Liquid Talent Pool part 2

By Seb Haire, guest writer at ProFinda.

Part 1 of my article focused on the concept of The Liquid Talent Pool; how it’s redefining work and the fact that large consultancies are actively pushing this model. For Part 2 I’m going to look at the implementation of these models and who is doing this well.

One company leading the charge is JLL, a financial and professional services firm specialising in real estate and investment management. With more than 70,000 people across 1,000 locations in 80 countries, they have a complicated make-up of expertise and ability.

What I particularly like about JLL is they are leading from the front. They have created a Future of Work Division, where they are actively talking to the market about how to manage a Liquid Workforce. There are so many facets to this, from offices, technology through to contracts and management styles. JLL are looking at this from an infrastructure perspective, making sure the company is set up to deliver on this model. Importantly, they preach what they do and have implemented this model internally.

One example of this is where they have developed two locations in London that utilise an open plan, hot desk model. The sites have been developed based on data about how people use the office. Some teams have perm desks, some hot desk, some a multi-site, others just the one. The key is flexibility to accommodate the employee. They are looking at employee centricity and sustainability and building up from there.

If we look at the other extreme in terms of ‘size and scale’ then gunnercooke is another great example of implementing a Liquid model. gunnercooke is a legal firm that has created a flexible, transparent model for their employees. With over c200+ lawyers and growing they have developed a remote working model. They have permanent locations in London and Manchester but also allow their employees to work remotely from home. They are taking advantage of technology to create a digital home, where colleagues can connect, share and create an office like people to people environment. Once again, they have an employee first philosophy when it comes to building their business, creating a fantastic working environment.

The above is purely my opinion, from articles I’ve read and industry insight. What I love about these businesses is that they are the opposite extremes in size, but because they are taking an employee first view on their businesses – their top down attitudes transcend organisational and sectorial differences. The Liquid model is one that works, and one that is rapidly changing the world of work.

About the author

Seb Haire is part of ProFinda’s network of thought leaders  — connect with him on [LinkedIn (https://uk.linkedin.com/in/sebhaire) and Twitter.

(Source: article reposted from Fresh Business Thinking with permissions)

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