Gone are the days of “human resources personnel.” We’ve entered the people era.

Among the radical shifts in office life (hybrid workplaces, expanded commitment to DEI, and intergenerational teamwork), a tidal change is occurring at the management level as well. If employees don’t want to be treated like expendable, interchangeable cogs in a corporate machine, then the operations supporting them are adjusting accordingly.

The office of “human resources” appears to be on its way out (at least in name). Replacing “resources” are titles like chief people officer, head of people and culture, and other more employee-centric names.

The Rise of the CPO

As an experienced HR professional, Kimberly Samon found her own job title transitioning to chief people officer back in the late ’90s. That company was ahead of the curve, but she’s noticed the designation become more widespread over the last few years. Currently, CPO executives are seen in many industries—and their absence can send a negative signal about a job. “Now if you get a call from a recruiter and they say ‘CHRO,’ the company is actually not positioning itself to be very progressive in the eyes of people who do what we do,” said Samon, who works with companies in the capacity of chief people officer and senior people strategy through her consultancy KSL Advisors.

“If you think about it, when you hear the term ‘human resources’ it’s implying that it’s like a widget, that it’s a thing. Whereas when you use ‘people,’ it’s much more intimate and understanding and there’s a sense of relationship and community there. It signifies something about the company and how they value the people equation within the overall context of success in their organization,” said Samon.

Corinne Murray, a founder of Agate Studio, a consultancy firm focused on the future of work, agrees that employing executives with the titles of chief people officer or chief culture officer sends a message down the company chain. “It’s definitely a brand message from the company trying to say that there’s a level of progressiveness that happens here, and we acknowledge and recognize that you, the workers, are more than just the work you produce and you are more than just a line in one of our spreadsheets.”

Of course, a name change doesn’t automatically translate into a shift in culture or leadership. “I know plenty of companies who use the ‘chief people’ nomenclature, but then they still treat people like widgets. That ‘human resources’ kind of phrase is hard for a lot of people to break,” said Samon.

So how can “people people” at companies do their work effectively while also translating an important brand message? The answer lies in another relatively new concept: employee experience.

How Employees Think About HR

“Go to HR” and “HR needs to see you” always had an ominous ring, didn’t it? These phrases conjure up images of a bland office manned by a stern overlord. Traditionally, employees associate the acronymic HR with hiring, firing, compensation, or problems during their tenure.

But someone who’s in charge of people and not resources feels like an improved level of support. Companies who haven’t yet made the change in their own structure should keep in mind change at the corporate level takes more work than zhuzhing up an org chart. “It has to be backed up with a change in behavior, a change in service level, and certainly a change in culture for a lot of companies,” said Samon.

This action can often be neglected, said Murray. “In a lot of cases, I see people being named these different titles, but the scope of the work hasn’t quite changed to adapt to the title.” Someone can be an empathetic leader, but company policies and values–from corporate communications to employee experience all to the way to how workplaces are designed–need to align as well. “It’s still pretty fractured,” said Murray. However, there are ways to bridge the gap between what companies claim to stand for and what they actually do.

Leading From the Top

Creating an employee-centric company begins at the top of the ladder. “All of this [change], unfortunately, hinges completely on the upper echelons of the company’s leadership. Depending on how empathetic and progressive and create-your-own-adventure kind of leader a person might be, it can make or break how truly employee experience-centric a company is,” said Murray. This means looking at the company’s board, CEO, and other chief-level folks who make important strategic decisions, and not allowing the entire employee experience to rest on a single person's shoulders.

Take parental leave, for example. As Murray pointed out, “Most companies still only have maternity leave, not parental leave, even though there are tons of studies about fathers needing to be more involved in children’s lives and the benefits of that, not even taking into account that not everyone who works for you [may] ascribe to the male or female gender identity.”

Listening to Those People

So what do employees want in this post-pandemic world? Samon observed the two factors employees are looking for most are trust and flexible work, which go hand-in-hand. “They want to be treated like grownups. Back in pre-pandemic days, we required folks to come to the office, because we felt like we had to have eyes on them for them to do their jobs and we could track hours. We somehow convinced ourselves as companies that hours translated into productivity,” said Samon.

