Future May Hold a Workforce of One

Think about it. You are a workforce of one. Your company’s HR department is tailoring its practices to suit your learning style and career desires. Sounds unreal? Susan  M. Cantrell and David Smith’s book talks about just that.  http://blogs.hbr.org/video/2010/05/workforce-of-one.html

The authors show how companies can offer customized work experiences that benefit both the worker and the firm. In fact, there are already pioneers in the space – Accenture, Capital One, Best Buy, Google just to name a few.

“This doesn’t mean that organizations are going to go away,” says Cantrell. But what it does indicate is that companies are using more and more of a contingent workforce. What’s interesting is that the CW model will evolve to a point where employers are not just thinking strategically about these contingent workers but spending time on applying people processes and extending them to their contingents.

We at Staffing Industry Analysts have been touting this for scenario for the last decade. Imagine a world where contingents are offered a McDonald’s menu with predefined choices involving when you want to work, where, cafeteria style benefit plans and how you want to be rewarded. Companies are already doing this for their employees.  And down the road, this will extend to contingents.

Remember, you heard it first here.