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HR Faces 'Agile' Driven Job Market

So-called “agile” employees are poised to transform the workplace in less than 10 years and make up about 70% of workers, a recent Randstad study found.

Firms are ready to embrace “agile talent,” now used as temporary solutions to fill workplace vacancies or to assist full-time staff in finishing special projects as permanent members of the team, Randstad finds.

The study, “Workplace 2025,” surveyed 1,500 executives, including c-suite and human resource managers, and 3,160 workers. “Fifty-two percent of c-suite executives say by 2025, their organizations will be much more committed to building an agile workforce,” the study found. “In fact, 68% of employers and 70% of employees agree that by 2025, the majority of the workforce will be employed in an agile arrangement. Employers expect 69% of their workforce to be agile talent by that time frame.”

Last year, 46% of firms said they were more focused on adopting an agile workforce compared to 18% of firms that said the same in 2012. More than 75% of firms already use agile workers and, on average, agile employees comprise 30% of their workforce.

While the study found that 11% of the workforce were agile last year, 39% of permanent employees said they were likely to become agile within two to three years. So, by 2019, agile employees may comprise 50% of the U.S. work force.

For those who have already made the switch, 46% said they chose to be agile and 28% said being agile was the most attractive option for them. “The reason may be that many of the misconceptions about agile employment are eroding,” the study found. “Consider that 48% of agile workers agree that agile work offers them better career growth than working as a permanent employee, and 56% say it generates more income.”

Employers also may be taking comfort that nearly 40% of agile workers find they have greater job security than if they were a regular employee.

Jim Link, chief human resources officer at Randstad North America, described the study to Metro as having “shock value” for what we can expect of the future workforce. “It’s truly a wakeup call for business and HR leaders who need to better understand and prepare for a significant change in how we all work,” Link said. 

The study credited millennials for pushing the agile worker movement where “flexibility” and “experiences” carry more weight than fancy titles. “This mindset shift, combined with the growing availability of collaborative technologies to facilitate work from anywhere, anytime and on any device, means that working a traditional 9-to-5 day in an office will be obsolete,” Link said. “It’s not just about telecommuting or flexibility—56% of agile workers said it makes them more money, too.”

One millennial, Jessi Berrin, told the Miami Herald that employers need to shift from traditional workplace expectations if they hope to win over a new generation of workers. While she has a desk at Baptist Health South Florida’s corporate offices where she works, she is as likely to be doing her job on the road.

“The traditional 9 to 5 is not at all appealing to millennials, especially with technology moving faster than anyone can grasp,” Berrin said. “We want to work for employers who meet us where we are.”

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