“Workers today are saying, it doesn’t matter where I am–with technology, I should be able to do my job equally well. And if I can do my job in four and a half days versus five days, then I shouldn’t be penalized for being more productive than other folks.” Offering a flexible work arrangement is one way to bolster claims of being people first. Samon advises companies to follow talent, not geography. "If you have a great employee who lives outside of a commutable distance of an office, then you should be able to hire that person," she said.

Knowing Whether Your People Practices Are Working

Measurable KPIs keep a business humming and thrumming. But how do the heads of people and culture measure their own levels of success? Samon highlighted four key metrics which, taken together, tell a story about the health of a company.

•Engagement scores (how do folks feel about the company, leadership, compensation package and culture?)

•Attrition data (which employees are leaving?)

•Exit-interview data (to understand if people are leaving due to work culture or compensation)

•Length of time to hire (does the company have a great reputation and can it attract the right skill sets?)

“I’ve never seen a company that had outstanding performance and failed in those four areas,” said Samon.

Taking stock of the entire employee journey is paramount. HR’s job doesn’t end with the onboarding process, but continues through the thousands of touchpoints an employee has with the company throughout their tenure, from how people receive information about their job, to training an employee to be self-sufficient, to the actual tools used in a workplace.

“Those touchpoints equal experience,” said Murray. “It’s not just snacks and ‘We'll throw you a party because we’re happy you’re here,’ or saying you can wear jeans. Experience is all these very mostly unsexy things that do or do not create more hurdles for you to cross over before you can get your work done,” she said. “The culmination of those things equal culture, and people very justifiably can become disenchanted with a company and with that internal brand quite quickly,” if they aren’t up to a certain standard.

Put simply: If employees are unhappy, changing the name of your HR department isn’t going to suffice.

Tweaking a Title for Today’s World

Some companies are going one step further, dialing in on emotions in the workplace by creating “chief happiness officer” jobs, writes Callum Borchers in the Wall Street Journal, combining the traditional duties of HR with team-building activities and a hyper-sensitivity to how workers are feeling. The job, in other words, is about creating good vibes. Be warned: This can arrive with an additional level of stress for the happiness officers themselves, who might feel they have to be in a persistent good mood.

Similarly, “chief well-being officers” and “chief wellness officers” are also becoming more prevalent, with an emphasis on employees’ emotional rather than physical health, going beyond the simple gym reimbursements popular in previous decades. Fancy updated job titles aren’t limited to the happiness index, however. The transition to remote work has inspired a few companies to create “head of team anywhere,” “head of dynamic work,” and “head of remote” job positions for leaders dedicated to fostering a more successful hybrid workplace, reports Emma Goldberg in the New York Times. The lack of rigidity or diehard commitment to old norms can be a signal to potential employees that a company is adapting to the current moment.

There’s Still a Ways to Go

Since early 2020, employees are savvier than ever before. From refusing to jump back into full-time office life, leaving for new opportunities, and learning how to negotiate beyond salaries and bonuses, empowered employees are on the rise.

“People are far more choosy about the companies that they join. There’s a host of people who are just going to go to top dollar. Then there are a host of people who are really looking at the purpose, the flexibility, and how the job fits into their lives more than ever before,” said Samon. This leaves a workplace ripe for disruption.

“The leaders are people who are ready to roll up their sleeves and design a future that doesn’t necessarily look like the past,” said Murray. “There are boundless opportunities of what we can learn and what we can create.” You can join the tide, or watch it roll in.

Kara Cutruzzula is a journalist, playwright, and author of Do It For Yourself, a motivational journal designed to guide people through their work and creative projects. Her next book, Do It Today: An Encouragement Journal, will be published in October.

Is Talent Acquisition Equipped to Go Up Against the Global Labor Shortage?

