Contingent Workforce Radio
By Utmost
Hosted by Erika Novak, Head of Client Services at Utmost, and formerly leading and evolving contingent workforce programs at LinkedIn, eBay, and Brightfield Strategies.
Contingent Workforce RadioOct 19, 2022
Lights, Camera, Action - CW and the Entertainment Industry
On this week’s Contingent Workforce Radio podcast, Phil Montag, Senior Category Manager at Warner Bros. Discovery, speaks to the importance of speed-to-onboarding in the Entertainment business and that technology and process should enable, not prevent, this.
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Completely New to the Industry? A perspective about the importance of communication strategies
LIVE at CWS Summit with DoorDash and NetApp
Contingent Workforce Radio is LIVE from #CWSSummit in Dallas, Texas! We loved being able to speak candidly with Rich Kellis, Head of People Technology at Doordash, and Jamhali Portus, Senior Program Manager at NetApp, from our beautiful Omni Suite.
Erika, Rich and Jamhali talk about people technology support structure, the ability to influence and what ‘slow is smooth, smooth is fast’ means for CW programs.
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What's next in tech? A deep dive into the 2022 VMS Technology Advisor" report with Chris Dwyer
Welcome to our podcast series, Afterhours, on Contingent Workforce Radio. In this week’s episode, Utmost’s VP of Marketing, Neha Goel, sits down with Chris Dwyer, SVP of Research at Ardent Partners and Managing Director of the Future of Work Exchange, to dive deep into the 2022 VMS Technology Advisor report. Neha and Chris discuss the history of the report, the methodology used and as well as some key findings from the report.
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Onboarding Key Talent - How to Create a Positive Experience for Both Employees and Contractors
On this week’s Contingent Workforce Radio podcast, Ashley Wilson, Contingent Workforce Program Manager at Splunk, discusses how onboarding activities play a critical role in attracting key talent and how to create a positive experience for both your employees and contractors.
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Internally Run CW Program: To Build or Not to Build
On this week’s Contingent Workforce Radio podcast episode, Joel Kammeyer, Director of Contingent Workforce at Epic, shares why he decided to build his own program versus using an external MSP and his experience around resource planning, determining roles & responsibilities and internal advantages.
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Effectively Managing Distributed Teams
On this week’s Contingent Workforce Radio podcast episode, Erika Novak and Alan Kumar, Elastic Talent Program Manager at Dolby Laboratories, discuss how to effectively manage distributed teams, continuity planning, and advice for their successful management.
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Connect with Erika on LinkedIn
Find us on LinkedIn and read our latest blogs!
The State of Talent Today and the Future of Work
Welcome to our podcast series, Afterhours, on Contingent Workforce Radio. In this week’s episode, Utmost’s VP of Marketing, Neha Goel, sits down with Christopher Dwyer, SVP of Research at Ardent Partners and Managing Director of the Future of Work Exchange, to discuss recent trends observed in the market, predictions for the future of work, the pandemic’s impact on the ever changing workforce and much more.
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Improving the Rights of the Extended Workforce
On this week’s Contingent Workforce Radio podcast, Erika Novak joins Sylecia Johnston, former Director of Contingent Workforce at The Opus Group, to discuss the contingent workforce program she ran, the importance of treating non-employee labor as individuals, and the impact the great resignation had on company policies.
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Complex Needs in the Professional and Business Services (PBS) industry
Beginning the Transformation Journey to a Managed CW Program
On this week’s Contingent Workforce Radio podcast episode, Erika Novak, Head of Client Services here at Utmost, sits down with Milena Cerdas, Global Category Lead for Contingent Workforce at Philip Morris, to discuss the transformation journey to successfully manage a contingent workforce program.
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The Future of Work and Third-Party Risk Management
In this episode, Sanja Cancar-Todorovic, Head of Enterprise Procurement, Outsourcing and Vendor Management at Home Capital Group, joins Erika Novak, Head of Client Services here at Utmost, to discuss discuss how the pandemic impacted contingent labor programs, challenges with the increase in non-employee labor, and third-party risk management.
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How do I get the most from my MSP?
Getting (and HEARING) the Voice of the Customer in your CW Program
CW Program Owners Communication Begets All Else
In this episode, Meg Ksenzakovic, Director of Global Contingent Workforce at Bristol Myers Squibb, joins Erika Novak, Head of Client Services here at Utmost, to discuss the importance of communication, both to stakeholders and to the extended workforce.
