(Today’s guest post is by Arjun Dutt, Business Intelligence Solutions.)

Many US organizations have a common misconception about global growth: international markets are less mature. It’s not uncommon to hear that EMEA is five to six years behind the US in how contingent workforces are managed. However that’s certainly not the case, as Bryan Pena of Staffing Industry Analysts, Liz Harper of Brightfield Strategies and I discussed last week during our Making It Work: Best Practices for Expanding your Contingent Workforce Program Internationally webinar. These markets are not less mature than those in North America — they’re just different. During the webinar, we talked about how organizations can better prepare for global expansion by educating themselves and planning for these cultural nuances before deploying their contingent workforce programs overseas.

Harper provided some background on EMEA-specific legislation influencing the way contingent programs operate. The Data Protection Directive, Health and Safety Directive, Temporary & Agency Workers Directive (AWD) and the Fixed Term Worker Directive all significantly affect how organizations are able to expand their programs globally, and prudent organizations must take these laws into account.

But outside of any legal considerations, there are cultural nuances to change management to consider before deployment as well. Harper noted a few examples of how the national culture impacts the corporate culture:

• Power-Oriented Culture: Countries like Japan and India fit into this quadrant and value the dialogue between stakeholders rather than what’s being discussed. In other words, these countries want to know who’s attending a meeting rather than what will be discussed.

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Last week, Fieldglass co-hosted a webinar titled, “Contingent Workforce Programme Evolution: Growing Your Programme for Future Success,” with our very own Mikael Lindmark, vice president of EMEA, Lutz Peichert, vice president and principal analyst for Forrester Research and Gareth Druce, professional services director for Reed Elsevier. In case you missed it, you can download the webinar here but here are some of the key takeaways from last week’s session.

The webinar was an opportunity for Peichert to share some Forrester insights into the European services procurement market, the challenges currently facing customers and the benefits of VMS use. With this in mind, Druce then offered Reed Elsevier’s perspective on these insights and shared his company’s experience in expanding a contingent workforce program globally. Some common themes emerged between Forrester’s analysis and Reed Elsevier’s experience: (more…)

Welcome to the weekly news roundup! Below are the top stories we’ve read or shared this week affecting our industry.

Tuesday: Did you attend Staffing Industry Analysts Executive Forum last week? If not, no worries. The firm compiled the top tweets from the event. Read through to quickly catch up on the latest news and trends. (SIA)

Tuesday: Barry Asin makes 18 predictions for the staffing industry in 2018. Among them, the industry will be worth $160 billion, and, at #11, “Maturing VMS, MSP and RPO models morph into the next big thing.” (SIA)

Thursday: Are you a tractor-trailer truck driver? Or, better yet, a “team assembler”? Check out the most in-demand temp jobs right now. (SIA)

Friday: The Jobs Report is out, and the news is good. This past month the U.S. had one of the largest job gains in the past 12 months and the lowest unemployment level since December 2008. (Adecco)

Did we miss anything? Let us know in comments. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Welcome to the weekly news roundup! Below are the top stories we’ve read or shared this week affecting our industry.

Monday: A trend since the 1970s, offshoring is still an important workforce strategy today. That said, more U.S. companies are starting to realize the benefits on “on-shoring”. Read more about recent moves to utilize the unique skill sets of U.S. workers. (Workforce Management)

Monday: Learn about Campbell Soup’s new IT transformation to cloud software – including Fieldglass. (WSJ CIO Journal)

Monday: Did you catch our news this week? Fieldglass announced 41 new customers, four-fold SOW growth, 40% expansion growth and several VMS adoption trends. We’ve been busy! (Fieldglass)

Tuesday: Check out this article for three steps to creating a positive relationship with your temporary workers with mutual benefits. (Talent Management)

Wednesday: Do you know the difference between striving for cost savings vs. cost correction? Dawn McCartney reminds us that getting the right service at the right price is really what’s most important. (CWS 3.0)

Thursday: A new Accountemps survey found that 76% of CFOs find it beneficial to use temporary workers during employee absences. 72% feel temps help their organizations access specialized skills as needed. Read the article for five ways to help temp workers get off to a good start. (Robert Half)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Welcome to the weekly news roundup! Below are the top stories we’ve read or shared this week affecting our industry.

Monday: Chicago’s technology companies are hiring… Fieldglass, too! Check out how tech companies are leading the hiring pack – even among non-techie jobs. (Crain’s Chicago Business)

Monday: We’re obviously biased, but check out this piece on why cloud-based solutions could be the key to success in 2013. (The Staffing Stream)

Wednesday: Hey contingent workforce managers: want to establish yourself as a leading expert in the field? Consider participating in Staffing Industry Analysts’ Certified Contingent Workforce Professional program. (SIA)

Wednesday: A whopping 40% of U.S. companies plan to hire contingent workers in 2013. On top of that, 42% of them plan to promote their temps into full-time employees, using a “try before you buy” approach. (Emergent)

Today: Singapore’s staffing market is red hot – the country’s number of staffing firms has DOUBLED in the last two years. Read more about the state of the industry in this country. (SIA Daily News)

Did we miss anything? Let us know in comments. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Welcome to the weekly news roundup! Below are the top stories we’ve read or shared this week affecting our industry.

