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

Monday: As part of its “Reworking Labor” series, this WSJ article introduces us to the Freelancer’s Union, which provides health insurance and advocates for contractors. The union hopes to reach one million members in the next three years. (Wall Street Journal)

Monday: What types of technology solutions does a staffing company need to be successful? Task management and social media tools are on the list, as is VMS solutions. (Staffing Robot)

Wednesday: Some experts argue that the new Affordable Care Act, requiring businesses with more than 50 employees to offer insurance, could lead to another temporary staffing boon. (Washington Post)

Wednesday: Do you work in the IT field? Good news. Almost 70% of respondents in a survey by TEKsystems say demand for IT professionals will always outpace supply. And, see the top five companies that IT pros want to work for. (SIA Daily News)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Earlier this month we published an eBook, Building a Business Case for a VMS, that included a checklist of five items an organization should address before pursuing a VMS and potential providers. While we discussed the first few items on the checklist in an earlier blog post, I wanted to discuss the last checklist items so you are better prepared to pursue a technology solution.

Here are the final two checklist items and some thoughts about your next steps after successfully building your business case and pursuing a VMS.

4.   Understand the Risks if a Centralized Program is Not Pursued/Implemented

Outside of the knowing the potential benefits of a program, it’s just as important to acknowledge the potential risks if one is not implemented. It’s possible not pursuing a program could result in unrealized savings, lower quality, continued risk and compliance exposure. Likewise, without a centralized program in place, manual processes would continue and potentially result in a higher headcount. A VMS could help streamline supplier management and eliminate the high administrative costs and without one in place, the organization will have to address how these and other issues will be reconciled. (more…)

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

Tuesday: Two new studies are proving the move to and benefits of cloud technology. A recent CDW survey found that 50+% of organizations are adopting cloud. And, another study by Rackspace Hosting shows the majority are recognizing cost savings and increased profits. (CIO)

Wednesday: Searching for an overview of the shift towards a flexible, non-employee workforce? Look no further. (M Squared Consulting)

Wednesday: Three must-haves for VMS adoption – buy-in, process clarity and usability. Read about how Staffing Industry Analysts say each can affect your contingent workforce program’s success. (CWS 3.0)

Wednesday: There are several keys to ensuring independent workers are classified correctly. Check out this article for three tips. (Wall Street Journal)

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: Subadhra Sriram lists some BIG numbers for the contingent workforce in her latest blog post. As in $2 trillion big. (SIA Blogs)

Wednesday: Top 2013 trend prediction is that companies will continue to fill vacancies with contingent workers or independent contractors, and hiring will remain flat. Check out the rest. (Workforce.com)

Thursday: Glassdoor presents the 5th annual Employees’ Choice Awards, a list of the 50 Best Places to Work, as reviewed by past and current employees. We’re pleased to see so many of our customers on the list! (Glassdoor)

Thursday: Elance predicts that one in four college students will work online next year, and calls that 2013 the “Year of the Freelancer”. See the company’s other predictions for the flexible workforce. (SIA Daily News)

Thursday: A new bill will make it easier for American business to use independent contractors. Read the details here. (MarketWatch)

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: Surveys anticipate retailers creating 900,000 new temporary jobs to meet the 2012 holiday season demand. (Emergent)

Monday: Are you using social media at work? For personal or business reasons? A new survey breaks down the numbers, and tells us why email is no longer the best way to share information. (Workforce)

Thursday: New research expects India’s flexible workforce to grow to NINE MILLION by 2025. That’s an increase of more than 5 times its current numbers. (SIA Daily News)

Thursday: This new blog post points out the four common consequences of poor contingent labor management. Check out how being unprepared to manage a flexible workforce can affect your security and technology systems. (HR.com)

Today: Are you attending Staffing Industry Analysts’ Healthcare Summit next week? In a recent survey providers listed quality as the most important area for improvement for suppliers. Learn about some of the other challenges of healthcare staffing at the show. (SIA Blogs)

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

We’ve reached a place in today’s industry where we no longer have to sell the idea of using VMS technology. Its benefits are widespread and well-documented, particularly as experts agree as much as 30-50% of the total workforce is now contingent. And, Staffing Industry Analysts reported in its most recent Supplier Landscape Report that VMS utilization to manage this growing flexible workforce increased 22% from 2010-2011.

