Rethinking the Workforce
The Workforce Has Changed - Have You?
Welcome to this issue of The Contingent Compass. Each week, I send two essays to help you navigate the complex world of the Contingent Workforce. If you need support on your journey, upgrade to a paid subscription where you’ll instantly be able to interact with the community through group chat, live Q&A’s, gain access practical program tools and useful how-to guides.
If you're still managing your workforce like it’s 2010, I’ve got bad news … and good news. The bad news? You're probably missing the point. The good news? You’re not alone, and there’s a better way.
Let’s get one thing straight: the workforce is no longer just “employees.” Today, it’s a complex, dynamic mix of full-timers, freelancers, consultants, gig workers, outsourcing partners, platform contributors, digital agents and probably a few folks you didn’t even know were working for you.
This isn’t a trend. It’s the new normal … and the companies winning in this new world aren’t doing it by accident. They’re doing it because they’ve figured out how to build and manage what I call a workforce ecosystem.
And yes, that’s very different from just “using contingent labor.”
🌍 So, What Exactly Is a Workforce Ecosystem?
It’s not just a buzzword. A workforce ecosystem is a strategic and operational model that treats all contributors to your business … whether internal or external … as interconnected parts of the same system. Think less org chart, more symphony orchestra: lots of different players, many outside your company, but all working in sync toward a shared goal.
The old model was built around jobs, hierarchies, and ladders. The new model is built around skills, projects, and partnerships.
Let’s break down why this matters … and where most companies are still stuck.
5 Reasons Why Workforce Ecosystems Aren’t Just the Future - They’re the Now
🔁 1. A Quarter of Your Work Isn’t Done by Employees (And That Number’s Growing)
Depending on the industry, 25% or more of enterprise work is already performed by non-employees. That includes specialized contractors, freelance tech talent, and on-demand experts you bring in for short-term value.
And yet, many organizations still treat non-employees as afterthoughts … poorly tracked, inconsistently managed, and largely excluded from strategic planning.
📌 If you don’t have visibility, governance, or performance standards across your extended workforce, you’re not running lean — you’re running blind.
⚠️ 2. Compliance, Classification, and Control Are Now Board-Level Concerns
Non-employees aren’t just an HR or Procurement issue anymore. They’re a risk portfolio that lives in every audit, every contract, and every cyber policy. The more fragmented your approach, the higher the risk:
Worker misclassification and co-employment liabilities
Inconsistent onboarding/offboarding (think: lingering systems access)
Data security gaps with remote or outsourced contributors
Hidden cost leakage through duplicated markups and unmanaged vendors
One global bank couldn’t produce a total worker headcount during the pandemic … because no one owned the full picture. That’s not an operations glitch. That’s a governance failure.
🔒 Workforce ecosystems give you visibility … and visibility is the first step to risk control.
🧠 3. The Nature of Work Has Changed - and Jobs Haven’t Caught Up
Job descriptions today are like encyclopedias … mostly ignored and terribly out of date. The work people do is more cross-functional, temporary, and skill-based than ever. Internal mobility is a buzzword in PowerPoint, but in practice, managers hoard talent, and people leave to grow.
Now add in external talent: freelance specialists, gig project consultants, AI-assisted workers. If you’re not managing who can do the work based on what skills they have … instead of what title they hold … you’re burning time, money, and opportunity.
🎯 The fix? Skill-based sourcing across both internal and external pools … supported by AI-driven talent platforms that can match people to projects at speed.
🛠 But fair warning: if your HRIS and VMS aren’t integrated, you’re going to hit walls. A workforce ecosystem needs interoperable tech to function. Talent intelligence isn’t a nice-to-have anymore. It’s the only way to unlock value across silos.
🌈 4. Diversity Gets Real When You Ditch the Payroll Filter
Let’s be honest, most DE&I efforts don’t extend past full-time hiring. But workforce ecosystems open the aperture. You can source short-term, project-based, and remote talent from wider geographies, different backgrounds, and underrepresented communities … with zero geographic bias.
💡 One global services firm took its internship program remote during COVID. Result? They tripled the size of the cohort and brought in far more diverse candidates. That wasn’t just optics. It changed their future pipeline … permanently.
🌍 When you drop the gatekeeping around location and contract type, diversity isn’t a policy. It’s a reality.
🔄 5. Two Teams, Two Systems, One Mess
Right now, most companies have a split brain:
HR handles employees
Procurement handles non-employees
Legal handles classification panic
Finance tries to model cost with no full picture
This patchwork approach leads to disjointed policies, missed savings, and zero accountability. It’s not strategy … it’s survival mode.
Forward-thinking orgs are integrating governance at the C-suite and board level. They're building cross-functional control towers that span HR, Procurement, Legal, and Finance … because anything less is organizational malpractice.
💡 One healthcare group recently moved oversight of all labor - employees and externals - under a centralized workforce strategy office. Their cost savings? North of 15% within 12 months.
🚀 Workforce Ecosystem Maturity: Where Are You?
Most companies think they’re at Level 2. Most are still stuck at 1.
🎁 If you're not sure, I’ve built a simple self-assessment scorecard to find out. Want it? Just ask.
Final Thought: Strategy Is No Longer About Who You Hire
Here’s the real shift: stop asking, “What workforce do I need to deliver my strategy?”
Start asking, “What strategy can I enable with the workforce I can build … internally and externally?”
Workforce ecosystems flip the script. They make your workforce a competitive weapon … not just a cost line.
And in a world where agility, compliance, and cost control are board-level metrics, that’s not optional. That’s survival.
🧩 If you’re still running your workforce like a headcount spreadsheet … we should talk.
If you enjoyed this read, the best compliment I could receive would be if you shared it with one person or restacked it.
If you need support on your journey, upgrade to a paid subscription where you’ll instantly be able to interact with the community through group chat, live Q&A’s, gain access practical program tools and useful how-to guides.