Worknow_Aotearoa_NZ

The Imminent Rise of the Contractor Workforce

From my Gen Y perspective the traditional dependency on employment has been weakening as more of us recognise the potential we have to connect with others & create our own, new forms of work.

“…I don’t see employment coming back, not for years. My clients were amazed by how much productivity they could squeeze out of their people in the downturn. They’re not going to start hiring again — well, maybe temps or contract workers, but not regular, full-time employees…” Harvard Business Review: The Strategic Imperative Not to Hire Anyone

Sounds like increased productivity to me!

As business’ take the opportunity to outsource work & increase productivity and workers move toward contracting, new methods of organising and facilitating work will arise.

At Worknow we are backing the fact that social networking tools will play an important foreseeable role in the future of work organisation by:-

• Providing a forum for building shared intelligence.
• Providing a repository for knowledge.
• Helping us connect and collaborate more easily.

If you have or aspire to being your own boss then we have tools to help you match your talent, skills and interests with work opportunities

Simply create your talent profile today

EMPLOYERS are refusing to hire Generation Y workers because they lack a work ethic and spend too much time talking to friends in work hours. Source

In my early twenties, I adopted a twin philosophy from a very good friend of mine “…it costs nothing to be nice…”  and that “…if you can’t say anything nice, best say nothing at all…”

I have lived to discover the wisdom of this advice and in my personal experience I have seen and heard that the negative characteristics that people  would attribute to others are most often a reflection of  the person speaking. Quite simply; what you say about others says more about who you are, than who they are.

Hence the assertion of this blog is that those that bemoan Gen Y, probably just wish they were more like us. It’s opinionated and at times bias but it is an attempt to develop conversation around opposing thoughts; drawn from three of the many hundreds of comments that the Article Gen Y too lazy and unfocused to hire generated.

Work Life Balance

Pretty sick and tired of “he/she who is the centre of the universe” and “work” being “somewhere you go during the day”.

Just a little jealous? I reiterate my stance on work life balance fairly often. The reality for us is that, unlike earlier generations, work is NOT our life. Work is important to us but we’ve been taught that it is better, for our health, to work to live, rather than live to work.

In addition to work we may also be juggling study, friends, family, sport, other paid and unpaid work commitments. Hence the need for flexibility.  There are people in every generation that would benefit from a more balanced approach to work and life.

Respect My Authoritah!

These brats have no respect for experienced people. You treat them well and they crap on you.

Experience alone does not qualify one for respect, being respectful toward others does. Respect, like Love,  is something you give not get.  May I suggest leadership:-

• Our concept of leadership 2.0 involves asking questions, connecting and collaborating.
• We seek leaders that inspire, support and encourage our personal growth and development.
• We want to feel that we work to contribute to something meaningful.
• We will find new and improved ways to increase effectiveness, efficiency and productivity in business.

Gen Y’s Great Expectations

The main issue with Gen Y’s (but not all) is their expectations are ridiculous. They come into the workplace and after one year they want a promotion and if they don’t get it, they throw a hissy fit…I think there is some resentment in some of our older people as we had to work our way up and earn respect in the workplace and pay would come later. These days they think and expect to be CEOs at 24.

We are entering the workforce the most highly educated generation, yet I can see that to those that did not have to pay for an education our pay expectations may seem disproportionate.  Still, education has burdened our generation with billions of dollars worth of student debt. Is it unrealistic of us to seek an income that may see us debt free within the next 15 years?

And aspire to leadership, we shall because our entrepreneurial spirit makes us increasingly willing and able to take risks,  our education has armed us with knowledge and insight and today’s technology allows us to connect, share and collaborate in new, more effective ways.

Gen Y Collaborators

Love us or hate us 10 years from now we will represent almost 40% of the New Zealand workforce. Maybe it’s time to accept that aspects of our work ethic and the workplace freedom that we aspire to are  useful, perhaps even necessary, for the growth of a knowledge economy.

Promoting the benefits of contract outsourcing over full-time employment

Rather than just blogging about why full-time permanent employment is not the most effective or efficient way to get work done I’ve decided to take a more direct approach. 

For a couple of months now I’ve been hunting down job positions, advertised on Seek or Trade me, that I recognise as having contract potential and  “applying” for jobs that match my talent, skills and experience – just not in the “traditional” sense of a job application.