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The Importance of a Holistic View of Your Total Workforce
In this episode, Melissa Ansell, Global External Workforce Center and HR Connect Americas Lead at Amgen, joins Erika Novak, Head of Client Services here at Utmost, to talk about the importance of having a holistic view of your total workforce and how that provides key information to all business stakeholders.
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Speed, Cost, and Compliance in an Internally Managed Program
In this episode, Lisa Caprirolo, Global Contingent Labor Manager at Citrix, joins Erika Novak, Head of Client Services here at Utmost, to discuss the importance of speed, cost, and compliance in an internally managed program and the advantages of having visibility across all classifications of workers.
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Changing Roles: From One Role and Classification to Another
In this episode, Cristin Monnich, Program Manager - Contingent Workforce at Sephora, joins Erika Novak, Head of Client Services here at Utmost, to chat about being a working mom and coming back from maternity leave. She also touches upon on subcontracting, compliance, and managing freelance and ICs as a CW program owner.
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The Challenges of Contingent Worker Program Management
Scalability, Change Management, and Process: Building a New Contingent Workforce Program
In this episode, Tony Simon, Director of Talent Programs and Operations at Cohesity, and Erika Novak, Head of Professional Services here at Utmost, discuss building a new contingent workforce program through the lens of scalability, flexibility, and partnership.
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The Importance of Engaging the Extended Workforce
In this episode, Justen Barber, Senior Manager of Global Contingent Solutions at ServiceNow, and Erika Novak, Head of Client Services here at Utmost, discuss the importance of engaging the extended workforce. With the growing size and importance of this part of the workforce, this starts before a person ever walks through the doors and extends to their treatment throughout the lifecycle of their time at your company.
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Reinventing Invoicing
Welcome to Afterhours on Contingent Workforce Radio, a new podcast series hosted by Julie Scagell, Utmost's Sr. Content Marketing Manager.
In this episode, Chirag Sheth, Global Director of Procurement at Genentech, and Steve Knapp, Product Strategist here at Utmost, discuss the often overlooked but critical importance of invoicing and the impact on the extended workforce.
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Getting Work Done with Utmost Front Door
Welcome to Afterhours on Contingent Workforce Radio, a new podcast series hosted by Julie Scagell, Utmost's Sr. Content Marketing Manager.
This first episode features Maarten Hansson, Head of Integrated Workforce Management at Novartis, and Conor Halpin, Head of Sales here at Utmost, in a conversation about the importance of a guided buying decision process and the functionality of Utmost Front Door.
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CWS and SIG Recap
Erika Novak, Head of Client Services at Utmost, is joined by Bhumika Khona, Demand Generation Manager, to give a recap of the first two industry conferences that Utmost has attended since March of 2020: the Staffing Industry Analysts' CWS Symposium and the Sourcing Industry Group's Global Executive Summit.
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Extending Workday for your Contingent Workforce
This week's episode includes a snippet of Erika Novak's session, “Extending Workday for your Contingent Workforce” at the 2021 Workday 9/9 Ecosystem Share-a-thon virtual event.
In this episode, Erika discusses how Utmost is delivering a purpose-built EWS especially for Workday customers.
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Innovation in Procurement: Alternatives to Traditional Practices
Companies constantly talk about being innovative and championing internal innovation as keys to their competitive success. However, what does that actually look like? What’s required to help facilitate that? Embracing innovation typically requires breaking from the standard and accepting some manageable risk, which can contradict typical Procurement and Finance goals.
For example, working with innovative start-ups requires a different approach than a standard Request for Proposal (RFP). So what are the alternatives to enable collaboration with innovative partners?
In this podcast episode, Erika Novak, Head of Client Services at Utmost is joined by a panel of experts including Paul Campbell, Dean Edwards, and Roger Jellicoe to discuss business innovation, how to incentivize it, and how to approach procurement with alternatives to standards.
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Savings Opportunities for the CPO
Chief Procurement Officers who are responsible for the contingent workforce within their organizations need full visibility to achieve a holistic view of the workforce.
In this podcast episode, Erika Novak, Head of Client Services and Julie Scagell, Senior Content Marketing Manager discuss what's important for CPOs to recognize when managing the extended workforce, finding additional savings opportunities, and engaging with their partners in HR.
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The Extended Workforce From a CIO Perspective Recap Episode
In this episode, Erika Novak and Julie Scagell recap a recent webinar where Utmost COO, Dan Beck joined Jane Moran, former CIO of Unilever, in an engaging live discussion about challenges in the extended workforce and its significant impact on IT leaders.
