CWS 3.0: May 1, 2013

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Going Global? There’s a Report for That

The world is becoming smaller and smaller, with more and more companies looking at their contingent workforce talent pools from a global perspective. Often, the trickiest task is to get familiar with the landscape and gain partnership, visibility and ease of access to the global population. The next hurdle can be defining what a contingent worker is and what makes a global program hum. Staffing Industry Analysts has been producing a range of reports and webinars on these very issues in order to provide clarity and direction. Here are a few tools that you might find helpful as you start or continue on your global journey.

To be sure you’re asking the right questions, take a look at the Global Readiness Indicators, produced by Staffing Industry Analysts’ Advisory Group. These are a compilation of questions some of the top global contingent workforce experts thought was important to ask before you even get started. Make sure you also know what terms and acronyms mean globally. Labour is labor but do you know your AWR from your AWD? Have the Global Lexicon of Contingent Workforce Terms (PDF) handy and share it with your colleagues.

Then do your homework, focusing on the countries of interest to your company and look for our executive summaries of individual staffing markets through our country snapshots. You can also utilize our handy Data Sources to link you to contingent workforce and labor resources by country. These are barometers that assess the relative business environment within each market and can help you understand the various national factors you will encounter in managing your workforce internationally.

Market Snapshots and Data Sources already on our website or coming up include:

Market Snapshots

– Europe: Germany, Italy Portugal, Switzerland

– Rest of World: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, UAE

Data Sources

– Europe: Portugal, Sweden

– Rest of World: Colombia, Singapore, South Korea, UAE

Another collection of reports our European office has been producing are what we fondly call “Look At” reports. Each has a comprehensive overview of a country’s labor and usage with handy links to critical in country resources. They are a good way to test the waters and find out the relative labor market. A good example of this is  A Look at the Brazilian Temporary Workforce Environment report. Here is a list of the countries we have or are planning to have a Look At for:

– Europe: Portugal, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Spain

– Rest of World
 • Asia: China, Colombia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam
 • South America: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay
 • Africa/Middle: East South Africa, UAE

You’ll also need staffing partners that are familiar with the markets your program is in. Our Largest Staffing Firms lists can help. We rank staffing companies by revenue in various countries. The most recent top staffing firm is the  Top Staffing Firms in Germany report. The following lists are planned for this year to help you as you go global:

Top Staffing Firm Lists

– Europe: Eastern Europe, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain
  • Updates to existing lists: Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, U.K.

– Rest of World
 • Asia: China, Colombia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam
 • South America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay
 • Africa/Middle: East South Africa, UAE

Finally, if you are trying to figure out how to expand into markets you don’t have a footprint in, we can help. We’ll be publishing “Practical Guides for Expanding your CW Program” for South America and Eastern Europe in 2013 with more to come. Our forecasts should also act as an educational tool and bellwether for future talent availability.

Regardless of where you are looking to expand, be sure to look at our webinar replays as well. Of particular import are: Making it Work: Best Practices for Expanding your Contingent Workforce Program InternationallyIntroduction to the Contingent Workforce in the Middle East  Introduction to the Contingent Workforce in Asia or Understanding Contingent Workforce Risk and Developing a Global Risk Assessment Framework.

The range of reports and webinars we produce will give you direction and help you formulate a strategy. Good luck, and let us know how else we can assist you on your global quest.