s needs. From our survey, technology use is concentrated on talent sourcing and recruitment (82%), specifically accessing talent profiles (70%) and proposal submission/review (65%).
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Two areas that are not fully utilizing technology to streamline and standardize the process are scheduling interviews (42%) and matching skills (41%). Technology in these two areas can considerably speed up time-to-hire and ensure the best candidate(s) move forward, especially when it’s part of the same system used for viewing talent profiles and proposal submission and review.
We asked Creative Recruiter and Career Coach Erica Fortgang what technology and tools she used to find the right talent for the job. She noted that there is starting to be a lot of competition as people move away from LinkedIn. Many of the tools are AI-powered although some have a way to go still. Here’s her list:
- Loxo – ATS, CRM, outbound recruitment, data, and sourcing tools
- Seekout – AI-powered candidate searching for specialized roles
- Beamery – Talent lifecycle management
- Juicebox AI – AI-powered talent sourcing
Another area that impacts both the freelancer’s and the company’s decision to work together is classification. Oftentimes, that decision hinges on whether it’s a W2 or 1099 relationship. Our research showed that only 7% of mid-market companies and 13% of enterprise companies have a standardized and online process for worker classification that keeps them current with the latest laws and provides a complete audit trail.
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Even more concerning is that more than half of companies default to classifying all freelance talent as either 1099 or W2. Given the complexities and risks of worker classification, many companies may benefit from outsourcing this process and by conducting classification online.
To move faster and achieve better talent matches the following use of tech can help improve upon the current state of the talent assessment and selection process:
- Use tools that incorporate AI to make the right match. From creating an accurate and thorough job description to real-time, skills-based matching, it will help eliminate sorting through countless resumes and online profiles.
- Integrate online scheduling tools to make coordination with talent outside the org more seamless. Cut back on the cluttering of the inbox and miscommunications about availability. Erica Fortgang recommends Calendly. "it’s optimal because you can add questions to the appointment." Some talent platforms—like Wripple—allow for scheduling interviews, and keeping the talent search, interview, and selection all in one place.
- Don’t leave the critical job of worker classification to chance. Adhere to a standardized, data-driven process that accounts for all factors to arrive at the correct classification. AI can support this data-driven process in an automated fashion to reduce both the risk and the time it takes to kick off a new team member, ensuring compliance with federal and local labor laws.
2. The Talent Experience
In our study, we learned that 63% of freelancers noted operational challenges as a reason to not work with a client again. Many of these challenges can be overcome by modernizing how freelancers are onboarded and integrated into team workflow.
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In a follow-up survey we conducted on our LinkedIn page, freelancers noted the biggest opportunities for automation to improve the experience were in the areas of workflow/delivery and remote work (e.g., Zoom, Slack). This is a clear indication that freelancers desire more automation when it comes to collaborating with the team and getting work done.
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Specific areas of opportunity where tech can be utilized to improve the talent experience include:
- Create a more seamless onboarding experience that is automated and integrated with other relevant HR, RM, and PM systems.
- Provide on-demand talent access to HR/shared service systems, and a defined point of human contact—to resolve administrative issues that get in the way of getting work done.
- Integrate on-demand talent into delivery tools to plan and track progress across a blended workforce.
- Make sure on-demand talent has access to tech that supports distributed teams, if appropriate e.g., Zoom, Teams, etc.
3. Workforce Management
The most significant opportunity for tech to drive better outcomes for blended teams is absolutely workforce management. To realize the full benefits of blended teams, companies need to manage freelance talent as an integrated and strategic part of the overall workforce, and most are not currently doing so.
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Currently, companies’ limited access to data, siloed systems, and ad hoc processes hinder speed to market and effective decision-making related to integrated workforce management. Case in point: 68% of companies use basic tools like Excel and Google Sheets to maintain a go-to list of proven freelancers.
Furthermore, only 20% of companies report that the marketing teams working with freelancers have access to meaningful data on freelancer performance and history, making it difficult to assess and make informed rehire decisions.
Given the stats above, it should be no surprise that 79% of companies resource plan without a holistic view of the entire talent pool – both freelancers and FTEs.
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Specific areas of opportunity for tech to improve blended workforce management include:
- Setting the foundation by creating one integrated and maintained view of your workforce, including both trusted on-demand talent and FTEs.
- Providing stakeholders access to integrated workforce data via online talent pool technology. As stated in a recent Forbes article, “Talent-pool-driven strategies are more cost-effective in the long run since there is no need to source, onboard, and train new freelancers constantly.” Talent pool tech enables the following:
- The ability to manage freelance talent as an ongoing strategic part of the workforce with quality data maintained based on specified standards
- Ease of rehire for speed and efficiency
- Integrated resource planning that considers both freelance and FTE resources when making decisions
- Optimization of the talent pool based on the organization's priorities and talent performance
Conclusion
To stay competitive in today’s marketing climate, the use of technology for building and managing a blended workforce is more important than ever. By modernizing this process, companies can cut out friction to find and onboard talent, which means delivering work faster. The efficiencies available through automation also add to the speed of work, in addition to supporting standard, repeatable processes that require fewer resources to get the job done.
As a talent platform, we’re a little biased, but it’s clear that these benefits ultimately drive better outcomes for everyone.
Steps to Get Started
1. Assess
Review the current state of how tech supports the management of freelancers as a core part of your company’s workforce using the opportunity areas mentioned above. Specific questions to ask include:
- How would you and your stakeholders rate your current capabilities across the three opportunity areas?
- Are supporting processes well-defined, consistent, and efficient?
- What technology/automation is currently used to support these capabilities?
- What opportunities are there to improve? Take future needs into account when answering.
- How do you measure success?
2. Determine Gaps
Look for problem areas and see where tech can help. Fundamental components to look for:
- Quality data on freelancers (profile, history, performance), ideally managed through a talent pool solution
- Ability to integrate data for a singular view of the workforce (freelancers + FTEs), including HR, finance, and delivery systems
- Automation of standard processes related to managing freelancers as part of one workforce
3. Roadmap Development
Create a modernization roadmap and ensure buy-in among key stakeholders in your organization. Key elements should include:
- Goals and objectives
- Success metrics
- Prioritized list of initiatives
- Risk factors
- Technology assessment
- Communication plan
- Training
- Monitoring and optimization
Check out our other Team Up Deep Dives:
For this research, Wripple partnered with MDRG, a market research firm that takes a white-glove approach to helping organizations like Coca-Cola, T-Mobile, and Microsoft craft custom research that informs strategy and planning across brand, product, experience, and advertising.
MDRG is a member of Wripple's Agency Portal where independent agencies with specialized expertise can be matched with clients across a range of marketing needs.
Learn more at mdrginc.com
