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contract work and on demand talent

did you know?

Eight percent of the U.S. labor force is comprised of on-demand workers who sign on for projects lasting weeks to months. Some experts predict contract jobs will grab an ever-increasing share of the job market in years to come.

wise words we heard

“I gave up a big paycheck and a big staff and a big organization. I gained freedom to manage my business as I see fit, time with my family, and the time to watch my kids develop.”
- Jake, an independent consultant describing his custom fit.

Contract and on demand work can be a great way to create a custom fit. In the current job market there are, admittedly, a large number of workers who would prefer to have more stable long-term employment. But there is also a large segment of the population that chooses contract work, and it’s to that group that our advice is geared. For this group, contract work has proven resilient in a tough market and coveted to make a flexible work-life fit at different points in the life course. Contract and on-demand workers include people seeking a balanced life, retirees seeking a challenge and income, and workers seeking a test-drive before jumping back into a staff position. At its best, this type of work offers great promise to both the employee and employing organization.

Advice for Employers

Consider staffing help. Because of the growing popularity of contract work, more and more agencies exist to make matches.
Look in your own backyard. One woman looked to her neighbor, a stay-at-home mom with a background in banking, for help when work got too busy. The mom at the park or the retiree you bump into at the store just might have the skills you need and the time to help.
Stretch your thinking. Carefully consider whether a job must be performed full-time and on-site or whether it can be performed on a part-time, project basis.
Don’t omit top jobs. Especially if an executive is needed for a strategic reason or to lead a temporary project, contracting may make more business sense.

Advice for Workers

Weigh the pros and cons. Contract work likely means you won’t get benefits, paid time off, a regular paycheck, or the other advantages staff workers get. But it will bring you flexibility, a level of control over your professional life, and an opportunity to try out a new area or company before committing to a full-time job.
Be aware. If you go through an agency, vet the companies carefully and be aware of the costs and terms.

blogging on contract work and on demand talent

[Infographic] Who’s the Boss: Micro-manager or Coach?

Submitted by Cali Ressler on Mon, 2012-02-27 05:00

If micro-managers are like babysitters, then the bosses we all hope to have are like great coaches.

Coaches inspire and bring out the best in their team. Micro-managers slowly suck the life out of you.

Everybody knows a micro-manager, but nobody claims to be one. Certainly, bosses view themselves differently than their employees see them. 1 in 3 managers say they use a coaching style, but only 1 in 5 employees agree (according to this Adecco study). So, here’s my take on some of the most distinctive attributes of an inspiring coach and a micro-manager.

Take this quiz and see what kind of boss you are, or grade your own boss. (You can be honest… we won’t be taking grades!)

What else would you add to this list?

Who controls your time?

Gotta love The Good Wife

Submitted by Ruth Martin on Tue, 2011-12-06 05:00

I’m a mom of a two-and-a-half year old and a three month old and I have a full time job. If I have any extra “me” time that isn’t spent shirking the gym and the growing piles of laundry, I’ll probably spend it sleeping. So a TV show has to be super appealing to make it on my very small “must see” list.

Enter The Good Wife. Oh how I love thee. It’s probably second only to my love of AMC’s Mad Men. I love them both, in large part, because of their strong female characters who are dealing with realistic life pressures for the times in which the shows take place.

Sunday’s episode of The Good Wife (Parenting Made Easy) was particularly appealing to me. Although the primary plot was focused on Alicia’s worry about whether her daughter had been abducted, I was mostly drawn to watching Alicia’s legal nemesis, Louis Canning (the incomparable Michael J. Fox) attempt to woo her away to his firm by touting the family-friendly workplace flexibility that he provides and himself values as a father. He tells Alicia she’ll be able to telecommute and spend more time with her kids. We may be cutthroat, he says, but we’re always home by 5pm.

MomsRising Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month – ¡Con Mucho Gusto!

Submitted by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner on Wed, 2011-09-21 04:00

On the occasion of Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15 to October 15, MomsRising is celebrating Latina mothers across the United States, ¡Con Mucho Gusto! (With great pleasure.) With a population of 50 million in the United States (1), Latinos have and will continue to contribute to our country in a myriad ways to our economy, our children’s education, and our culture. When Latino families thrive, we all benefit from their contributions whether through taxes to our economy, volunteer hours at our children’s schools, or multicultural events.