For all the concern about AI taking over jobs, an equally pressing question has arisen: Who’ll fill the jobs that still call for human workers? A growing, global talent shortage presents a major threat to businesses across all sectors, countries, and continents. Energy companies don’t have enough green-skilled workers, professional services firms can’t find accountants, and manufacturers are struggling to fill roles on the shop floor.Despite the desperate need for workers, talent acquisition teams report being asked to cut costs and do more with less. Human resources may have moved into the C-suite as a strategic contributor, but not everyone in the department has a seat at the decision-making table. According to new research from the Josh Bersin Co., just 32% of talent acquisition leads feel that they’re strategic contributors to the business. Corporate plans change too quickly, they say, if there is a plan at all, and executives treat workforce planning as an afterthought. Right now, Labor Department statistics show overall job growth slowing more than expected, but employers need to take a long-term view. The problem, HR analyst Josh Bersin told From Day One, is that “workforce planning isn’t a very strategic process. It’s a once-a-year budget exercise. And when there’s a bad quarter, the company looks at the workforce and says, ‘Freeze the headcount over here, freeze the headcount over there.’”For some business leaders, hiring and firing are reflexes, not strategies. The cycle is so predictable that a 2023 story in the Harvard Business Review advised employees to assess their job security by checking their company’s quarterly filings. A bad quarter foreshadows layoffs.Companies can no longer afford to run their recruitment departments like e-commerce warehouses, Bersin argues. And unless leaders start taking it seriously, businesses won’t be able to outrun the talent shortage.Updating Antiquated Talent Acquisition ModelsThere are two types of TA departments, said Bersin: Operational and strategic. The former works like a fulfillment center. A requisition is opened, recruiters source candidates, conduct interviews, present options to managers, and complete the hire. “They’re operationally measured and operationally configured. They look at cost-of-hire, they look at channels and sources, they outsource a lot of stuff, and they design around scale,” Bersin said. The strategic TA team works differently. When someone wants to open a req, they ask questions: Who do you want to hire? What skills should they have? How will they contribute to the business? Is there someone internal who can fill the role? Could the responsibilities of this role be automated?HR analyst Josh Bersin (Photo courtesy of Josh Bersin Co.)If a talent acquisition team isn’t strategic, it’s not necessarily their fault, according to Gina Larson, an HR consultant with more than a decade of experience in HR and talent development. “It’s the direction of the business, the remit that they’re given, and the control that they have” that determines how strategic they can be, she said. “Most companies aren’t set up to invest time and energy into developing more diverse and non-traditional hires that would bring the company into the future.”When Bersin’s company surveyed business leaders about their views of TA, 55% of the respondents said they see the function as an integral part of the organization, but it appears they haven’t learned to treat it that way, and they continue to set the wrong expectations. Old habits die hard, it seems.If executives think recruiters are order-takers, then that’s what they’ll be, Larson said. “We all report to someone. Short-term results typically get the rewards. If you’re struggling for a while and you say, ‘Just trust me, we have long-term results coming,’ it’s hard. Everyone has a stakeholder, and I think there is the pressure of short-term results.”Operational teams are a vestige of an outdated philosophy that equates headcount with revenue, one that prioritizes cost-to-hire and time-to-hire above all else, Bersin said. Companies that run operational TA teams are typically ones that put the business–and its workers–at the mercy of market swings. “The financial pressures on companies these days are so quarterly-based,” Bersin said. “I think CEOs and CFOs have to deal with this very short-term mentality in their investor base. A lot of companies over-hire and then lay people off, and then over-hire and lay people off. What I call ‘enduring companies’ don’t think that way. They ignore those signals and think about long-term, sustainable growth.” When Bersin’s company asked TA leaders to identify the biggest barriers to becoming a strategic business partner, 36% said that shifting business priorities is obstacle No. 1.Talent Acquisition and the Future of BusinessIt seems that no industry is safe from the skills shortage. In the energy sector, imperatives to develop next-generation technologies mean companies need workers with green-energy skills, but seven in every eight workers globally have no green skills to speak of, according to research from LinkedIn. In 2023 the World Economic Forum declared the talent shortage “the next energy crisis.”Companies ranging from auto parts retailers to biotech companies blame financial-reporting problems on the lack of accountants, a shortage so severe that industry-regulating bodies are considering cutting certification requirements for the role. Meanwhile, consulting firm Korn Ferry estimates that the media and telecoms industry is on track to “hit a wall” with a shortage of 4.3 million workers by 2030, and manufacturing is forecasted to have 2.1 million empty jobs by then.Korn Ferry projects that, globally, the shortage of skilled workers will result in more than 85 million empty jobs by the end of the decade. Fifty-seven percent of respondents to the Bersin Co. survey said that it’s the skills shortage that will present the biggest challenge to the TA field in the next 12 months. Some companies are thinking strategically, however. Talent intelligence, as it’s situated in HR, is an increasingly influential discipline, Bersin said. That’s typically led by a data-wielding analyst who advises HR on where to look for the best candidates, what cities they live in, and which schools they graduate from, even the companies they work for. Some companies, like Aon, have invested in apprenticeship programs that train unskilled workers into highly skilled ones. PwC is trying to influence college curriculums to create more accountants. Talent acquisition just can’t afford to work on the sidelines, said Kumud Sharma, chief people officer at financial advisory firm Betterment. Her recruiters work cross-functionally, getting to know all parts of the business. Otherwise, how will they show candidates what the company can offer them?Sharma remembers when talent acquisition was its own entity outside of HR–working like a restaurant window. A hiring manager filled out a form requesting one engineer, and recruiting served up one engineer. But that doesn’t work anymore–because we know better, she said. “We’re not thinking of people as widgets anymore. We’re not thinking of people as products. We’re thinking of people as people now.” It’s this change in thinking that has changed the HR profession altogether.“For 30 years or so, we have been saying that people are the assets of the organization. Who’s bringing those assets in? Those assets are coming through talent acquisition,” said Sharma. “How can that not be a strategic function?”Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is a freelance journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about work, the job market, and women’s experiences in the workplace. Her work has appeared in the Economist, the BBC, The Washington Post, Quartz, and Fast Company.(Featured photo by Izusek/iStock by Getty Images)

