open talent forum - Enterprise Readiness and compliance

We are in the midst of the talent equivalent to climate change, suffering a huge demand increase and supply shortage of digital talent. By 2025 there will be a requirement for 160 million more roles than we currently have - this shortage was only 9 million in 2019. Due to the increase in automation, digital and forced remote working, the number of roles we now require is huge. Surprisingly, the number of people going into the tech industry is decreasing, with 40% less students taking a technology-based subject at GCSE level. There is set to be more demand for services than ever before, but we haven’t got the people to deliver these services. Enterprises will be forced to think about different ways of accessing talent and the human cloud could be the answer.

Barry Matthews, Founder at Re-Source, member of the GSA Executive Council and Open Talent Forum Lead, introduced the session with the reality of the global digital talent challenge and his 4 predictions for the future of this exciting economy.

1.       Enterprises will start to use human cloud models at a larger scale than ever before

2.       Service providers will increase their usage of the human cloud

3.       New human cloud-based service providers will come to market that we don’t even know about yet

4.       Human cloud platforms will start to offer services to enterprises, as many are not equipped to do so yet

Barry introduced the group to Connor Heaney, Managing Director at CXC Global EMEA, who regularly works with enterprises, talent marketplaces and providers across 65 countries. Connor started by stating that most organisations have not evolved their procurement function to work with open talent and human cloud companies, which prevents them from using the talent available. Enterprises have a huge demand for talent and an out-of-date procurement function – the enterprises and the human cloud are speaking different languages, with the biggest problem being compliance.

Barry and Connor outlined the major risks they are seeing in the open talent economy:

1.       Tax and Liability – how do you ensure that an organisation is not liable for the tax and that the freelancer is tax compliant?

2.       Insurances and Indemnification – is your freelancer insured?

3.       Local Labour Legislation – are the contractors receiving the money you are paying them? Do they have a corporate bank account in the country they are working from?

4.       Security – how do you ensure client data and information is kept secure? How do the human cloud platforms overcome an organisation’s security processes?

5.       Confidentiality and IP – how do you protect your IP and confidential company information?

They highlighted that many prospective users of the human cloud fear they are going to be working with a random freelancer who isn’t integrated into their team, when the reality is these freelancers are real experts in their fields, who have been working in an analogue way, on site, for years and now work digitally online. They can be integrated into teams however the company wants.

Over time, we are going to see more and more people using the human cloud to do ‘side of desk’ work on top of their full-time jobs. Jobs and employers for life has changed drastically. These people may have always been on a full-time contract and not understand the tax risks that come with freelance work. It’s important to encourage these workers to have a supportive discussion with their employer. There are so many different marketplaces out there and the amount of support and liability they offer are all different. Enterprises will struggle to come to terms with this – this transition is so important but in truth, it just does not exist yet.

The attendees of this session want to look at the way outsourcers and service providers are using the human cloud, what best practice in the market looks like and to share case studies and experience between the group.