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Building Your Organization’s Roadmap for Total Talent Management
Total talent management is having full visibility into both your employee and non-employee workforce in one system of record.
Why does that matter?
Today, organizations need a scalable solution that enables enterprise-wide workforce planning, the ability to attract top talent in a way they want to work, engage and manage that talent appropriately, and deliver visibility into the worker in a way that hasn’t been possible before.
During this podcast, Erika Novak, Head of Client Services at Utmost will provide an overview of total talent management, why it should matter to you, and how you can build a tactical roadmap and get started on the journey.
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Five Things I Wish I Did Differently
In this episode, Erika Novak discusses what she wishes she had done differently in her past experiences managing contingent workforce programs. We'll cover the following items:
- When to run an RFP or not
- Who to lobby within the org
- Why transparency into data is important
- How to interact with partners and vendors
- Why you need to paint the bigger picture to superiors
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How to Avoid Being a 'Black Hole' Program to Top Suppliers feat. Northwestern Mutual's Nancy Maren
Join our chat with Nancy Maren, Assistant Director, Contingent Workforce to learn how to prevent your contingent workforce program from becoming a black hole to staffing suppliers submitting candidates. Nancy has 20 years of experience in workforce solutions and will share how you can build a program that is mutually beneficial for the enterprise and suppliers.
Your external recruiters spend a significant amount of time finding and submitting candidates, but oftentimes they hear nothing back from the enterprise. Their candidates land in a “black hole.” This creates a poor experience for the suppliers, candidates, and ultimately damages the brand of the enterprises.
To explore this topic further, below are a few questions that we plan to explore:
- What is a “black hole” program? How does this happen?
- From soup to nuts, how do you build a program that isn’t a “black hole”?
- Why are “rogue suppliers” the program’s fault?
- How do you balance supplier management with other projects?
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SIG Global Executive Summit Spring Recap
Recap of the key sessions at Sourcing Industry Group's Global Executive Summit focusing on topics such as:
- Greater talent focus among procurement professionals
- Newer technology to automate processes
- The role of diversity and inclusion
And more!
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Getting Started with Diversity for your Contingent Workforce Program feat. Splunk's Keisha Stephens
In a live episode of Contingent Workforce Radio, tune into a discussion with Keisha Stephens, Contingent Workforce Program Director at Splunk, on how you can get started with diversity for your extended workforce program. Keisha has over 20 years of experience in the contingent workforce with experience on the client-side and MSP-side. In this chat, host Erika Novak, Head of Client Services at Utmost, will dive into the beginnings of Keisha’s journey and challenges in building diversity programs for the extended workforce.
Below are a few questions that we will explore:
- Which stakeholders do you involve in this journey?
- How do you review suppliers for diversity?
- What’s the next step after reviewing suppliers?
- What are some of the challenges to expect?
- How did you define success? What does that look like?
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Moving Contingent Workforce Process Ownership from Procurement to HR feat. Shell's Steve Kendrick
Listen in to a casual Q&A with Steve Kendrick, Contingent Workforce Manager at Shell. Steve has nearly 30 years of experience in HR and HR Services at Shell. In his role as Contingent Workforce Manager, Steve has defined strategy and management of contingent workforce within the Total Workforce Planning process and achieved visibility of several billion dollars of spend.
And in most recent developments, contingent workforce process ownership is moving from Procurement and will fall under the remit of HR. This conversation will explore why the shift is happening and the main goals.
Below are a few questions that we plan to explore:
- How did the conversation to move from Procurement to HR get started?
- Which stakeholders were involved?
- What are the goals of this shift? Total workforce management?
- How are HR, Procurement, and other departments working together to enable this shift?
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Staffing Supplier Relationships, Optimization, and Rationalization
Erika Novak, Head of Client Services at Utmost, will share her tips on staffing supplier management and making the most out of your contingent workforce program's relationships with suppliers. This comprehensive conversation will cover:
- Supplier optimization
- KPIs
- HR vs Procurement perspective
- Executive desires
- Info to share with suppliers
- MSP relationship and suppliers
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How a Change Mindset can Modernize Talent Operations feat. Siemens Healthineers' Paul Petersen
Bringing change into an organization inevitably leads to roadblocks and hurdles. In the world of the extended workforce, new technology or new types of processes encounter pushback from senior leadership or other departments comfortable doing things the way they have always been done.