Web Wizard Wanted

We require a tertiary-qualified, web savvy, graphic-skilled, customer-focused IT guru who is dedicated to effectively deliver quality online information to our clients and their customers. Our Web Wizard will have skills in the following areas:

• Client-side development
• Web Communication
• Multimedia web scripting
• Server-side development
• Ability to build and maintain web sites to the highest level.
• Ability to design and re-design web site in a co-ordinated approach with marketing, branding and sales focus.
• Strong IT background.
• Well developed and demonstrable graphic art skills
• Demonstrable ability to effectively communicate with people inside and outside of the workplace.
• Client interface.
• Capacity to work on a virtual Greenfield site.
• Must have “The Geek Touch” blended with passion, drive, creativity and ambition to succeed and work towards the next career level

This job opens up a new box of toys to let the Web Wizard’s creative juices flow, and includes animated advertising elements, video streaming, blogging, interactive magazines and advertisements, installation and maintenance of all screen advertising and links, uploading the latest media news as it breaks, uploading the daily newspaper and associated company magazines, and establishing a platform for viable and positive online commercial trade…

Using my CV & cover letter to promote contract outsourcing  as the most effective way to get work done.

Dear John,
 
I read on Seek that you are looking for a web wizard, a talented creative, marketing and people person with technical development and design skills.
 
Kia Ora, my name is Renee Lee and I am an intelligent, motivated and hardworking young women with a passion for helping people, providing solutions and making things happen.
 
I’m looking for a part-time contract role that will allow me the flexibility to pursue the development of my own company which supports and promotes more flexible ways of getting work done. Therefore, I offer for your consideration an alternative to the current full-time position you described.

If I may, based on my seven+ years in online business development, I venture to suggest that you split the role between two or more performance based contractors.

Performance based contracting would allow you to achieve superior results, within the same budget as you suggest and would effectively:

• Allow you to employ the talents of two or more, marketing, design and development specialists
• Delineate responsibility for performance to improve focus, output and productivity
• Provide a performance incentive
• Expand your available talent resources

As a business catalyst, I can provide you a talented team of online specialists to fulfil the work requirements you outline within your  budget…please keep me in mind should you consider a collaborative, talented, team approach an effective and efficient means to accomplish the work you envision for this role. For more information please feel free to check out some links that reflect another part of the work I do:-
 
www.twitter.com/lee0007
www.twitter.com/time_trade
www.twitter.com/350_nz
 
Thank you for taking the time to consider a more flexible approach to achieveing the results your require. I look forward to hearing from you.
 
Kind reagrds,
 
 
Renee Lee
Co Founder & Catalyst
Worknow Ltd
+64 21 18 300 50
+64 3 455 3901
www.worknow.co.nz

Changing the employment mindset is going to take a whole lot of time and letters of rejection but I can handle the rejection because every seed planted is a potential future collaborator.

The Financial Times has labeled us as ‘every employer’s nightmare’; while Fortune magazine claims we are destined to be the most high-performing in history.

Although leading opinion appears polarised with debate begins the development of a more balanced point of view which in turn moves us towards finding the common ground.

Having recently spoken of how irksome the prevailing media portrayal of Gen Y was to me, I’m finding it refreshing to see a growing number of authors now taking a step back to listen and learn from, rather than deriding our generation.

Yet, the scales still tip in favour of identifying problems, so as a solutions focused, Gen Y entrepreneur I’d like to suggest there is promise, despite existing “problems”.

Workplace Culture & Innovation

PROBLEMS of Workplace Culture, will occur for anyone expecting us to conform to the old school culture. Hierarchies, no matter how you construct them, be they pyramid, open or flattened, are simply not flexible or open enough to facilitate the collaborative learning and the construct of shared knowledge.

It’s time we reinvented the way we construct our organisations. Here at Worknow we used interconnected circles vs. square tiered boxes to represent our organisation because I believe the PROMISE of workplace culture is that a collaborative and communicative culture inspires innovation.

Leadership & Potential

It’s true, we have high expectations, which some characterise as making us demanding and needy but let’s consider the education system from which we are not far removed.

It’s an environment where variety, challenge and change are the status quo. Where performance expectations are established at the outset and tested, measured and rewarded.

Is it unrealistic to expect that work might present a greater opportunity for such variety and challenge? or that work expectations be established at the beginning for us to work towards.

PROBLEM is while many of us Gen Y recognise in ourselves a wealth of promise – we’re talented, enthusiastic and educated, connected and informed – in many cases, we lack the planning, time management skills, discipline and experience to fully realise our potential.

