Key Takeaways
1. Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Open Talent Economy is influencing companies to re-consider and re-configure how they make up their workforces to remain competitive and aligned with global market trends.
2. Companies are beginning to realize the benefits associated with adopting strategies aligned with an open talent hiring model to leverage contractors, freelancers, and open-sourced talent to fill any skill gaps in their internal teams.
3. Open talent or flexible marketplaces are designed as a place to connect employers and individuals with specialized skills sets and expertise for project-based on temporary work arrangements. These marketplaces are key in allowing Individuals to be able to market their skills and experience to provide services to prospecting employers.
4. Some of the key benefits of adapting your recruitment strategy to an open talent hiring model is it can prove cost-saving, you can leverage skills and expertise that may not be necessarily within your budget as a full-time commitment, productivity on outsourced projects is generally higher than if delegated internally, and contracts can be renewed and ceased as needed.
If someone was asked 20 years ago on how they think an ideal workforce is made up, you would most likely get an answer that epitomises the traditional employee/employer employment model. Times are changing with the global talent economy opening up, forcing businesses to re-consider how they recruit and retain talent to meet their business goals. This means that for businesses to remain competitive and have the best chance in meeting global market trends, they need to adapt to the ‘Open Talent Economy’. This article will discuss what this is and introduce what the key benefits are for businesses in adopting an open talent hiring model – a new recruitment model that facilitates open hiring practices.
What is the ‘Open Talent Economy’?
Companies are beginning to re-shift their mindset and re-imagine how their workforce should be made up in order to remain effective across all of their business operations. By doing this, they are challenging the traditional assumptions that drove recruitment strategies accepted as the status quo through much of the 20th and early 21st centuries.
In an alignment of global movements such as the shift to remote working, advancements in technology and globalization, “The Open Talent Economy”, as Deloitte coined it, is in its early stages of fruition and proving to be the way forward for companies to remain competitive. In order to adapt to this new trend, there is a push for new recruitment strategies to emerge that find new ways for people to enter the workforce and move through a business’s talent acquisition funnel — especially relevant in meeting the needs in the new digital era. With every new strategy, the Open Talent Economy is proving to support the creation of ample new opportunities for companies and individuals to re-configure how they work and work together.
What does an ‘open talent hiring model’ mean?
Companies are beginning to expand their talent networks by remodelling their recruitment strategies to fit within the scope of what is now referred to as an ‘open talent hiring model’. The easiest way to untangle what an open talent hiring model looks like is through comparing it with how it has evolved from more traditional closed talent hiring models. Closed talent models in their most basic form characterize a workforce made up of recruited full time or part time, statutory employees with direct ties to a company. All employees come under the one balance sheet, with each employee having their own role and responsibilities that contribute to the overall functioning of the organisation. More so than anything, work schedules and work location are fixed.
An open talent hiring model is an employment model that introduces more project-based or temporary working arrangements as part of a company’s overall workforce. If a company is utilizing an open talent hiring model, they will be leveraging freelancers, contractors, partnerships or open sourced talent to fill the gaps in expertise at an on-demand and as-needed basis.
Another concept that is commonly used interchangeably with an open talent hiring model is a ”flexible talent model’. As the latter term suggests flexibility in hiring practices is the foundational assumption underlying this model in action. Talent can be recruited via open talent marketplaces or via Global PEOs that connect employers with a large variety of individuals with varying skillsets and expertise and talent can come from any part of the globe.
Hire globally in 24 hours with Horizons EOR services.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of hiring in an open talent marketplace?
As with the benefits that are associated with remote working, there are several benefits that accompany adapting your companies hiring practices to source talent in an open talent marketplace. Some of these benefits include:
- Companies can gain access to a surplus of specialized skillsets that may be beyond what is available within their existing teams
- Companies can scale up or scale down their labour demands at any time
- Project-based workers may be more efficient with turnaround times of tasks quicker than allocating to an internal employee or team
- Sourcing talent from open marketplaces may be more cost-efficient due to not having to hire on a full time basis
- Cost-effectiveness also extends to hiring cheaper labour in roles that in a company’s local market may attract higher rates
- Although some skillsets or specialised expertise can come with higher costs, the returns can be even more significant
- Contracts can be started and ceased as needed
There are some disadvantages that can come with hiring in an open talent marketplace, which a lot of the time can be due to a broad HR management strategies and uncertain business goals. Some disadvantages can include:
- Not all projects or tasks may be amenable to an open/flex talent model
- Companies could run into compliance and payroll issues depending on country of hire or capacity in which new talent is hired
- Talent marketplaces are highly competitive and it can be time consuming going through talent proposals
- Appropriate planning and business management strategies are required to ensure a company is hiring appropriate skills and talent for the project or tasks at hand
- Hiring contactors, freelancers or open sourced talent can bring reputational and security risks, as well as cause potential conflicts with permanent staff
- Some contractors and freelancer might conflate their experience, skills or level of expertise
Hire Globally through the Open Talent Economy
If you have always wanted to diversify your company’s workforce to include contractors or freelancers to complement your existing team, then Horizons can help facilitate recruitment on the open marketplace.
As a leading Global PEO, Horizons can support your company to feel confident in hiring the best talent from anywhere in the world, while maintaining full legal compliance.
Frequently asked questions
Open and flexible used to describe talent marketplaces are synonymous with each other to infer a marketplace where employers can seek out and hire specific skillsets or expertise on a contractual basis. In laymen’s terms, a place for project-based or temporary work arrangements, where the hired individual provides a service to the company and acts not as a direct employee.
By adapting your business model to allow for remote working conditions, you are taking the first step in opening up your business model to be able recruit remote contractors, freelancers or open sourced talent found on the open market and moulding company to reflect an open talent hiring model in some capacity. A Global PEO can help your company facilitate this shift in employment model and help support your company in recruiting the best remote talent from anywhere in world, for any task at hand. They will also take care of all compliance and payroll obligations so you can focus more on growing your business.