In this chat, Paul Petersen, Director of Skills Management and Workforce Solutions at Siemens Healthineers will share how he used a change mindset to usher in a new way of HR operations when it comes to the extended workforce. This conversation is essential for anyone looking to persuade senior management to evolve and adapt to the modern workforce’s needs.
Below are a few topics that you can expect to learn more about:
- Starting with questions vs. mandates enables more acceptance
- Using the ‘first follower effect’ and begin with one champion
- Focusing your change to align with corporate culture and goals
- Changing the language you use can open the door to new options
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Total Talent Management: What does it look like to try? feat. Farmers Insurance' Koenraad Lecot
One of the aspirations of many contingent workforce program leads is to achieve total talent management. Instead of siloing employees and non-employees away from one another, total talent management looks at the entire spectrum of talent to see what type of worker makes the most sense for a project.
Naturally, this leads to efficiency gains but also competitive advantages when the organization is able to optimize for the right skillsets regardless of worker classification.
Erika Novak, Head of Client Services at Utmost, will chat with Koenraad Lecot, Head of Contingent Workforce Management at Farmers Insurance to better understand total talent management and recommendations for others pursuing it.
Below are a few questions that we plan to chat through with him:
- How does Farmers Insurance define Total Talent Management? How is that the same or different from what the industry has defined it as?
- Why did it become a priority? How was it prioritized over other initiatives?
- How does an organization know if they are ready/not ready to focus on TTM activities?
- What was your business case to the executives? Based on those conversations, how would you advise others to come prepared for that meeting?
- What are the obstacles to consider? Where are you on the journey?
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Policies and Compliance for Your Contingent Workforce Program feat. Applied Materials' Lysa Marcouillier
Lysa has over 20 years of experience in HR including contingent workforce program management and HR operations. In this conversation, Erika Novak, Head of Client Services at Utmost will interview Lysa on how to create and managing compliance rules for your program. The two will also discuss best practices for navigating stakeholder relationships in doing so.
Below are a few questions that we will be chatting through:
- How can you better ensure compliance with business rules from hiring managers?
- Who do you need to coordinate with for different compliance rules?
- What are some of the key compliance rules that most companies should adopt?
- When do you need a third-party to help with compliance?
- How do you share responsibilities between third-parties and internal teams?
- What’s the role of technology in facilitating all this?
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How to Resource an Internally Managed Program feat. Everhive's Brandon Moreno
About two-thirds of contingent workforce programs use a managed service provider (MSP). Yet the most recent SIA Workforce Solutions Buyer Survey found that there is a greater share of program owners planning to move their program “in-house” than the share likely to explore using an external MSP.
One of the main challenges of moving in-house is building out a team to take on different roles and responsibilities. In this session, Brandon Moreno, President of EverHive, and Erika Novak, Head of Client Services, will share how to consider resourcing your team for an internally managed program.
Below are a fw considerations that they will dive deeper into:
- Knowing your total extended workforce headcount numbers
- Defining roles & responsibilities
- Establishing an org structure
- Understand where to recruit
- Managing process changes
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Mentorship and Career Growth in the Contingent Workforce Industry
How can you help your team grow? In this episode, Erika dives into how you can help mentor and support your team.
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"Why are we so cheap?"
In this episode, we examine why the contingent workforce industry uses a "supplier-funded model," and why the industry needs to change and pay directly for technology or services.
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How to Get Visibility Over a Global Freelance Workforce feat. Airbnb's Jessica Donsky
Tune in to a casual conversation with Jessica Donsky, Sr. Manager, Global Contingent Workforce at Airbnb.
With a rise in freelance marketplaces and an increasing number of young professionals opting for freelance work, enterprises have developed new processes to source, engage, and offboard a freelancer workforce.
In this conversation, Jessica Donsky, Sr. Manager, Global Contingent Workforce at Airbnb will share how to get visibility over a freelance workforce and how that’s different from typical processes for contingent staff.
Erika Novak, Head of Client Services at Utmost, will interview Jessica on how to engage a freelance workforce globally that is far more mobile and fluid than workers from outsourced vendors or staffing agencies.
Below are a few questions that we plan to dive into:
- Why is global visibility important? Can’t hiring managers organize this?
- How does HR work with freelancers in their processes vs. contingent staff? Source, engaging, onboarding - what makes it different?
- How do you collaborate with other teams in engaging this workforce?