So, what separates first- and second-generation VMS users? Whether you’ve been using a VMS for 3 months or 3 years, first-generation users are utilizing the technology to manage their traditional temporary workers, and, usually, only those workers in a particular category or two (admin/clerical, IT, etc.) Any company should see 10-20% first-year cost savings, just for using the product. But, then what?

Second-generation VMS users, simply put, keep going. (more…)

(This guest post is by Christopher Dwyer, Senior Research Analyst, Global Supply Management, at Aberdeen. He is the author of the annual Contingent Workforce Management research study. You can download a free copy of the report here.)

Last week, I had the honor of presenting on a webinar hosted by Fieldglass that also included luminaries from two of the world’s largest organizations. (Download the webinar recording here.) There’s a reason why I’m always excited to speak about the grand topic of contingent workforce management: it’s an ever-evolving space that never fails to keep organizations looking for that next best practice or strategy.

A little over two years ago, I coined a term that would resonate with the entire contingent labor market: the contingent workforce umbrella. This “umbrella” term was designed to encompass the components of modern contingent labor, including traditional temporary labor (sourced via staffing agencies / suppliers), independent contractors and SOW-based projects and services.

The 2012 Contingent Workforce Management research study was meant to be perceived as a guidebook for organizations currently struggling with the contemporary contingent labor umbrella, and assist those companies by pointing them in the direction of Best-in-Class enterprises. I only discussed the Best-in-Class contingent labor management program for about five minutes during last week’s webcast, but one of the findings related to top-performing organizations paved the way for perhaps the most critical notion of the event: the reliance on VMS technology.

In the current landscape of contingent labor management, the modern organization must be cognizant of the world within their corporate walls. It’s not a matter anymore of figuring out the best possible means of generating cost savings or reducing rates. The contingent workforce umbrella requires organizations to implement a series of capabilities and competencies to boost visibility into suppliers, projects and services and spawn valuable intelligence for future planning, budgeting and forecasting.

Some of the more interesting findings from last week’s webinar… (more…)

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

Monday: Some companies are so concerned with compliance, they may be missing important opportunities. Can max assignment lengths stop companies from getting the best contingent workers? (Workforce)

Tuesday: Temps have gone from office workers who process extra paperwork, to high-end professionals who can solve serious problems: the rise of the “supertemp”. Learn how to become a $600K per year ‘supertemp’. (CBS Money Watch)

Wednesday: The most successful Contingent Workforce Programs have quite a few things in common. Learn what 3 traits will put your Contingent Workforce Program on top. (The Staffing Stream)

Thursday: BMW has one of the largest temporary workforces in the country. However, they have signed a new deal that will require them to employ over 3,000 temporary workers fulltime. (SIA)

Thursday: A great article about the current state of the temporary workforce. (Business Week)

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: Do you work for a staffing firm? Are you using Pinterest professionally? This blog post will show you how. (Haley Marketing)

Tuesday: Learn the ten toughest interview questions… and how to answer this. (Forbes)

Wednesday: Did you catch the latest issue of CWS 3.0? Overqualified candidates, tougher recruiting for manufacturers and more. (CWS 3.0)

Thursday: Which networking site has 161 million vs. 850+ million users? Browse through all the latest social media stats. (Talent HQ)

Today: Tips to determine whether you’re hiring an independent contractor or an employee. (Bangor Daily News)

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

Today’s guest post is by Toni Jackson, Fieldglass company director.

According to an article last month in Shortlist, recruiters in Australia are still struggling to meet the requirements of the new Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WH&S Act) and Regulations, which went into effect at the start of 2012. Essentially on-hire companies need to provide evidence of OHS planning, meaning they must have documentation of measures in place to ensure the health and safety of all workers, including contractors.

“This means that before placing a contractor in a role, the on-hire firm must engage with the client… to map out a process for managing work health and safety to achieve the desired outcomes – including how they will communicate with each other and manage risk cooperatively…It’s this documented evidence that is letting organisations down and is most likely to be audited by regulators,” said Amy Towers, work safety managing consultant at law firm FCB.

The consequences are astounding, with maximum fines of up to $600,000 for individuals and $1.5 million for companies under the new law.

Fieldglass helps companies meet these requirements several ways. During the onboarding process, companies can set various tasks related to specific OHS requirements, for example, for completed training courses, etc. In addition, Fieldglass’ supplier qualification solution can also be used to track all agreed upon methodology for ensuring compliance to the new OHS legislation.

To learn more, please feel free to reach out to me at tjackson@fieldglass.com.