Supporting Community: How Companies Can Help Sustain ‘Third Places’

When you’re not at work or at home, where can you be found? For some, it might be a local coffee shop, while others might prefer a nearby library or a public park. Regardless of your answer, the place that you seek out for casual conversation or meaningful community connection is considered your “third place.”With remote and hybrid work structures persisting post-pandemic, and feelings of loneliness becoming increasingly prevalent, the value of community has never been greater. And yet, third places seem to be disappearing. “Despite the fact that most of the country lives near a bar, movie theater, restaurant, or park, the Survey Center on American Life found that 56% of Americans in 2021 said they had a third place they frequent, down from 67% in 2019,” reported Vox.What does this loss signify for individuals, and why is it occurring now, just as community-building is becoming a priority for many leaders and organizations? The challenges are clear, but so are the opportunities for solutions. Fortunately, companies can and do play a significant role in promoting third places.Defining Your Third PlaceThird places, defined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg in his book Celebrating The Third Place, are “public places on neutral ground where people can gather and interact.” In contrast to your home, which is your first place, and your work, which is your second place, third places are informal and accessible public spots to hangout and meet acquaintances, mull through some ideas, or catch up with friends.Kyte's book Finding Your Third Place was published in JuneIn times of loneliness, third places offer refuge and restoration. “People who have a regular third place greatly expand their circle of friends; they laugh more often; they are more engaged in their community; they are happier; they live longer,” according to Richard Kyte, a professor of leadership and ethics at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wis. At a time when one in three Americans feels lonely every week, having a third place could significantly mitigate negative coping behaviors like distraction-seeking and abusing alcohol, while increasing overall well-being.In his book Finding Your Third Place: Building Happier Communities (and Making Great Friends Along the Way), Kyte expresses the impact of these locations for not only the individual, but also communities at large. “[They] serve as gateways so people new to the area can get to know their neighbors; they function as incubators for new ideas; they serve as safety nets for people in crisis; they build social trust; they decrease political polarization,” Kyte writes. So why are these beneficial spaces becoming harder to find?A Seemingly Sudden Disappearance of Third PlacesIn part, the loss of third places can be attributed to the social-distancing days of Covid and lasting changes to physical spaces. During the pandemic, our ability to be in third places was disrupted, and it hasn’t fully recovered. Businesses closed, neighborhoods changed, furniture was removed. But even before the pandemic, third places were already losing their significance in the face of trends like cocooning. People started to value individualized forms of leisure more, and ultimately became comfortable just staying at home in their free time. This wasn’t always the way.Starbucks’ founder and former CEO, Howard Schultz, built a brand that encouraged people to connect in their shops. At one point, it wasn’t uncommon to see people chatting over a cup of coffee or with their laptops propped to complete work.As the stores blanketed the U.S. and beyond, they became a third place to many. “But over the past decade, comfy chairs have largely disappeared, replaced by hard wooden ones, the better to push people back out to their homes and offices. The company has also turned finding electrical outlets to plug in computers or phones into somewhat of a treasure hunt,” reports the Harvard Business Review. To help restore the vibe that made it popular, the company named a new CEO this week, with founder Schultz declaring: “Senior leaders—including board members—need to spend more time with those who wear the green apron.”Another reason for the loss of third places is tied to the rise in internet use and increase in subcultures of people connecting virtually. “It’s a strange paradox, Gen-Z are hyperconnected in the virtual world but socially disconnected,” wrote Kian Bakhtiari in Forbes. Social media platforms like Instagram, X, and TikTok foster spaces for self-expression, connecting people with similar interests. These online communities, however, risk replacing the in-person gatherings and socializing that could be held in public spaces.