Since 2020, the contingent workforce industry has resembled a roller coaster ride: full of highs and lows, fear, and excitement. Fortunately for many, the journey left them energized, wanting to take another loop.

“We’ve had some good things happen; we’ve had some not so positive things happen,” said Dawn McCartney, senior VP of SIA’s Contingent Workforce Strategies Council, in her keynote address, “Knowledge, Innovation, Action,” at SIA’s 20th annual CWS Summit North America. “We’ve got some council members whose programs are booming right now; we’ve got others who have been reducing the number of contingent workers.”

Held this week in Dallas, the 2024 event attracted more than 600 enterprise buyers and 340 companies.

It has been “one hell of a roller coaster ride,” McCartney said, adding that the ride will continue through 2025.

Market Trends

Despite current challenges and declining numbers, there’s “incredible opportunity” ahead, McCartney said, emphasizing the industry’s importance to the global economy. The global B2B contingent work/gig economy spend was $3.8 trillion in $3.8 trillion in 2022, according to SIA data.

Engaging independent contractors, which comprise $1.93 billion of that total spend, is one of those opportunities. Program managers who aren’t currently utilizing the services of independent contractors need to get them into their programs, as they are just “too critical of a workforce to not be able to have as part of your talent pool,” she advised.

For organizations with global programs, markets outside the US and Canada look promising. Flat-line growth is mostly forecast for the EMEA region this year and some “nice to significant growth” is forecast for APAC as US programs have moved to work offshore, McCartney noted.

In the US, growth is anticipated in 2025, which McCartney called “encouraging and what I think we were all hoping for.”

Organizations have been “holding their checkbooks close to their chests,” she said. “For companies to remain sustainable, to be resilient, to be able to remain competitive, at some point, that checkbook has to open again. They need to start investing in their products and their services, in their people, and in their technology. And that’s what we anticipate will happen.”

Program Ops Trends

While 81% of contingent programs already have vendor management systems in place, 16% of firms say they are likely to seriously explore adding one within two years, likely driven by interest from small to midsize companies and concerns about legal regulations. Adding a managed service provider follows a similar path, with 55% having one in place and 14% likely to explore adding one, McCartney said.

Recruitment process outsourcing and contingent RPO are two areas with an increase in the percentage of those researching implementation in the next two years, she added.

“Companies are looking at, ‘Do we make, or do we buy?’”

Candidate Trends

Less than a third of contingent workers prefer to work through a traditional staffing provider, according to SIA data. Programs that do not currently have a direct sourcing option or utilize an online staffing platform need to incorporate them into the program to access talent, she said.

Temporary workers are so committed to remote work that half are willing to consider a pay cut for it. That means program managers must find creative ways to entice workers back to the office.

Temps report training is important, especially for those in transportation/logistics, and production. Since enterprise buyers cannot provide training themselves, program managers should consider having their staffing providers offer it, which could differentiate their organization when competing for talent.

The industry has been on a roller coaster ride not just for the past year, but since 2020, McCartney said. And the ride is going to take us through 2024 and into 2025.

“We are going to get ourselves prepared for this next roller coaster ride,” McCartney said. “And I don’t think there is any better way to get us prepared than then the theme of this keynote: We are going to do it through knowledge, we’re going to do it through innovation, and we’re going to do it through action.”

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