CWS 3.0: December 3, 2014

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Unlocking knowledge in China with ‘witkey’

As companies increasingly become global, contingent workforce managers need to familiarize themselves with unique ways to source and engage talent in different countries. In China, “witkey” is a unique, emerging online way of finding workers and enabling work arrangements. In fact, nearly all buyers and sellers of Witkey labor services are located in China, and just two out of 70 witkey websites identified by Staffing Industry Analysts have English-language versions; the rest are all Chinese only.

The technology and operational models of witkey are very similar to many online staffing platforms (and, in some instances, crowdsourcing platforms) in other parts of the world.

Origins. The term witkey comes from the word wit and key, which stand for the key of wisdom, according to authors Han Jiaping and Cen Gang in their report, Design of an industrial product platform based on the witkey mode. The term refers to both businesses that use the sites (usually smaller businesses) and people who offer their services and knowledge (usually the younger generations that were raised on technology). Businesses turn to witkeys for help in many areas, such as life sciences, writing, designing, Web development and many more.

“Much as with the ethos of the emerging ‘freelance economy’ in the West, witkey seems to embody values of freedom and creativity that resonate with a young, educated, entrepreneurial population in China in a unique and more powerful way,” says Andrew Karpie, affiliate analyst with Staffing Industry Analysts.

Growth. At least half of the 70 witkey platforms identified by Staffing Industry Analysts launched in the last four years. And while numbers of people engaging in some way with witkeys may be in the order of millions, SIA estimates the level of spend through the sites to be modest, with a market size of ¥183,000,000 to ¥305,000,000 ($30 million to $50 million). But those numbers are expected to grow at a rate 30 percent to 60 percent.

CWS Council members can learn more about witkeys and the state of the current market from this report