Its an era of chronic skill shortages, rapid automation & digital transformation. The growing talent problem has the potential to become a strategic bottleneck. How can they find people with the right skills to do the right work at just the right time?

There is huge potential for on-demand access to highly skilled workers. Today almost all Fortune 500 companies use one or more platforms to engage on-demand skilled workers.

That companies are leveraging high-skills on-demand workforce in large numbers came as no surprise to us, because in recent years we’ve seen how they can increase labor force flexibility, accelerate time to market, and enable innovation. We were impressed, however, by the variety of engagements that companies are making with the platforms. They’re seeking help with projects that are short- and long-term, tactical and strategic, specialized and general. What’s more, 90% of the leaders we surveyed—C-suite and frontline—believe on-demand workforce would be core to their ability to compete in the future.

To get the most out of hybrid workforce, companies need to break work down into rigorously defined components that can be easily handed over to outsiders. Managers can’t be vague.

To engage with the on-demand workforce at a strategic level, companies will need to focus on five main challenges

1. Reshaping the culture.
   When a company decides to turn core functions over to freelance workers, permanent employees often feel threatened. They struggle with sharing information, raise doubts about the values and work habits of outsiders, and assume the worst. Instead of allowing employees to fear the unknown, companies can focus on educating employees about how they could benefit from an on-demand workforce.
2. Rethinking the employee value proposition.
   Companies need to get employees to see how they personally can benefit from hybrid workforce. “There are a lot of things that you may be doing in your day-to-day work that you can offload so that you can do even higher-order work or free yourself up to do more strategic thinking.”
3. Reorganizing work into components.
   One of the biggest predictors of whether a company will get the most out of a hybrid workforce is how well it can break work down into rigorously defined components that can be easily handed over to outsiders.
4. Reassessing capabilities.
   To engage strategically with hybrid workforce, companies need to develop a portfolio approach to skills. The first step is to understand which capabilities they have in-house. The employees get recognition for their know-how and understand exactly which skills they need to acquire to advance; the company benefits because it can now identify which skills the organization already has and who possesses them. Once the company has mapped internal capabilities, it can prepare for step two: striking the right balance when dividing work up internally and externally.
5. Rewiring organizational policies and processes.
   A major challenge for companies that want to harness the on-demand workforce is that they’re still subject to regulations and practices that evolved in the predigital era.
   
   

In the end, of course, it’s not titles that matter. It’s finding leaders who understand their companies’ strategic positioning, who recognize the revolutionary potential of engaging with the on-demand workforce, and who can inspire a cultural shift in their organizations that will make a genuine transformation possible.

Reach out to us at more@vizhub.co to discuss and know how VizHub can empower your business to harness the potential of a hybrid workforce and become on-demand ready.