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

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.

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

Contract Work New Zealand

New Zealand’s workforce is showing our ability to adapt and do things differently by considering contract work in favour of taking on the lower paid, less fulfilling full-time roles on offer. According to the online survey conducted internationally by recruitment firm Robert Walters:-

White-collar New Zealander’s are preparing to sacrifice the security of nine-to-five salaries to head out on their own as private contractors – in unprecedented numbers.

Nearly two out of three professionals (63 per cent) say they would be happy to take on a contract role, a new survey shows. That is higher than anywhere in the world except in Britain. Read Article NZ Hearld

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 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 offer security of income and contract work is comparatively higher risk, 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.

Part-time, job share and flexible work options offer a solution to increasing our levels of work productivity.

“…In 2006 New Zealand’s level of labour productivity ranked 22nd out of 30 in the OECD – which means that an hour of work generates 30% less income in New Zealand than it does in Australia. It’s no surprise then that the average wage in Australia is about a third higher. If we want good jobs and higher incomes we have to keep a focus on productivity.”John Whitehead, Secretary to the Treasury -  2009 Job Summit

Increasing work productivity

So what do we need to do now to increase productivity and create quality jobs? We need to accept that it it is time to change the way that work is organised. It is time to develop a new perspective on what quality work means and how it is accomplished. To build on our strengths, we need to foster and support a more entrepreneurial approach to creating and finding work.

Changing the Status Quo on Full Time Permanent Jobs with outsourcing and flexible work organisation

Our productivity has fallen because the full-time permanent orientation to work, which we accept as the status quo, hinders our ability to maximise existing skill and talent.

If you know of anyone that has spent time “looking busy” as opposed to actually being busy then you can see that there is scope for increasing our productivity simply by changing the way people work.

Consider outsourcing work. When people are hired to work rather than fill a 40hour per week job role then work productivity increases in direct proportion to the hours spent “working” to earn a living versus “keeping busy” to justify our wage or salary.

Towards a more entrepreneurial work ethic

This type of suggested change has been a long time coming as shown by this statement which was written at the end of  another recession about 15 years ago;-

“…THE END OF THE JOB As a way of organizing work, it is a social artifact that has outlived its usefulness. Its demise confronts everyone with unfamiliar risks — and rich opportunities… The modern world is on the verge of another huge leap in creativity and productivity, but the job is not going to be part of tomorrow’s economic reality.

There still is and will always be enormous amounts of work to do, but it is not going to be contained in the familiar envelopes we call jobs. The conditions that created jobs 200 years ago — mass production and the large organization — are disappearing.

TO AN EXTENT that few people have recognized, our organizational world is no longer a pattern of jobs…In place of jobs, there are part-time and temporary work situations. That change is symptomatic of a deeper change that is subtler but more profound. The deeper change is this:

Today’s organization is rapidly being transformed from a structure built out of jobs into a field of work needing to be done

FORTUNE MAGAZINE September 19, 1994 http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1994/09/19/79751/index.htm

What William Bridges noted at the end of the last US recession is even more true today. The full-time permanent employment role in today’s work society is not the most effective of efficient way to get work done.

Yet the acceptance of outsourced, freelance, part-time, job share and flexible work requires a change in culture and mind. Sure you can look to create job share opportunities but if you set them up under the standards of the current regime then they’re destined to achieve mediocre results, at best.

For example, I saw a part-time job advertised on seek recently for a company that I am familiar with. It was actually a job-share role and when I asked my friend, who was to begin sharing her role “how’s the search going for the new admin?” I was not surprised to find that there had been only one? or was that none, no applications for the position. And we both knew why.

The part-time role was advertised with a job description outlining required competencies, responsibilities tasks and “duties as required” in the familiar package of a job description.

Clearly the author had failed to recgnise, as we both did, that no one would want to take on a part-time role that came with full-time job responsibilities and expectations. It is simply assumed, considering the lower financial benefits of part-time work, that these roles will be more flexible, more of a mutually beneficial “agreement to work together” than in the nature of a contractually obligated employee.

The old guard had simply failed to tailor the advertisement to their market and in doing so wasted money, time and perhaps more damagingly indicated that the company was founded on a culture that still adhered to the 80’s organisational work hierarchy, despite effort to appear flexible.

Worknow is designed to promote and connect people with work rather than jobs.

We support a more entrepreneurial mindset and want to encourage people to connect with work in more flexible, effective and affordable ways.