Contingent 2015 Conference Round Up

Another year, another two days filled with some uncomfortable conversations, tough questions, deep learning and eye opening statements. Although the world has changed significantly since our first Contingent event in 2012, we’re so surpirsed that contingent management is still viewed as a niche area of workforce strategy. Judging by the continual lack of clarity in regards to contingent workforce ownership, it seems there is still huge amounts for us to learn about building the agile workforce of the future, and that this is a conversation we’ll be having for many more years to come.
 
To highlight this year’s learning’s, here are some key takeaways from the event as told by Twitter.
 

Dean Tulloch, Senior Category Lead, IBM (Telstra)

 

Dean Tulloch, kicked things off by highlighting the opportunity and growth of the contingent workforce, who by Teleo’s data is worth a staggering $300 billion dollars. He also touched on a recurring which was the uncertainty around ownership of contingent workforce management and the need for strategy to not be developed in isolation.
 
 

 


 
 

The Future Workforce & How We Get There

 
Much has been written about future workforce composition, with predictions of huge rises in contingent labour, the use of freelancers, and the increase in automation and robotics. These were the issues discussed in a panel with Kevin Wheeler, Simon Townsend and Peter Oreb. They touched on the challenges most organisations will face to adapt to the new world, moving to output based work, and the opportunities in Australia for those that can embrace agility.
 

 

 
 

Stuart Elliott, Executive Manager, Workforce Strategy & Design, Suncorp Group

 
A standout session for many was Stuart Elliot’s keynote on ‘Does Your Culture Prevent You From Hiring The Optimum Resource?’ where he discussed the differences between the workforce of the past, the workforce of the future, and how we need to change organisational paradigms. You can read more about Stuart’s thoughts on these points, here.
 

 


 
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Elizabeth Aitken, Associate, TressCox Lawyers

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The use of contingent labour comes with myriad benefits.  Among these is flexible and on-demand access to professionals and experts. However these contingent workers often have access to an organisation’s most precious resources, including trade secrets, intellectual property, confidential information and direct contact with customers.   In her session, Elizabeth highlighted how users and suppliers of contingent labour solutions alike can implement simple and effective legal safeguards to protect their businesses.
 
 

 

Kevin Wheeler, Director, ATC Events / Future of Talent Institute

 
Rather thank simply discussing his future predictions, this year Kevin took us back in time to look at the predictions he made in 2012 about the flexible workforce, to see if he was on the money (he was) and what these trends can tell us about the future. He discussed the 15 critical capabilities needed to thrive in the future, the change in communication and business models, and asked how recruiters can still add value in the future of HR.     

 
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Joe Griston, Director of People & Talent, Freelancer.com

 
Joe kicked off day two of the conference by giving us a crash course into the online platform that boasts 16 million users, how the company has created a culture of sharing, transparency and one that follows data, and how organisations can leverage the platform to resource their projects.   

   

Keith Wilkinson, Origin Energy and Peter Oreb, Director, CXC Global

 
Keith and Peter engaged in a frank discussion about the implementation of Origin Energy’s contingent workforce model in 2012, the challenged and problems they face and what others could do to avoid the same mistakes.    


 
 

The Blended Workforce: Myth Or Reality?

 
One of the biggest challenges facing large organisations today is how to manage a ‘blended’ workforce. In this panel  Shane Little , Operations Director ANZ, Hays Talent Solutions, Susan Howse, General Manager ManpowerGroup Solutions, Tapfin & Human Resources, ManpowerGroup and Darren Morris, Director of Client Services ANZ, CXC Global discussed the challenges of building and managing the blended workforce of the future.
 
 

   

Year 2 Next Steps Of The Contingent Workforce Model

 
This eye opening session had Stuart share Suncorp’s workforce strategy, the importance of strategic workforce planning in refining your contingent model and understanding core competencies and future skills to facilitate building your future workforce now.    


 

Wrap Up With Shane

 
 

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