There were a lot of insights and education coming out of this year’s CWS Summit Europe. With so many concurrent sessions, networking, and conversations, it can feel overwhelming once you’re back to figure out exactly how to put what you learned into action. We thought it would be helpful to break down a few of our favorite sessions in case you missed them.
There were exciting themes that were present throughout our time in London—from DE&I to total talent to the best approaches for attracting and engaging all workers. We know contingent talent often gets lost or feels like an afterthought in organizations, but the reliance on this ever-growing workforce makes it impossible (certainly irresponsible) to ignore.
Out with the old (way of thinking)
Gone are the days of HR and Procurement working in silos. Today’s workforce and a total talent strategy mean both departments must work towards a collective vision, brand, and effective way to access and engage all talent. Getting HR to Embrace the Contingent Workforce/The Future of Work: Navigating the Extended Workforce Transformation and Building a Total Talent Vision sessions talked about the importance of considering new, more innovative procurement strategies that creates a cohesive strategy around talent. Our co-authored thought leadership piece on this exact topic dives into this in more detail.
Sustainable Talent Strategies in an Age of Disruption was a session that spoke to the current economic conditions, talent shortages, and how companies getting it right are investing in strategic, organization-wide initiatives to engage talent and provide meaningful benefits to contingent talent to include skills development and work flexibility. Direct sourcing was a big discussion area as a proven way to bring new talent channels into an organization. As an AI-driven direct sourcing platform, we believe this is the future to finding and engaging talent in a meaningful way. Direct sourcing through WorkLLama’s talent marketing and dynamic talent pools allows companies to maintain active communication with former employees, silver medalists, alumni, and passive candidates, decreasing reliance on traditional staffing methods and saving time and money with one simple, unified platform to manage it all. Two research reports: Direct Sourcing as a Gateway to Total Talent Acquisition (TTA) and Staffing Industry Analysts’ report Direct Sourcing 3.0: Personalization through Automation, dive in further.
How do leaders go about it?
The Next-Gen Tech Stack: Beyond the Vendor Management System talks about organizations moving, not away from, but adding onto traditional VMS platforms to a more rounded human capital management approach which includes talent communities and sourcing automation.
We’re partnering with VMS’ like SAP Fieldglass and Beeline as a premiere direct sourcing and talent management platform to do just that. WorkLLama has also been selected as a preferred partner by several large, global service providers, including Randstad SourceRight, Allegis Global, High5, Everhive, and CXC Global, because of our unrivaled ability to attract and engage candidates in private, branded talent communities and build sustainable, global talent pipelines in an automated way.
Is Your Organisations’ Culture Ready for Better Contingent Workforce Management? added a ton of value discussing the importance of building culture and brand messaging to include contingent labor. Existing talent channels are underperforming, and organizations are struggling to find quality talent for open roles, making workforce planning a challenge. Part of this is ensuring you have one vision for all talent, which includes a strategic employer value prop that can be used for all talent.
DE&I is critical for any talent strategy
There were many sessions and discussions around DE&I. Specifically, The Power of Inclusion: Unlocking the Potential of a Truly Diverse Contingent Workforce looked into how to promote and prioritize DE&I in your contingent workforce. This means not just looking at how leaders partner with diverse suppliers but that the talent they provide is also diverse.
WorkLLama is committed DE&I, and it is one of the core values that drive our business and enable our customers to do the same. Since our inception, our mission has been to create a workplace where people are valued and respected and where underrepresented communities gain access to meaningful work. We are doing this through partnerships, events, sponsorships, and we aim to do the same for our customers and partners. We thoroughly enjoyed our time at CWSE. As always, the content was rich, the discussions meaningful, and we look forward to continued conversations about these important topics. In the meantime, visit workllama.com to learn more.