Therefore PROMISE exists for those leaders who can inspire, support and encourage the growth and personal development of the Gen Y workforce and in this way provide guidance and reason for us to stick around.

Worknow, Aotearoa NZ

• We are gathering a community of talented people that seek more collaborative and flexible ways to work together.
• We believe networking technology can help foster and harness the collective potential of existing communities and distributed groups
• We encourage and support a more flexible and entrepreneurial work ethic.
• We work to connect all that share this philosophy so that together we can build a more entrepreneurial and innovative work culture for  NZ.

I think eight years might border on some record for longevity in the modern world of hardware.

Ten days ago I finally accepted the fate of my Toshiba Satellite A60. It’s been brilliant but the Pentium 4 processor, that was so exceptionally advanced back in the day, runs very hot. Which in return required an over sized cooling system.

About a month ago the fan started to make noises similar to a refrigerator. Evidently, it was coming to the end of a very long run and it might have even held it together a while longer if I ( in my frustration) hadn’t decided that a hair pin in the fan motor and silence were preferable to the incessant warning – “Time to upgrade” – that I was choosing to ignore.

Within an hour of my failed MacGyver effort on the fan motor there was some high pitch squealing and then silence. After what must be millions of revolutions it simply stopped spinning which now means that in order to prevent fire the laptop can only process for about 20 minutes before going in to immediate safety shutdown mode.

Time to upgrade to another Toshiba

Yes, people have tried to sway me to Mac but I’m a PC person. And after losing 3 Dell hard drives in as many months any laptop that can last 8 years is deserving of my ongoing loyalty. So I decided to stick with Toshiba, or maybe HP at a compromise.

That decided, I headed straight to Trade Me to create myself a watch list of “possible” options from which to get an idea of the going market rate for laptops. Due to its addictive qualities I rarely use Trade Me but it’s always entertaining to see the chaos of supply and demand. Most entertaining are those people that come in and raise their own leading bid by $100 after passing the reserve.

After a week of offers, made on items that did not sell, I gained a pretty good idea of the Trade Me retail value and with that in mind set out to find a proper deal on a decent spec Toshiba. The only problem was that not everyone on Trade Me could provide proper hardware specifications for the systems they were selling, as evidenced by questions and answers like:-

Q: What OS is it running
A: Microsoft Office, Adobe Reader…

Hence the use of Price Spy, which is brilliant for finding the best deals new retail electronics. And used in conjunction with Trade Me, Price Spy provided the full lowdown and quickly highlighted that a Toshiba model with a buy now of $550 listed new from $1500 – $2100 was the type of deal that I could not pass up. Sure, it wasn’t factory but I’m willing to take that in exchange for the $1000+ savings.

Productivity sans technology

The $ saving is like a reward for an otherwise frustrating fortnight of wasted time. Where I can usually clock 50+ hours a week I’ve instead managed less than 20 of truly productive activity. Missing programmes, bookmarks, passwords and tools all make work on the borrowed laptop just that much slower but finally the wait is almost over.

Once it arrives I’ll have a solid day of installing, downloading and updating the various programmes but then finally I’ll be able to throw myself back into this online world that keeps me so connected. Now if only I could access my gmail account to see if that Trademe guy has emailed me the courier tracking number yet.

Connecting Government & SME’S

Today’s social networking tools will foster and harness the collective potential of existing communities and distributed work groups by helping us to create, connect and collaborate as project teams, regardless of time or place. They need simply be applied by private business’ in conjunction with government to enhance New Zealand’s productivity.

No longer limited by time or place or disadvantaged by the costs of travel, the concept of using networking tools to facilitate government procurement offers SME’s and dispersed project teams the ability to compete with larger corporations at an unprecedented level.

Job Summit Agenda for Action

The Minister of Commerce, in consultation with Ministers of Finance, Economic Development and State Services are looking to lead the rapid reform government of procurement processes to improve access for small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s). Such reform looks to mirror the actions taken by the Australian government to boost production and jobs.

Nearly $4 billion worth of NSW government goods and services including uniforms, cars and even trains, will have to be sourced from Australian companies in order to boost local production and jobs, in an upcoming budget announcement that has been welcomed by Australian unions.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Trevor Hanson says this idea should be adopted immediately in New Zealand.

“We have watched the collapse of LWR recently with the loss of large numbers of jobs – so why are we not insisting that Government requirements for uniforms and clothing go through this and other local companies?” Source

At Worknow we support the move by government to reform the procurement process and are developing an online marketplace to help SME’s connect with such work opportunities.