“The internet, mobile phones and video games have opened a multiverse of new connections and opportunities. Yet digital interactions have failed to replace the need to connect on an emotional level in the physical world,” according to Bakhtiari. And for many, it’s nearly impossible to disconnect from these virtual spaces, given they facilitate effortless and potentially global connections.Technology, in a broader sense, has also impacted the way we engage in physical spaces. The nature of how we interact within these environments has evolved, and not necessarily for the better. “If you think about the way our physical spaces affect our relations to one another, you will begin to understand … why our leisure activities over the past century have changed from mostly active (playing games together) to mostly passive (being entertained),” writes Kyte. The rise of technology, such as screens and sound systems, has shifted spaces that once encouraged interaction into ones focused on transactions or devoid of engagement altogether.The Business Impact: Actions For LeadersWhile third places exist outside the workplace, how and where we work affects our access to and enjoyment of them. The loss of these spaces can lead to more stressed and isolated workers, and leaders know that a healthy worker is a productive one. But there are a variety of ways that business leaders can promote third places. Among them:Provide Customers With a Third PlaceSome businesses have the opportunity to provide their customers with a third place. Companies can reimagine (or, in Starbucks’ case, revert to past practices) and create these spaces as hubs for connection. Companies can enhance the sense of community in their stores and workplaces by creating experiences that foster meaningful interactions for those who seek them. “This means separating mobile and drive-through orders from the on-premise ones to minimize interactions between the different crowds. It also means reinvesting in comfort and amenities for people who want to hang around,” as reported in Harvard Business Review. What it really requires is thoughtful attention to the spaces where people connect, something that has been top of mind in the era of returning to the office.Similarly, entrepreneur Meng Liu, who sought community amid the hustle of city life, established Wowza Hangout, a social club designed to unite people through shared interests and activities. “A crucial component of these hangouts are their settings: board game cafés, bars, museums, parks. They’re venues that populate a vibrant city like New York, but where attendees might feel awkward approaching someone they don’t know,” Liu told Vox. Liu's club aims to break down some of the barriers of connection, making it easier for people to meet in familiar yet inviting environments.Harness CSR to Cultivate CommunityCompanies can also leverage their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to create or support spaces that foster connection. In San Francisco, Salesforce funds a public park with lush walking trails and lawns for sitting, an amphitheater, and even on-demand board games. While not every company can fund an entire park, they can promote volunteerism to support local parks and other existing third places. These CSR efforts benefit both the community and employees, boosting wellness and engagement.Encourage Flexible WorkFlexible work schedules can provide employees with the time they need to invest in their communities. Work-life balance isn’t a new concept, but with opportunities for hybrid work, employees can seek out these places even during business hours. JLL’s 2022 Workplace Preferences Barometer found that improved flexibility has increased not only the ability, but the desire to work in cafes, lounges, and co-working spaces.With some employees continuing to work fully remotely after the pandemic, the distinction between home and office has become blurred. Co-working spaces are designed for work but can also serve as a third place, allowing employees to connect and collaborate in a public setting that is both affordable and accessible.“Corporations and organizations, many with newly reduced real estate footprints of their own, are becoming the biggest third place consumers,” according to the co-working platform Liquid Space. “C-suite leaders are striving to use space more efficiently. Providing employees with access to high-quality, flexible third space co-working environments near their homes and their teammates is one way they’re doing it.” The use of co-working spaces not only encourages employees to collaborate, but also to venture out in their neighborhoods. Hybrid work isn’t just about working from the couch anymore. About 36% of employees work in third places at least once a week, an increase of 8% from the previous year, according to JLL’s report.Ultimately, third places offer a sense of fulfillment, so everyone should do their part to help preserve them. These special spaces are “where we turn together, cultivating friendships, broadening and deepening our own lives and the lives of those around us. It is in conversation that we find belonging,” writes Kyte. And in today’s world, belonging matters more than ever.Erin Behrens is an associate editor at From Day One.