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The 95%: Shifting Focus to the Majority of Your Extended Workforce feat. Facebook's Colin McDonagh
Most enterprise systems and processes for managing external talent focus primarily on temporary contingent staff. Whether it be the vendor management system (VMS) or the managed service provider (MSP), the solutions are designed for a narrow portion of the entire extended workforce. In some organizations, this is only about 5% of the external worker population while the rest of that workforce includes Statement-of-Work-based worked, outsourced vendors, and other independent contractors.
Erika Novak, Head of Client Services at Utmost, will chat with Colin McDonagh, International Contingent Workforce Business Partner Manager at Facebook, and explore why businesses should have full visibility over their entire talent mix. Companies should be including the larger populations (the 95%) into their purview and create visibility, centralize processes, collect data, and define success metrics.
He will share with us why you can’t just focus on the 5% of the workforce, how you can begin to build systems for the majority of the external workforce, and why this approach is even better for hiring managers.
Below are a few questions that you can expect to be discussed:
- Why are we focused on the 5% of the extended workforce?
- What unique problems are faced with the other 95%?
- What is the ideal state in managing this entire workforce? How can we get there?
- What data is missing and what does success look like?
- How does a CW Program, CWBP, or HRBP help in this case?
- How can hiring managers create an ideal mix of internal and external talent?
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Total Talent Acquisition feat. Southwest Airlines' Greg Muccio
Hiring managers often don’t know all the talent choices they have on the table - an employee, a contractor, a consulting firm, outsourced relationship, etc. Total Talent Acquisition allows the talent team to serve as an advisor to the business on what type of talent is best for the role or project.
Traditionally, HR hired only employees and other departments focused on contingent or external labor. With Total Talent Acquisition, HR can focus on delivering the right resource to get the work done, regardless of classification.
In this conversation, Greg Muccio, Director of Talent Acquisition, will share why Southwest Airlines pursued Total Talent Acquisition and how you can train your team and the business for this new approach. Below are a few questions that you can expect:
- What’s the strategic reasoning behind Total Talent Acquisition?
- Describe how your team is organized and the roles & responsibilities
- How do you change the team’s responsibilities in this new approach?
- What do you communicate to the business?
- How did you collaborate with Procurement?
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Year-End Recap
Supplier-Focused Projects for Early-Stage Programs - Part 2
This episode continues key projects for your program to focus on in the early stages when it comes to supplier relationships. Erika will cover the following projects in detail:
- Create and Conduct Supplier Audits:
- Define Supplier Onboarding Guidelines
- Create Supplier Evaluations or Scorecards
- Host a Supplier Symposium or Forum
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Supplier-Focused Projects for Early-Stage Programs - Part 1
Supplier-focused projects are important building blocks for your contingent workforce program. In this episode, Erika will review some of the foundational processes or projects that you can get started in regards to your staffing suppliers. Below are the first projects that we will cover:
- Review your Supplier Contracts
- Understand your Supplier Coverage
- Determine Whether a Supplier Rationalization Project is Necessary
- Define the Supplier Approval Process
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Marketing and Broadcasting Your Program to the Rest of the Company
From relationship-building, connecting with leadership, and training hiring managers - this episode covers the key projects to ensure that you have the right processes in place so that your program can reach all the right stakeholders.
We'll focus on:
- Identifying & broadcasting yourself (or team) as the main POC
- Relationship building
- Defining CW classifications
- Review policies in place
- Creating operational guidelines
- Onboarding & day-of orientation goals
- Education, training & support
- Visibility for your leadership team
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Six Foundational Projects for Your Contingent Workforce Program
Beyond the principles, what are those early-stage projects that you can get started with at your new program? Erika Novak, Head of Client Services at Utmost, shares the key projects that allow you to better understand your program's current state and build the foundation for more strategic projects in the future. Below are the six projects that we will walk through:
- Create process maps and gap analyses
- Understanding your system architecture and data flows
- Figure out the current scope of available data
- Audit 1099s in Payroll/AP
- Define the support model
- Align HR, Procurement, and Finance
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Five Principles for Getting Started with Your Contingent Workforce Program
Before beginning any new projects, set the stage for your contingent workforce program journey by acknowledging these five principles.
- Your program has to be for this company
- Your success is your manager’s success
- Construct with a realistic mindset
- Relationships matter
- Understand what is happening today before making a change
Beyond these principles, in the next few episodes, we will review some early-stage projects that you can begin for those building a first-generation contingent workforce program.
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