Reducing Barriers to Productivity

Social networking tools will play an important role in the future of work organisation by helping us to create, connect and collaborate as project teams, regardless of time or place.

As workers move toward contracting and business’ take the opportunity to outsource work to increase productivity new methods of organising and facilitating work will arise.

Institutional “containment” as we know will cease to exist and with it the barriers to productivity that stalled the growth and development of our people and businesses.

Networking Tools & Platforms

Today’s social media tools and network platforms have created an environment where communication, collaboration and coordination are already in use. They need simply be applied in business to make it quicker and easier to get work done.

No longer limited by time or place or disadvantaged by the costs of travel, the concept of using networking tools to facilitate projects begins a paradigm shift in the way we think about and accomplish work.

IT and business technology will take center stage in the post-recession economy. The crisis…will sweep away organizations that do not grasp the importance of and utilize social network technologies.

Innovation will be defined by networks, [collaborating to] work with partners or competitors or customers using social technologies. George Colony, CEO of Forrester.

The way we work is changing and with it comes a shift in power, away from the corporate hierarchy that directed and controlled productivity in the past towards the innovative, more flexible contract workers that are ready and able to work, as needed.

Connect & Collaborate with Worknow

Networking tools and platforms give individual contractors and dispersed project teams the ability to compete with institutions at an unprecedented level. At Worknow we support this more flexible, entrepreneurial work ethic and are here to help contractors find, connect and collaborate on project work opportunities..

Innovation in a recession

The UK is heralding the flexibility & creativity, for which contractors are known, as the potential savior of UK economy.

UK organisations start to appreciate the benefits of a flexible contractor workforce, and …the positive impact interim executives and IT contractors are having in achieving technology innovation within large organisations, despite reduced budgets.

“The UK workforce has demonstrated unprecedented flexibility during this recession,” comments Keep Britain Working founder James Reed, “allowing organisations to explore a whole range of cost-cutting responses, other than relying solely on redundancies.”

The benefits of outsourcing and contract work are also being recognised here in Aotearoa as 63% of White-collar New Zealander’s look to sacrifice the security of nine-to-five salaries in order to head out on their own as private contractors.

As companies continue to let staff go and struggle to contain costs in the face of falling profitability both workers and employers are beginning to recognise that full-time permanent employment is not necessarily the most effective or efficient way to get work done.

The Benefits of Outsourcing Projects & Contract Work

By outsourcing work to private contractors businesses can get work done and maintain productivity while minimising payroll expense. While “employment” may by comparison seem safer, more secure, working as a private contractor also promises better pay and the flexibility to live a more balanced, family orientated lifestyle.

Future Models of Flexible Work

At Worknow we support a more entrepreneurial work ethic and are developing ways to help people find and connect with project contract work opportunities.

Integrity of Communication

I came to odds once, with a baby boomer manager, who directed me to “spin” some benefits in a communication to  potential clients that I had been working with.

“It’s marketing 101,” she insisted, when I defended my copy as being honest and direct. There were no benefits for the client that I could fathom and when I raised this point she urged that I had best “learn how to spin” marketing copy.

“So you want me to learn to lie,” I thought.

In response I told her that I valued open, honest communication and while I was happy for my draft to be altered, I would not put my name to a communication that I did not support or believe.

Now, we both cared about the project but that I did not “comply” with her direction was solely a values based decision. I did not want to comprise my being open and honest  to learn how to “spin”  invented benefits for our clients.

I perhaps naively thought such values would be respected but as time showed,  she saw me as creating barriers to getting work done rather than being a person of integrity.

Baby Boomer vs Generation Y

In retrospect it is very clear that our generational differences, Baby Boomer vs Gen Y were at the root of our conflict:

[Gen Y are] are less afraid to confront and discuss issues with their peers and their superiors.

And how does this freedom and authenticity translate into the business world? It doesn’t.

It would crush the carefully constructed hierarchical structure to pieces. It’s a strange and obscure network of relationships that determines the real power in businesses.

If everything is said candidly and openly, this network loses its function. People lose their power. Read Source

Gen Y’s need for Authenticity

Because Gen Y want to feel that we work to contribute to something meaningful in this instance the idea of  inventing the truth,  a.k.a lying, was in stark contrast to my personal need for authenticity yet to my manager it was a learned and acceptable way to convey one’s point.

