WEBVTT - Insight on America's Labor Puzzle

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<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and

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<v Speaker 1>Tim Stenovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, it does feel like

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<v Speaker 1>just about every day we have a story about layoffs,

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<v Speaker 1>despite continued strength in the government statistics when it comes

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<v Speaker 1>to the labor market. You did have Disney last night

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<v Speaker 1>following news of their restruction in a big cost cutting plan.

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<v Speaker 1>They're cutting about seven thousand workers. JP Morgan as well

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<v Speaker 1>scaling back its mortgage business so workers Affective Alliance. Burstein

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<v Speaker 1>has eliminated more than a hundred jobs from its workforce

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<v Speaker 1>after a year of turmoil in the equity and credit markets.

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<v Speaker 1>So they continue um a lot of them, as you

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<v Speaker 1>know we've talked about in the tech sector, but they

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<v Speaker 1>are definitely feels like it's becoming more broader based our

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<v Speaker 1>next guest in our team just surveyed more than four

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<v Speaker 1>hundred senior execs when it comes to layoffs in the

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<v Speaker 1>labor market. Here to tell us about that, Kate to Shane.

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<v Speaker 1>She is CEO of r GP. They're a global consulting firm. Uh.

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<v Speaker 1>They work with the likes of s A, p Oracle, NetSuite,

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<v Speaker 1>Service Now and some others. She joins us via zoom

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<v Speaker 1>from Irvine, California. Kate, good to have you here with

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<v Speaker 1>us UM. I do want to start more broadly based

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<v Speaker 1>on you know, your conversations with clients. How would you

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<v Speaker 1>describe the labor market right now? Well, Hi, Caroline, thanks

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<v Speaker 1>for having me. You know, we have a brought the

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<v Speaker 1>environment UM. So we have certain clients that are experiencing layoffs,

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<v Speaker 1>and we have others that are growing UM and still

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<v Speaker 1>pursuing many of the transformation initiatives that they started coming

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<v Speaker 1>out of COVID. So I think what clients really care

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<v Speaker 1>most about is finding the right skill sets to match

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<v Speaker 1>to their strategic initiatives right now and procuring that kind

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<v Speaker 1>of talent in a variety of ways. It may not

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<v Speaker 1>always be full time hiring. You know, our business is

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<v Speaker 1>about UM project based work, and so we're seeing an

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<v Speaker 1>uptick even with some of those companies that have announced layoffs,

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<v Speaker 1>they're starting to get their talent needs filled through project

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<v Speaker 1>based work UM, which is a strategy to keep core

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<v Speaker 1>teams lean UM but still be able to move strategic

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<v Speaker 1>initiatives forward. Yeah. I feel like we've heard that a

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<v Speaker 1>lot over the last decade, right, Uh, Because for the

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<v Speaker 1>company's advantage, right let's the be nimble and flexible, but

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<v Speaker 1>it also kind of lowers their fixed costs. Is that fair?

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<v Speaker 1>That's a perfectly fair way of looking at it. UM

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<v Speaker 1>you know, goes back to what Peter Drucker always said

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<v Speaker 1>is that the most UM innovative companies will keep their

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<v Speaker 1>core staff lean and think about the skill sets they

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<v Speaker 1>need for the time period in which they need them

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<v Speaker 1>in order to move the fastest. And that's what we're

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<v Speaker 1>seeing come back to life or maybe take a resurgence.

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<v Speaker 1>Resurgence as a strategy in today's environment. Okay, would you

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<v Speaker 1>say that you see people doing that when they're a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit more nervous about the outlook. I think that's true.

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<v Speaker 1>But you know, you mentioned our research. What we found

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<v Speaker 1>is that the number of transformation projects is not slowing

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<v Speaker 1>down UM even in the face of economic uncertainty. That

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<v Speaker 1>they're more projects underway today than ever. Uh And but

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<v Speaker 1>but companies are being very i think focused on their

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<v Speaker 1>priorities and so we're also finding from our research that

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<v Speaker 1>more companies are bringing UM mixed teams we call them

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<v Speaker 1>organizationally diverse teams in order to deliver the results they need.

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<v Speaker 1>And that means there's been a significant rise in the

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<v Speaker 1>use of independent or project based consulting UM talent to

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<v Speaker 1>mix into the teams to deliver the results as efficiently

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<v Speaker 1>and quickly as possible. Well, let's talk about the digital talent.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, we certainly have focused a lot on the

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<v Speaker 1>tech layoffs specifically, which would make me, you know, assume

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<v Speaker 1>that they are what we would classify as digital talent

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<v Speaker 1>in a large way. Mean, are they quickly finding you know,

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<v Speaker 1>that they're being um, you know, attracted or or chosen

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<v Speaker 1>to go to other maybe non tech companies because all

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<v Speaker 1>companies need digital workers. So are you finding that they're

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<v Speaker 1>able to either kind of move to another industry pretty easily.

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<v Speaker 1>We're seeing that kind of movement. Yes, definitely that's the case.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, it's almost that the tech layoffs have created

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<v Speaker 1>a more even playing field for the rest of us

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<v Speaker 1>because we all need I can't think of a business

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<v Speaker 1>that isn't going through some form of digital transformation today.

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<v Speaker 1>So those in demand skills UM will find homes quickly.

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<v Speaker 1>All right. So it's interesting too that um, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>and I'm wonder if this kind of continues to pick

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<v Speaker 1>up some momentum UM because like I said, we've been

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<v Speaker 1>talking about I remember, you know, certainly pre pandemic where

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<v Speaker 1>companies are doing this because of the flexibility UM the

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<v Speaker 1>growth of people. I don't want to see temp workers

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<v Speaker 1>or project workers, but that's essentially what they are. How

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<v Speaker 1>much growth have we seen in this type of workers

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<v Speaker 1>as a part of our labor force. Yeah, so our

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<v Speaker 1>research showed that UM three years ago, the percentage of

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<v Speaker 1>what we call project based or freelance talent, whether we're

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<v Speaker 1>talking about independent contractors or employees. Let's put that aside,

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<v Speaker 1>but that more freelance talent UM it's risen by about

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<v Speaker 1>ten in the last UM three years. So that's a

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<v Speaker 1>significant increase in how not only clients want to get

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<v Speaker 1>work done. But I think what we really have to

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<v Speaker 1>focus on in today's environment is what talent wants coming

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<v Speaker 1>out of the global pandemic, and what talent has learned

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<v Speaker 1>about what they really care about, and that's flexibility, choice

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<v Speaker 1>and control. For a professional worker today, control is everything,

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<v Speaker 1>And I think there's a lot more confidence in all

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<v Speaker 1>age growth, all age groups. When you say that, I

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<v Speaker 1>think it is all age groups. There's you know, demographics matter,

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<v Speaker 1>so Carol, You're right, demographics matter on on what matters most,

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<v Speaker 1>but there's a new felt confidence if you have the

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<v Speaker 1>right skills, that you really can bet on yourself and

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<v Speaker 1>don't have to wait to climb the corporate ladder, especially

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<v Speaker 1>in traditional professional services partnerships where that timeline can extend

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<v Speaker 1>to fourteen to you know, sixteen years. Nobody's signing up

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<v Speaker 1>for that anymore interesting, all right, Kate, good to check

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<v Speaker 1>in with. You really appreciate it, Kate to Shane. She's

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<v Speaker 1>the chief executive officer of our g P, as I

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<v Speaker 1>mentioned earlier, a global consult consulting firm. Excuse me, joining

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<v Speaker 1>us via zoom from Irvine, California,