Keeping the Best and Brightest in Tech During a Talent Shortage

In this article we discuss:

• Creating a Total Workforce Strategy
  
• AI and Automation's Role in a Talent Strategy for the Tech Industry
• Connecting Systems to Find the Right Talent Strategy for Your Business

Staying ahead of the competition in the technology space requires highly skilled talent. However, maintaining a workforce of the best and brightest has become more difficult than ever as the industry continues to face skills gaps, talent shortages, and employee dissatisfaction. Tech leaders are now looking to return to their roots to meet their business needs by finding innovative ways to bring on the right workforce at the right moment.

While many solutions are being proposed, the contingent workforce is a growing opportunity for tech businesses to not only meet their current skills and workforce needs but also create a talent pipeline for full-time employees. Below are some of the strategies our experts think will become increasingly common as means of staying ahead in a competitive talent market.

Creating a Total Workforce Strategy

Having the right workers with the right skills at the right time takes more than a well-thought-out hiring strategy, especially in competitive markets like tech. What's more, as our recent "Workday Global Workforce Report" shows, high-potential employees are leaving in numbers not seen since the Great Resignation.

A vendor management system is a solution to manage these workers from requisition through off-boarding, but connecting that workforce with your full-time employee base is key to forming a total workforce strategy.

Creating an ecosystem of highly skilled contingent workers that integrates with your full-time employees is key to maintaining a healthy talent pipeline. A vendor management system (VMS) is a solution to manage these workers from requisition through off-boarding, but connecting that workforce with your full-time employee base is key to forming a total workforce strategy. Contingent workers can plug skills gaps in your full-time workforce while also creating a talent pool of workers to pull from when your hiring manager needs to fill a full-time role.

Tech businesses in particular need to be as ready for economic growth as for economic downturns. By planning for both full-time and contingent workers in your workforce strategy, your business will always have the workers it needs right when it needs them. This makes pivoting faster than ever and allows your hiring managers to get projects moving as soon as possible. When the market changes, your business can change with it, making a total workforce strategy crucial to weathering rapid industry shifts.

AI and Automation's Role in a Talent Strategy for the Tech Industry

Business leaders are looking to AI and automation more than they ever have before. Obviously, AI and automation aren't going to replace skilled people, but they can facilitate finding the right talent quickly. Automation and AI are also being utilized in innovative VMS solutions to reduce busywork and facilitate requisitions requests.

Bottom line, many VMS solutions are integrating AI to help highlight particular skills and bring contingent workers into the fold faster.

Alongside intuitive, simplified user interface, automation supports recruiter as they submit requisitions and provide talented workers to your hiring managers quickly. In addition, it reduces the time your hiring managers will spend creating requisitions and doing busywork so they can focus on sourcing needed workers. Bottom line, many VMS solutions are integrating AI to help highlight particular skills and bring contingent workers into the fold faster.

AI and automation are tools to aid your talent strategy, their role will only grow as more innovative programs come out and as companies find even better ways to utilize them.

Connecting Systems to Find the Right Talent Strategy for Your Business

Budgeting for full-time employees is not always a short-term option. When your business identifies a skills gap, has an ad hoc project, or requires workers for a specific niche, contingent workers can meet these needs. With a total workforce strategy in place, you'll often need to connect various systems across your business to fully support that strategy. Human capital management, a VMS, and financial software must form an integrated system not only to manage employees but also to facilitate their work.

Creating an efficient talent pipeline with a mix of contingent workers, full-time employees, consultants, and more requires a cohesive system for them to use. If it's easy for employees to enter their time, track their projects, and receive their pay, their impression of your business will be better. So having a seamless, interconnected solution for managing your employees, and for employees to manage their work, makes it easier to attract and keep top talent.

When you bring these strategies together, it's easier to get ahead of talent shortages and be ready to make changes when necessary. Attracting talent is key to growth in the tech industry. To learn more about how a VMS can support these strategies, watch our most recent webinar replay.