Employers, You Need Your Gig Workers. Here's How to Treat Them Better

Corporate America, the gig workers that keep your businesses operating have some feedback. As the popularity of independent work increases, so does business dependence on contractors, freelancers, and gig workers. In a McKinsey survey in 2022, 36% of employed respondents, equivalent to about 58 million workers, identified as independent workers, up from 27% just six years earlier. The recruiting platform MBO Partners estimates the number is closer to 45% as of last year. Independent workers are the people who deliver your lunch, drive you to the airport, build your houses, write your blog posts, design your websites, produce your podcasts, tutor your kids, and market your products to the public. Among the changes to our working lives brought about by the pandemic is the preference–and often the need–for non-standard work arrangements. In fields where employment is precarious, gig work can cover the gaps in a pinch or when the bottom falls out. The popularity of flexible, autonomous, asynchronous, and project-based work remains with us long after Covid has subsided.Many who work as contractors are attracted to the autonomy and flexibility this working style affords; and especially for family caretakers, who are disproportionately female, freelance and contract work allows them to earn an income while meeting caregiving obligations. Plenty are drawn to the work out of necessity, bringing in extra money to fill the gaps or to maintain an income when a full-time job can’t be found.Even so, gig work has been associated with higher rates of anxiety because of its unpredictability and instability, and because gig workers shoulder the burden of benefits typically provided by the employer, like health insurance and paid leave.C. Crockford is a Philadelphia-based freelance writer and editor who has experienced both the promise and peril of gig work over the last decade. When editorial work doesn’t cover expenses, he uses apps like Amazon Flex, TaskRabbit, and Fiverr to pick up moving gigs, cleaning gigs, the odd retail shift, and courier work. It pays quickly, and he can squeeze it into his schedule where it fits. “The upsides of that are it is easy to find work if you’re just hustling, but it does depend on who’s posting and what’s available,” he told From Day One.Another point of stress: Gig workers seldom get employee-benefits support from the apps they use unless they meet a specific number of hours, thresholds that Crockford feels are unrealistic. “They offer benefits, but only if you work a certain amount of hours a month, and they know that you’re not going to make those hours,” he said. The relationship between worker and platform is often mercenary and transactional.Freelancers, contractors, and gig workers are left vulnerable. Not only are they susceptible to the whims of the business cycle, they’re not undergirded by the same rights full-time permanent employees enjoy. Some are paid sub-minimum wages and treated like permanent employees without the requisite benefits and support, a practice known as misclassification. Crockford pointed out that the benefit of quick payment is sometimes undercut by how low the compensation can be. He’s gone out for some jobs that pay just above the local minimum wage.Misclassification is one of the most common abuses: expecting full-time commitment from contingent workers without providing the protections and benefits required by law for full-time employees. It’s estimated that between 10% and 30% of U.S. workers are misclassified as contractors. Misclassification isn’t just ethically dubious, it has legal implications as well, depriving workers of labor rights and fair wages, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Misclassification of employees has invoked a number of lawsuits in recent months. In January, the Department of Labor issued stricter guidance over how workers must be classified, which prompted lawsuits from employers that want more freedom to categorize workers as they choose. In June, 15,000 delivery drivers sued Amazon for misclassifying them as contractors rather than full-time employees. The platform pays workers for three-hour blocks of time, regardless of whether their deliveries take longer. As a result, the suit alleges unpaid wages and overtime. “Companies either willfully or knowingly misclassify their workers as independent contractors to avoid having to pay employee taxes and benefits that can be costly for a company in the long run,” said Rafael Espinal, executive director at the nonprofit advocacy group Freelancers Union. “Companies hire freelancers on a long-term basis and put the same requirements on that freelancer that they put on their traditional employee. When in reality, the relationship between the company and the freelancer should strictly be a business relationship where the freelancer has full control and autonomy of how they’re using their time and how they’re producing the work.”The Effects of Misclassifying Contact WorkersFreelancers, gig workers, and contractors have largely been excluded by the benefits blitz of the last few years. Not only do they not qualify for basics like health insurance, 401(k)s, and paid leave, they also don’t get smaller perks–like transportation subsidies or career development training–nor are they included in many of the changes brought about by employers prioritizing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.Rachel Marcuse, chief operating officer and managing partner at DEI consulting firm ReadySet, believes that contractors and freelancers are the forgotten demographic. This set seldom has access to employee resource groups, learning and development opportunities, and company culture.