Tuesday: Tim Giehll says “the success of temporary workers is a model that businesses will not be willing to give up, even after ‘the fiscal cliff’ and other economic factors are resolved.” See his full post here. (The Staffing Stream)

Wednesday: The creation of jobs – including contingent ones – was lower than expected in November, in part due to the temporary closing of so many businesses during superstorm Sandy on the East Coast. (Bloomberg)

Wednesday: Contingent, contract, self-employed, temporary, casual… these all mean the same thing. What do you call your flexible labor? (CWS 3.0)

Thursday: Are you an out-of work accountant, computer systems analyst or event coordinator? New research shows you have the best chance of finding a job in 2013. (Forbes)

Thursday: Just last month Fieldglass celebrated its 13th year in business. To celebrate, we took a trip down memory lane. Check out our new infographic with Fieldglass’ firsts. (From the Field)

Friday: Positive news out of today’s jobs report. The unemployment rate is at a four-year low. Read more about the numbers. (Crain’s Chicago Business)

Did we miss anything? Let us know in comments. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Welcome to the weekly news roundup! Below are the top stories we’ve read or shared this week affecting our industry.

Monday: Think you know what the best and worst seasonal temp jobs are? Santas and candy makers make the “nice” list. See who’s not so lucky. (AOL Jobs)

Monday: Are you looking for temp work in New York? The state is hiring 5,000 workers to help with Hurricane Sandy clean up. (NBC News)

Tuesday: Are you familiar with “whole career employment”? Recruiters, listen up. Today’s workers will hold 5-10 jobs over the course of their careers. Find out who to recruit them at all stages of their careers. (ERE.net)

Wednesday: The use of temporary workers in Australia is now seen as a long-term staffing strategy for employers rather than a “quick fix”, new research shows. (The Australian)

Thursday: Are you a construction contractor in Belgium? You’re not alone. In 2011 there were nearly 10,000 active temp workers in the construction industry in the country, up 39% since 2010. That number has continuously risen since 2002 by an annual average of 20%. (SIA Daily News)

Did we miss anything? Let us know in comments. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Welcome to the weekly news roundup! Below are the top stories we’ve read or shared this week affecting our industry.

Monday: Adecco analyzes October hiring numbers, pointing to significant growth over previous months. (Adecco)

Monday: For our US blog readers, did you vote on Tuesday? We hope so. The day before the election, Emergent shared each of the 50 state’s “Time Off to Vote” laws. (Emergent)

Tuesday: Lisa Watson tells us about the importance of working with recruiters that best represent your company. Your future corporate heroes depend on it. (The Staffing Stream)

Wednesday: Adrienne Nelson offers companies ways to overcome the war for talent in 2013. One of the four strategies she suggests is to use your VMS to look at historical job titles, rates and trends to build predictive indexes. (Staffing Industry Analysts)

Thursday: Temporary worker hires in the UK have increased for three consecutive months, proving that British employers understand the benefits of a flexible workforce. (SIA Daily News)

Did we miss anything? Let us know in comments. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Welcome to the weekly news roundup! Below are the top stories we’ve read or shared this week affecting our industry.

Monday: Subadhra Sriram looks into a new trend on the decreasing reliance on MSPs for large companies, and shares some thoughts from SIA analysts on usage. Be sure to check out the comments on this one for additional thoughts. (Staffing Industry Analysts)

Monday: Have you ever showed up at an interview only to forget what job you’re actually interviewing for? Or, would you stick your gum under the interviewer’s desk? Large staffing firms revealed these candidate no-no’s and more to a Norwegian newspaper. (SIA Daily News)

Tuesday: Cleaning up after Hurricane Sandy could bring about a hiring boom. Activity has picked up for concrete and utility companies, as well as some manufacturers, such as those that make generators. (CNBC)

Tuesday: 9 in 10 UK companies are planning to hire in 2013. Even more, 13% of surveyed companies plan to bring on 250+ new workers. Wow, those are some big numbers. (Recruiter)

Today: The jobs report is out! Check out this analysis of it, done in graphs. Unsurprisingly, retail hiring is strong, gearing up for the holiday season. (The Atlantic)

Did we miss anything? Let us know in comments. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Welcome to the weekly news roundup! Below are the top stories we’ve read or shared this week affecting our industry.

Monday: A new survey by the association of temporary employment agencies (iGZ) in Germany outlines how companies plan to address the country’s skill shortage. Some companies reported paying temps more and using older, experienced workers. (SIA Daily News)

Monday: Several major media outlets help expose tax avoidance schemes in the UK staffing industry. (Recruiter)

Wednesday: This new blog post explores the importance of communication between companies, VMS providers and MSPs, keeping in mind that “one size does not fit all.” (The Staffing Stream)

Thursday: How big is the gender gap in today’s workforce? The World Economic Forum shows that it just widened to 60% in 2012. (SIA Daily News)

Today: Just for fun, check out these 25 Halloween candy fun facts! Find out what “M&M” stands for, how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, and more. (Mental Floss)

Did we miss anything? Let us know in comments. Have a great weekend, everyone!