From Talent Acquisition to Talent Access

Zoë Harte, Upwork Chief People Officer 

As we approach the start of our third year of this pandemic, the Great Resignation is still here and still making companies nervous, with good reason. 

Millions of people are leaving their jobs, in search of more control over their lives and more flexibility in their work arrangements, a trend that shows no signs of slowing. A Microsoft study showed that 41 per cent of workers are thinking about quitting within the next year.

The pandemic pushed many people to reevaluate their priorities, innovate their careers, and explore new ways of working. It’s led to a tectonic shift in how work gets done. 

Ultimately, workers are rethinking their relationship with work. And that means companies need to rethink their relationships with workers.

From Talent Acquisition to Access

In response, leading companies are shifting from a talent acquisition mindset to one where talent is accessed on an as-needed basis. They’re learning that whom you work with is much more critical than where the work gets done. In fact, more than half of businesses say that remote work has increased their willingness to use independent talent, and 71 per cent of hiring managers plan to sustain or increase their use of independent talent in the next six months.

Leveraging previously untapped virtual talent benches of highly-skilled professionals helps fill critical skill gaps intensified by the Great Resignation, increases agility and diversity, and provides full-time employees with much-needed reinforcements to prevent burnout before it happens. Taking a talent access approach provides the flexibility to keep pace with a changing market and beat out the competition for high-demand skills. 

Solving Problems Before They Happen

Too often, those with a talent acquisition mindset look to freelance talent only after a skills gap has materialized and the company has struggled to find a full-time employee to fill it. It can be too little, too late.

By contrast, talent access is a way to prevent problems from forming. Dan Heath wrote about this proactive approach in his book Upstream, using the example of healthcare. Investing in disease prevention through exercise and healthy habits — upstream actions — is usually more effective than a reactive, downstream approach, like medication and surgery once a condition develops. 

Thinking in terms of talent access by building a workforce that incorporates freelance talent can be a vaccine against the Great Resignation. It may not prevent turnover entirely, but it can significantly reduce the impact of staff departures and skills gaps. Talent access allows companies to sidestep the slow talent acquisition process, since hiring a freelancer can often take just days. Operating with hybrid teams of full-time and freelance talent means that the loss of a key team member won’t lead to a crisis, because you can more quickly access talent to find and replace skills. It means no more downtime and burnt out teams. 

Programmatically leveraging freelancers helps businesses stay ahead of issues and handle whatever is thrown their way, whether a challenge or opportunity. They can widen their talent pool across borders and scale up or down with ease. 

The Growing Ranks Of Freelancers

Thinking solely of full-time employees severely limits the pool of available talent. A recent Upwork study found that 20 per cent of those who were working remotely during the pandemic, which represents about 10 million professionals, are considering freelancing. What’s more, freelancers can do it all, providing skilled services such as computer programming, marketing and IT. 

The workforce is changing rapidly and will continue to expand. Businesses need to think beyond traditional hiring approaches and embracing more flexible teams to help support critical project needs. Companies refusing to embrace this trend could find themselves swimming against the current.

The best time to integrate a freelance strategy into your business is before you need one. If you shift your thinking from talent acquisition to talent access and start building a hybrid workforce now, you can get ahead of Great Resignation turnover and prevent skills gaps from dealing your business a knockout blow.