• For me, voicing my personal values, was part of being true to myself  but perhaps my manager considered it  insubordinate and a threat to her authority.
• For my generation (and other people)  working together  involves connecting and collaborating but many of the old school still adhere to the hierarchical methods of directing and controlling which were once the status quo.
• Consequently, to challenge my managers perspective, and assumed authority to direct my “compliance” was to risk my position within the heirarchy.

However, what must be understood about Gen Y is that our need for authenticity is a much stronger driving force than the false sense of security promoted by “employment”.

We are a generation willing to take risks, for ourselves and the things we believe in, which is a symptom of our stronger entrepreneurial tendencies.

Gen Y Perspective

While I am not exactly objective about the scenario related here it is simply a means to discuss what I see as the generational mindset difference between “manager employee” relationships of the past and the more entrepreneurial, collaborative teams of our future.

To qualify my point of view, I recognise that in some industries “employment” will always remain the most effective form of getting work done, retail for instance.

But I believe it is time to recognise that many forms of work in our knowledge economy  – web development, design and many creative tasks – need no longer operate as a manager employee relationship.

Indeed, contract outsourcing this type of work will increase productivity and save companies time and money by facilitating a more flexible, motivating work environment for people with specialised talent and skill.

The Problem of Generation Y

It irks me that people and media feel justified in deriding our generation. Almost daily I read about how lazy, fickle, disloyal and demanding generation Y is yet so rarely is voice given to the truth that we Gen Y have different attitudes, and workplace expectations to the existing generations.

Gen Y are disloyal

If you lead, we may follow. But keep in mind our concept of leadership 2.0 involves asking questions, connecting and collaborating not the archaic methods of power and control that ruled 80’s management theory.

“…For leaders who have the privilege of ushering the new generation into the workforce recognise immediately that traditional approaches to leading, communicating and delegating are likely to be met with passive or active resistance by Gen Y.

As a leader it is time for you to adapt your style by offering ideas and inviting feedback instead of issuing commands. Emphasize group work and encourage brainstorming. Forget the ‘we’ve always done it this way’ approach and encourage individuals and teams to find new and improved ways to conduct the work of your business…” Source

We saw Silence of the Lambs. Quid pro quo. We understand that employers need us as much as we need them.We  move on when there is little or no sense of mutual benefit or when it appears that our values and goals diverge.

• We seek leaders that inspire, support and encourage our personal growth and development.
• We want to feel that we work to contribute to something meaningful.
• We will find new and improved ways to increase  effectiveness, efficiency and productivity in business.

Gen Y are unrealistic about pay expectations

Yes, I can see that to those that did not have to pay for an education our pay expectations may seem disproportionate. Yet, education has burdened our generation with billions of dollars worth of student debt. Is it unrealistic of us to aspire to be debt free within the next 15 years?

Gen Y workers are demanding & always wanting something different.

Gen Y seek challenge and variety in the workplace. Why? well let’s consider the education system. Not only does it offer us a myriad of choices, it’s an environment where variety, challenge and change are the status quo. Where performance expectations are established at the outset and tested, measured and rewarded.

Is it unrealistic to expect that work might present a greater opportunity for such variety and challenge? or that work expectations be established at the beginning for us to work towards. Or does our education system simply fail to prepare us for the realities of today’s working world?

Gen Y workers are self-focused and lazy

The reality for us is that, unlike earlier generations, work is not our life. Work is important to us but we’ve been taught that it is better, for our health, to work to live, rather than live to work.

In addition to work we may also be juggling study, friends, family, sport, other paid and unpaid work commitments. Hence the need for flexibility. Remember: if there’s a clash in the work-life balance, life inevitably wins.

Gen Y Entrepreneurs

Love us or hate us 10 years from now we will represent almost 40% of the New Zealand workforce. Maybe it’s time to accept that aspects of our work ethic, our ability to adapt quickly and easily to change for instance, are more suited to modern living.

Our entrepreneurial spirit makes us increasingly willing and able to take risks, our education has armed us with knowledge and insight and today’s technology allows us to connect,  share and collaborate in new, more effective ways.

To those that expect us to be so desperate for employment, during this recession, that we will just come into line and act more like you, you may be disappointed to find we are indeed well equipped to adapt and not as dependent on traditional “employment” as previous generations have been.

Today we recognise that we always have the option of working for ourselves. With the right team building a company need not be as risky as it has been made to look. And anyway, what do we really have to lose at this point except, of course, our massive student debt.

Next Generation Work

At Worknow we encourage entrepreneurship, knowing it to an effective, efficient and productive work model with which to drive our knowledge economy. Create your talent profile today