Australia Highlights - External Workforce Insights 2018: The Forces Reshaping How Work Gets Done

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Research in
collaboration with
Highlights for Australia

Focus your forces
The rapid growth of the external workforce—the use of non-payroll
workers and contracted services providers to get work done—is
one of the most important business stories of our time with far
reaching implications for both employers and employees.

Get the full report at externalworkforce.fieldglass.com
48%of workforce spend in
Australia is on the external
workforce. It is 44% globally.

Those who manage external
labour effectively find it to be a
driver of competitive advantage
and those who don’t risk being
left behind.
Our research provides an unprecedented deep
dive into the ways the external workforce is
sourced, managed, and deployed, and how it
can pay off for a business.

We identified four key forces transforming how work
gets done.
It’s about
the core
Cost is not the
whole story
Visibility is
everything
The multi-channel
workforce is on
the rise

Generate
momentum
Force One
The multi-channel
workforce is on
the rise

Companies are using the multi-channel
workforce to get work done.

25% 45% 63% 43% 15%85% 80% 73% 68% 43%
On-demand online
marketplaces for
freelancers
Staffing agencies Service providers Source ourselves Alumni
The expected growth of these channels suggests an
ongoing demand for external workers.
Channels used to access external talent today, and expected in three years, in Australia:
Respondents could select all that apply
Today In three years

Talent strategy is increasingly dependent upon
sourcing strategy.
Only 25% of executives in Australia stated that
they strongly agree that their organisation has a
talent strategy that encompasses employees and
the external workforce despite the latter
comprising nearly half of their workforce spend.
The global average is 19%.

Ensure
critical
mass
Force Two
It’s about the core

We would be unable to conduct business as usual
without an external workforce.
It provides a rich
well of talent and is
increasingly critical
to business strategy.
“Agree” and “Strongly agree” responses
Australia
50%
Global
46%
The external workforce has become
essential to core operations.

68% 98%73% 91%
Today In three years
Australia Global
“Important”’ and “Extremely important” responses
The importance of external workers in sourcing skills that are in scarce supply:
Digital skills and other specialised capabilities can
make or break a business so meeting the demand
for talent is essential.

Challenges in accessing
specialised skills such as AI and
machine learning, data science
and industry-specific expertise
is the #1 market trend for the
fastest-growing companies
around the world.

Accelerate
value
Force Three
Cost is not the
whole story

Controlling costs is not the
principal driver for using an
external workforce.

The external workforce
provides benefits
beyond hard numbers.

55% 65% 58%61% 54% 54%
The external workforce challenges our
employees to do their best work.
Our external workforce Improves our culture by
bringing in new people with different
backgrounds and experiences.
The external workforce raises the bar for our
employees by bringing in new sources of skills
and talent.
Many executives say the external workforce makes a
positive impact on overall workforce performance and
the culture of their organisation.
“Agree” and ”Strongly agree" responses
GlobalAustralia

Expand your
line of sight
Force Four
Visibility is
everything

70% 60% 55% 55% 53% 50% 48%65% 60% 62% 54% 68% 66% 64%
Operating at full
capacity/meeting
market demands
Managing costs Achieving
sustainability
goals/shrinking
carbon footprint
Reducing risk Developing or
improving
products/services
Increasing speed to
market
Increasing
organisational agility
How important is the external workforce in meeting the following business goals?
“Important” and “Extremely important” responses
Australia Global
The external workforce is now seen as
essential to improving business performance.

The lack of visibility into the external workforce is a
serious problem for most companies.
A fundamental truth of business is that
you can’t manage what you don’t measure,
so these new work arrangements require a
new kind of management.

Learn from the
Pacesetters who are
leading the pack.
Around one in ten companies that responded to our survey
demonstrate markedly superior performance in managing
and extracting value from the external workforce.

They stand out in three important ways:
Pacesetters are charting the way forward for others
in this still evolving field.
Effective
management of the
external workforce
Business impact
of these workers
Visibility into the
external workforce

Pacesetters are much more informed on details regarding
their non-payroll workers and services providers and are more
likely to say that their C-level executives are informed as well.
Visibility: Pacesetter
executives are more in
the know.

83% 81% 71% 61% 55% 43%43% 46% 44% 43% 33% 34%45% 43% 40% 43% 25% 30%
Responsibilities Labour rates Compliance with
negotiated rates
Quality of work Access to systems
and confidential info
Who they are
“Highly informed" responses
Pacesetters Non-Pacesetters Australia
How informed are you personally about the
following details of your non-payroll workers?

84% 82% 75% 60% 52%49% 43% 46% 40% 42%43% 28% 43% 33% 38%
Responsibilities Who is doing the work Duration of work Quality of work Access to systems and
confidential info
“Highly informed" responses
How informed are you personally about the
following details of services providers doing
work for your organisation?

Effective management:
Pacesetters show how much
other companies could benefit
from more effective management.
Pacesetters find it much less challenging to perform a
wide range of external workforce management duties
more effectively.

29% 40% 42% 43% 51%59% 61% 57% 54% 61%50% 35% 28% 43% 40%
Inconsistencies in talent
or project quality
Managing digital/cyber
security
Compliance with local tax
laws, labour laws,
regulatory, etc.
Finding high-quality
resources at the right rate
Tracking resource and
project quality
“Really” and ”Extremely challenging" responses
How challenging are the following aspects of
managing your external workforce?

Business impact:
Pacesetters stand out when
it comes to realising value
beyond cost control.
Pacesetters reap more business value from their
external workforce.

“Agree” and “Strongly agree” responses – global results
88% 59% 58%
Our external workforce enables
us to improve our company’s
overall financial performance
79% 52% 70%
Our external workforce is a key
lever in enabling our business
performance
58% 46% 63%
Our external workforce helps
us compete in a digital world
Our external workforce enables us to improve our
company’s overall financial/business performance and/or
helps us compete in a digital world.

The external workforce: is it on your C-suite agenda?
Companies should increase
their visibility into the
external workforce—and the
total workforce—to better
thrive in a digital world.
These vital assets are critically
undermanaged. Shouldn’t the
same rigour you use to manage
your employees be applied to
your contingent workers and
services providers?
The external workforce should
be a C-suite imperative, given its
size and that it enables such an
impressive range of business
outcomes.

Take action today.
Capture the full value of the workforce transformation by
managing your external workforce more effectively.
 Ensure your leadership has visibility into the scope, activities and quality of your external workforce, the
challenges at hand, the benefits realised—and those that could be realised.
 Know the true value of your external workforce, whether they are most critical to getting products to market faster,
providing difficult-to-access skills, driving digital transformation efforts, or controlling costs.
 Anticipate the skills you will need in the future—and those in short supply. Determine a strategy to acquire, retrain,
or source these skills through the external multi-channel workforce.
 Apply workforce strategies to all labour sources, both external and traditional. Embrace the external workforce for
the skills and ideas that this talent brings and make them a part of organisational objectives and purpose.

Oxford Economics conducted an in-depth telephone
survey with 800 senior executives from mid-sized to
large companies in 16 industries and 14 countries plus
the Nordic region of Europe in late 2017 and early
2018. The survey focused on labour trends, including
the use and management of an external workforce,
today and in the future, and its impact on business and
financial performance.
About our research
CONTACT US
Have questions about the research?
or ACCESS THE FULL REPORT

Australia Highlights - External Workforce Insights 2018: The Forces Reshaping How Work Gets Done

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Australia Highlights - External Workforce Insights 2018: The Forces Reshaping How Work Gets Done