What’s the secret to having a happier, healthier, and wealthier workforce in the FUTURE? [Fridays: Mindfulness by Miles]
Miles Everson’s Business Builder Daily speaks to the heart of what great marketers, business leaders, and other professionals need to succeed in advertising, communications, managing their investments, career strategy, and more.
A Note from Miles Everson:
Hello, everyone!
We hope you’re having a great time with your loved ones.
We’re continuing on with the last part of our 3-part series for The Business Builder Daily. In these articles, we talk about the past, present, and future of the independent workforce in reference to Charles Dickens’ story, “A Christmas Carol.”
Today, we’ll focus on the future of independent work.
Continue reading to know some of our predictions for this type of workforce and how we think it’s going to look like in the years to come.
Miles Everson
CEO, MBO Partners
Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute
Mindfulness by Miles
Miles Everson, CEO of MBO Partners, has often talked about the 4 fundamental forces affecting the world of work:
- The acceleration of the rate of change
- Deflationary progress
- The power of “knowledge flows”
- The fractionalization of everything
According to him, it’s important for business leaders to know and understand these factors to effectively prepare for the future of work and adapt to the ongoing changes in the business landscape.
Let’s have a quick mind exercise:
Imagine the 4 fundamental forces listed above hadn’t been observed and enterprise leaders are completely unaware of the changes going on in the industry. What do you think would happen to the world of work then?
For Everson, these are some scenarios that would likely happen without knowledge of the 4 fundamental forces impacting the workforce:
- There will be an absence of unity in the workplace.
- Organizations will become stagnant because “their professional core is a revolving door”—meaning, full-time employees regularly come and go.
- Some workers won’t be able to make a living wage because globalization and standardization of workforces are non-existent, and much of the work gets outsourced.
Imagine a world like this… do you think you’d be able to peacefully settle with this kind of future—more specifically, future of work?
You’d probably say “no.” Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
The Independent Workforce: How Tapping into the Power of these Professionals can Help Firms Become More Agile in the Future of Work
Photo from MBO Partners
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a new workforce in motion. Due to global lockdowns, workers across all industries were suddenly working from home. Teams shifted from roundtable discussions and in-the-pantry chats to Zoom meetings and virtual happy hours.
Things surprisingly went well. For the most part, productivity levels remained consistent and sometimes even improved.
By the end of 2020, workers were getting into the groove of remote work, thankful to have a job amid the health crisis. However, as time went on and the economy recovered, some of these employees realized they were burned out and unfulfilled.
The next thing they did?
They resigned from their jobs. As a result, nearly 11 million jobs in the U.S. alone were vacant in 2021.
Here’s the thing: These workers didn’t leave their jobs to hop from one company to the next. They did that because they actually wanted to restructure their future of work.
Is the Future of Work Independent?
Everson says when people are able to do what they want, they’ll be happier, healthier, and wealthier. It’s a win-win situation all around! No wonder that the future of work is leaning more towards the independent workforce.
For employers, HR managers, and business leaders, this means giving up some form of control to create an attractive workplace for independents. More often than not, some of these workers would want to continue to work remotely, while others would look for more appealing compensation and benefits.
If you’re an employer, business leader, or HR manager, always remember that independent talents bring in-demand skills, which means they have lots of choices when choosing the companies they’ll work for.
In short, they have the upper hand.
That’s why to be competitive in the future of work, you have to consider the skills of your current talent pool. Ask yourself:
“What does my project pipeline look like in the coming years, and what types of people do I need to work with to meet my organizational goals?”
Keep in mind that in today’s work landscape, your company’s value will also be driven by projects and outcomes, not just full-time employees and activities.
So… how can you effectively use independent talents to thrive in the future?
Everson shares his top 3 recommendations:
- Match the RIGHT independent talent to your needs.
What good is it to hire an independent whose skills do not match with your company’s needs?
It would be just a waste of time, effort, and resources.
Always remember that finding quality talents that fit your needs is the first step to incorporating independents into your workforce. You may do this through referrals, networking, or searching for these workers through various websites.
You may also check several marketplaces or platforms for independents. These tools will not only help you match highly-skilled professionals to your needs but also lessen your onboarding time, sourcing costs, and compliance risks.
- Approach and engage with independents with good intention.
By law, independent professionals are their own category of workers. To operate and use this workforce legally, you have to comply with relevant laws, regulations, and policies that apply to them.
Whether you’re working with independents for the first time or for many years now, it’s important to ensure your interactions with them are compliant and built for enterprise scale.
- Plan how you’ll manage your independent workforce.
Independent talents can bring lots of benefits to companies: In-demand skills, excellent project-based work, flexibility, and an on-demand workforce.
With the right tools and technologies in place, you can easily automate onboarding and limit unnecessary paperwork. This will also help make your company an attractive place for independents to work.
—
In Charles Dickens’ novella, “A Christmas Carol,” the character of the “Ghost of Christmas Future” is introduced as an ominous and silent figure.
Like the “Ghost of Christmas Future,” the future itself is also mysterious, unknown, and silent, and many people often get anxious about what it brings.
However, in Dickens’ story, the figure also shows one’s fate isn’t set in stone. The future can still be altered by changing one’s actions in the present.
… and just like the significance of this story, you can also prepare your company for the future of work!
By taking the necessary actions in the present, you’ll be able to future-proof your firm’s workforce model, become a client and employer of choice, and ensure your organization is top-of-mind for people—both full-time employees and independents—looking for work.
We hope you learned a lot from our 3-part series!
Learn from the workforce of the past and do the right things in the present, so you and your company will continue to thrive and be agile in the future of work.
(This article is from The Business Builder Daily, a newsletter by The I Institute in collaboration with MBO Partners.)
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Fridays: Mindfulness by Miles”
High-performance businesses are run by people who think and act differently.
In other words, these are people who are high-performing individuals.
Companies and individuals of this kind have found ways to escape the grind of commoditization and competition by focusing on the RIGHT goals.
High-performing businesses and individuals are also “return driven” businesses and “career driven” individuals. They conscientiously develop unique capabilities and resources that allow them to deliver offerings in ways no other firm or individual can.
Every Friday, we’ll publish tips and insights from MBO Partners and The I Institute’s “The Business Builder Daily” newsletter.
These will help you gain knowledge on the things that Miles Everson, the CEO of MBO Partners, often talks about regarding the future of the workforce.
We’ll also highlight other advice on how you can be a high-performing individual both in your career and personal life.
Hope you’ve found this week’s insight interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Friday’s “Mindfulness by Miles!”
Cheers,
Kyle Yu
Head of Marketing
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
Powered by Valens Research
www.valens-research.com
