Fascinating research from Harvard Business School and BCG on how organizations are evaluating and integrating the on demand workforce.  Published in Nov 2020, the research describes a “quixotic dichotomy” at the enterprise level.  Significant use of freelancers of various stripes, widespread acknowledgement that reliance on flexible talent is critical to future competitive fitness, and yet little evidence of truly embracing worker transience.

Much “Future of Work” research to date has been focused on the workforce itself.  HBS takes a deep dive into the struggles at the enterprise level, and lays out simple but fundamental shifts in culture and workforce planning required to truly capitalize on the promise of Open Talent.  For example, the need for organizations to focus on attaining outcomes vs. managing headcount.

Another aspirational pillar is for organizations to redefine work into discreet components that can be tackled by internal or external contributors easily, seamlessly and without the considerable friction that characterizes current workforce planning.

LifeSciHub strongly recommends this read for any enterprise thinking about its approach to non-employee contributors.  Download the full report HERE