The pandemic caused complete disruption of the talent picture in the United States. In particular, the workforce in various demographics has shifted greatly. 

As a result, the landscape of talent is changing. 

On Leading the Factory Forward, I discussed this change. I got into what the future talent landscape will look like, both from the perspective of small business owners and that of employees. 

How the Talent Landscape is Changing

Many businesses are finding it very hard to acquire talent these days. This is because of how the landscape for talent is changing (and has already changed). 

For instance, 2.4 million seniors left the workforce during the pandemic. Additionally, several million women have also left the workforce recently. 

We need to start considering how these changes and others will continue to affect the talent landscape and what to do as a result. To do so, let’s dive into the on-demand workforce and workforce ecosystems.

The On-Demand Workforce

In today’s talent landscape, there are skills shortages, rapid automation, and digital transformation. The half-life of skills is shrinking fast. Jobs tend to come and go in a matter of years at this point. This is called the on-demand workforce and it makes it very hard to find the right people with the right skills to the right work at just the right time. 

On top of this, every generation has different priorities about work. Boomers differ from Millennials who differ from Gen Z. Boomers are used to landing a job and staying there for their entire career. Millennial and Gen Z employees, on the other hand, tend to fit into the on-demand workforce. They rarely stay in jobs for more than a couple of years before moving to something different. 

Workforce Ecosystems

A workforce ecosystem is comprised of:

• Full-time workers

• Contractors

• Service providers

• Gig workers

• Software bots

Some examples are:

• British multinational has 100,000 employees and several hundred thousand freelancers

• NASA: they bring in talent with critical skill sets that they may need for only one project and not necessarily for a career. 

• Startups: they are inherently a workforce ecosystem as they have one founder and a couple of people on board to help out.

What You Should Do

As a small business owner, these changes can feel overwhelming so just start somewhere. Consider building awareness of external talent services by starting a small project and finding people to help you with it from a place like Upwork or 99 designs. 

Additionally, start looking at the details of the work your business does. Ask yourself what pieces somebody else could do. If there is a place in your business where you or your employees could be adding more value, hire someone else to take care of the mundane jobs that are taking your employees’ attention from their core focus. 

Finally, start moving beyond cost reduction and efficiency as your main goal. Start looking at some other things such as speed to market, innovation, and resiliency to prevent your business from becoming efficient but irrelevant.