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, MomsRising is hosting a blog carnival — ¡Con Mucho Gusto! — to recognize the many contributions of Latino parents who strive every day to make a better life for their children and to strengthen our country as a whole. We also want to renew our promise to help Hispanic families attain the American Dream as part of our mission to achieve economic security for all families in our country, to help all children acquire a healthy start in life, and to end civil and human rights abuses in the name of immigration enforcement.

Have Work/Life Fit Questions? Meet the Joans!

Submitted by Claire Moshenberg on Mon, 2011-07-11 04:00

Two of our favorite Joans (work/life fit experts!) will be speaking in the Bay Area about how both employers and employees benefit when employers make it easier for worker’s to meet their responsibilities both at work and outside of work.

• Joan Blades is the cofounder and president of MomsRising, and recently coauthored The Custom-Fit Workplace: Choose When Where and How to Work and Boost Your Bottom Line, which shows employees and business owners ways to make the workplace more nimble, trust-based, profitable and happy –and on Thursday, July 14th she’s bringing her custom fit work savvy to downtown Berkeley where she will be speaking, taking your questions, and signing books! (Details below)

• Joan Williams is doing a presentation on work/life fit next week, July 18th, in San Francisco at the Conference for Work Life Fit for Hourly Workers: Lessons for Employers and Unions (See details on how you can attend below!)

What: Joan Blades and the Custom Fit Workplace

Give the Gift of a Custom-Fit Workplace

Submitted by Joan Blades on Thu, 2010-12-23 05:00

This holiday season as we think of peace on earth and good will towards all, I’m thinking of how to translate this sentiment into a culture of good workplaces all year long. My New Year’s resolution is to help spark a new workplace norm: “Everyone deserves a job that fits,” and the corollary, “Any employer that neglects to offer employees work that fits will hurt their own bottom line.”

Flexible work, virtual work, non-linear career paths, even babies at work can all be part of Custom-Fit Workplaces, and if you want to learn more, they’re all covered in the book, The Custom-Fit Workplace: Choose When, Where, and How to Work and Boost Your Bottom Line, which I wrote with Nanette Fondas.

In fact, this holiday season, you can give the gift of The Custom-Fit Workplace and help out MomsRising at the same time… All royalties from sales of this book go to MomsRising! Click here to get the book now!

The Prices We Pay: Impact on Our Wages and Health from Imports

contract work and on demand talent

Submitted by Teamster Nation on Tue, 2010-12-07 05:00

If you live near one of the major U.S. ports, you and your family are probably paying the price for all the goods we import from overseas: filthy air and nearby pockets of poverty resulting from the exploitation of port drivers.

As NPR reported a year ago,

The nation’s largest ports have become toxic hotspots in violation of federal clean air standards. The pollution comes from the combination of ships and thousands of idling diesel trucks at ports such as Newark, Los Angeles and Oakland.

Next to the nation’s busiest port, Los Angeles, the local air quality board found a “diesel death zone” where cancer rates are as much as 20 times higher than federal clean air standard. Essex County, N.J., which is home to the Port of Newark, has one of the highest asthma-related mortality rates in the state. Seattle residents who live near the port conducted a survey last year of 230 households and found 63 percent believe truck emissions are making them sickand.

WOMEN in Management: Why Progress Has Stalled

Submitted by Nanette Fondas on Wed, 2010-10-27 04:00

A recent Government Accounting Office report found that the number of women managers increased only 1 percent between 2000 and 2007, from 39 to 40 percent. Women’s progress into management has stalled despite their equal representation in the workforce and their majority in colleges and universities.

Why such a small increase? As we observe National Work & Family Month, the acronym WOMEN reminds us of the barriers still to overcome.

Balancing on One Foot?

Submitted by Joan Blades on Mon, 2010-10-25 04:00

We moms start to learn from that first day a new baby arrives how to work faster, smarter, better. I, for one, often feel like the character in Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat, balanced on one foot, with several plates twirling in the air so that I can meet my responsibilities both at home and at work.

We don’t always have to be balancing on only one foot though. As co-founder of MomsRising, I’m happy to share that I’ve been hearing about quite a few successful new workplace practices for fitting work and life together–and which allow us to be balanced with two feet planted firmly on the ground. More and more businesses are starting to “get it” that moms, dads, and all workers have a lot of plates in the air and can successfully manage work and life when companies update their workplace practices to meet the needs of a modern workforce.