“Not only are they left out of programming when it comes to DEIB work–being able to attend training and that sort of thing–but they’re also left out of having a voice around their experience,” she told From Day One.But, said Marcuse, the free agents working with your organization represent a wealth of knowledge about your company and how your employer value proposition compares to the competition. These workers are exposed to different workplaces, cultures, and organizational norms and policies. “Contractors are frequently left out of engagement surveys that organizations do on an annual basis, which I think is a really big miss, not only because we want to make sure that all members of the team, regardless of their employment status, are having a good experience, but also because often these workers have particularly unique perspectives given their vantage point,” she said.The experience of working as a freelancer can be completely different than that of a full-time employee at the same company simply because they’re not factored into the employee experience. In 2021, workforce consultancy Mercer argued that employers should start providing contractor benefits. “Gig workers are here to stay, it’s time to give them benefits,” reads one Mercer blog headline. Some organizations are trying to close the gap. Independent workers can buy health, disability, and life insurance plans through Freelancers Union, and Mercer has even developed a platform for non-full-time worker benefits, called Mercer Indigo.How to Be Better to Your Contractors and FreelancersContract workers and their advocates want two things: Respect for their boundaries and on-time payment. Leslie Lejano, a Los Angeles–based freelance PR and communications consultant, asserts that a good client is one that treats her as a collaborator, not an order-taker. “They’re hiring me because they trust me. They value my services. They understand the value that I provide,” she told From Day One. “It’s very much like a partnership. I really value a client that gives me enough to work with, but also trusts that I have a vision.”And be aware of “scope creep,” which is when a client demands tasks outside of the agreed-to scope of work, often incrementally. It’s a violation of the contract, and it’s a harbinger of a relationship with poor boundaries, contractors say. The most common problem that Freelancers Union hears from its members is late payment, or even non-payment. In fact, the union “polled freelancers and found that 76% every year go either unpaid or not paid on time by a client,” according to Espinal.There are bad actors who pay late or simply don’t pay, he said, but there are also well-meaning employers who don’t set themselves up to easily pay contract workers. Many HR payroll systems aren’t orchestrated to pay contractors, who aren’t integrated into full-time employee payroll systems. Therefore they aren’t paid at regular intervals, but in an ad hoc manner, often through a clunky system.What companies may not realize is that any given invoice can jeopardize a freelancer’s ability to pay their rent, eat dinner, or afford their basic living expenses. Though the arrangement with a contractor is typically a business-to-business relationship, “freelancers are not able to absorb tardy payments the way large companies are able to,” Espinal pointed out.Where companies that hire contractors on an ad-hoc basis often fail to pay out on time, Crockford has found that platforms designed specifically for gig work often succeed at super-fast payment. Some apps send fees within a few hours, and many are good at resolving payment hiccups quickly, he said.PR consultant Lejano wants employers to understand that her work, and the work of every other contractor, comprises much more than her clients ever see. “Freelancers juggle so many things beyond the actual work that they’re doing,” she said. “They’re also handling their accounting, their marketing, their client acquisition. There are all these other things that come with being self-employed.”Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is a freelance journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about work, the job market, and women’s experiences in the workplace. Her work has appeared in the Economist, the BBC, The Washington Post, Quartz, Fast Company, and Digiday’s Worklife.[Featured photo by South_agency/iStock by Getty Images)

HR vs. Chief People Officers: What’s in a Name?

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