Report: Orchestrating Workforce Ecosystems | MIT Sloan Management Review

This new 55-page report explores how leaders can manage and coordinate their workforce as an ecosystem inclusive of external contributors rather than strictly in terms of hired employees. This broad range of external contributors includes freelancers, gig workers, long-term contractors, third parties, and professional services organizations. And with reports suggesting that upwards of 30%-50% of an organization is composed of these external workers, a workforce ecosystem approach presents several advantages. The report begins with the premise that organizations that are most intentional about orchestrating their workforce ecosystems have five common characteristics, ranging from closely coordinating cross-functional management of internal and external workers to having leadership that understands how to allocate work for internal and external contributors. The report’s ideas help answer several questions, including: To what extent do diversity, equity, and inclusion principles and practices apply to external workers? How far should we go to include external contributors in the existing corporate culture? As bonus references, here are two previous posts I made on articles from Harvard Business Review, Rethinking the On-demand Workforce, and Boston Consulting Group,  Building the On-demand Workforce, which provide a few more ideas on the topic.