Beeline

In the Midst of a Pandemic, Another Concern: Potential Employment Litigation

Corey Burke — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 18:53:05 +0000

While Australians have been focused on COVID-19, things have been happening in the area of employment and workplace law that may affect how you manage your non-employee workforce.

Recently, class action lawsuits involving casual mine workers and other labour categories have alleged that these workers were not in fact casual employees and were therefore entitled to paid annual leave and other statutory entitlements.

These developments have left employers questioning contingent staffing engagements and wondering how they can mitigate their risk if casual employees assert they are permanent employees and entitled to fight for compensation.

In a 2019 class action lawsuit filed by Adero Law against Skilled Workers Solutions (NSW) Pty and related entities, Adero claims, “It is not normal for a casual worker to be paid substantially less than a permanent employee. It is not normal for one worker to earn up to $75,000.00 more per year than another worker doing the same job, on the same roster – just wearing a different shirt.”

While your engagement of non-employee workers may be very different from those described above, there may be contingent workers performing assignments for your company involving one or more of the elements that might bring into question the “casualness” of the assignment. If those workers are down-sized as a result of COVID-19, how can you mitigate the risk of litigation?

Employers must make assessments about each employee on an individual basis and consider the nature of the commitment being made to casual employees. In addition to ensuring that these commitments comply with all the requirements of casual labour, employers should document the nature of the commitment to its contingent workers.

One of the best ways to document that commitment—automatically—is to record it in your vendor management system (VMS). Companies that use their VMS as the source of truth for all contingent workers have an audit-ready record of the terms of their contingent staffing assignments.

These are particularly difficult times, and the last thing you need is the risk of litigation from former contingent workers. To find out what you can do to reduce your risk, contact your Beeline representative.

This blog was written by Bronwen Fitzroy-Ezzy, Senior Vice President – Sales & Expansion APAC

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Beeline’s partner ecosystem: Greater than the sum of its parts

Corey Burke — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 20:36:11 +0000

I love to cook. It’s my number one passion and my wife and I regularly host dinner parties for our “framily” (our term for our mixed group of family and friends). [...]

“Beeline should be on your short list,” says Spend Matters

Corey Burke — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 17:26:00 +0000

“Dominant vendor-neutral player in the contingent workforce space.”

This year, in a short video, Andrew Karpie, research director of labor and services procurement at Spend Matters, explains why Beeline was again selected for this list. In addition to citing Beeline as a “dominant vendor-neutral player in the contingent workforce space,” Karpie notes that Beeline “sets itself apart in terms of the depth and breadth of its solution and its services team.”

Expanding on the idea of vendor-neutrality, Karpie says “Beeline has grown over the last 20 years to become the largest VMS and extended workforce solution provider that is not owned by a staffing or a technology company.”

“One of the great ones.”

Karpie notes that, in recent years, the contingent workforce space “has begun to see innovation, new entrants, and structural transformation.” As a result, he suggests that Beeline must continue to invest in innovation, “while ensuring its customer-centricity and its service performance remain key differentiators.”

Karpie concludes with this comment and advice for enterprise contingent workforce program owners and managers: “Beeline is definitely one of the great ones and should be on the short list of any large organization that is looking for such a solution.”

For more information, see Beeline’s profile in the Spend Matters Almanac. Or download our complementary ebook: 7 Important Qualities of a Successful VMS Partnership.

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Cost Savings and the Case for Better SOW Spend Management

Corey Burke — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 18:55:53 +0000

Executives are putting pressure on leaders across the organization to justify investments and cut costs wherever possible. It’s all part of a global business effort to ride out the economic effects of this health crisis until we return to a normal state, whatever that may look like post-COVID-19. [...]

British IR35 regulation has a Dutch Sibling – Heard of the DBA Act?

Corey Burke — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 14:04:19 +0000

The Netherlands, like many other European countries, have been steadily working on implementing new regulations to look at different aspects of the employer/employee relationship. This especially with the increase of Independent Contractors or in Dutch jargon, ZZP’ers. With the Netherlands being a hub for European HQ of large multinational companies, now more than ever it is important to have the latest updates on these new regulations.

ZZP’er – Here we go…

Before diving into the ‘Law and Order – Employment Edition’ let me take a step back. As mentioned, the Dutch Jargon for Independent Contractors is ZZP’er. This stands for Zelfstandig Zonder Personeel (independent without employees) – in other words, a One-Man Band. Not only does this include Project Managers and Consultants, but also in the Netherlands it includes independent farmers, hairdressers, and basically anyone who runs a business without employing others. In Q1 of 2019, it was reported that 1.1 million people in the Netherlands were registered as ZZP’er. This is one of the reasons why identifying clear policy for this group of workers has been proven to be so difficult. Nevertheless, the government is keen to have some sort of regulation in place, not only because it is clear that there are a lot of ZZP’ers and employers benefitting financially from the current unclear policies, but also as the COVID-19 crisis has confirmed how vulnerable this group can be.

DBA act – What’s happened?

So, what is the fuss about this three-letter abbreviation? It stands for Deregulering Beoordeling Arbeidsrelatie, which can be (literally) translated as the Deregulation of the employment relation review. The DBA Act in The Netherlands was introduced back in 2016 (to replace the VAR act). However, similarly to the situation in the UK with IR35, there was a lack of clarity on the financial impact to the Independent Contractors (ZZPer’s) as well as their clients. Therefore, the act was never fully embraced by businesses.

Consultation phase – Looking forwards…

The Dutch government is currently working on improving the DBA act and replacing it with a digital registration and questionnaire, which sounds very similar to the IR35 CEST tool. The difference, it seems, is that the Dutch government understands that the relationship between ZZP’er and employer can be complex. The questionnaire can thus be used to identify or guide the employer with the result. The questionnaire can result in 4 options:

The project/assignment can be executed without direct employment
The result is unclear, however it strongly leans towards no direct employment
The result is unclear, however it strongly leans towards direct employment
There is a clear indication that the work delivered has an employment relationship between contractor (ZZP’er) and employer

Once it has been identified that there is no direct employment between ZZP’er and employer, a form needs to be filled in to declare this, called ‘Opdrachtgeversverklaring’.

The current test results showed that 73 percent of the assignments put through the questionnaire were able to identify the type of employment relationship between employer and contractor. Forty-eight percent were identified as having employer/employee relationship – which shows that there is a need to get this situation regulated. The next concrete step will be to run a pilot so employers can start identifying their relationship on a voluntary basis. This is planned to happen in Q4 2020 and will last for 6 months.

Another important conclusion in the current consultation phase is removing the minimum and maximum rate of the ZZP’ers. Initially government said they wanted to target ZZP’ers with rates between 16 -75 EUR per hour. However, identifying the hourly rate was proving difficult and this part of the act has been scrapped for multiple reasons:

It was putting an increased administrative burden on the ZZP’ers.
It was causing uncertainties and ambiguities for all stakeholders
ZZP’ers made clear they did not always want to be upfront with their exact costs
It was not always possible to identify exact hourly rate, resulting in inaccurate calculations.

So what now?

For those following UK news on IR35, the implementation of the new regulation has been delayed by a year to April 2021 due to COVID-19. The Dutch government hasn’t officially delayed the implementation of the DBA act, however as the pilot phase is starting Q4 2020 and lasting 6 months, it is impossible that the new act will be officially in place by 1 January 2021. Nevertheless the business world as well as the large group of ZZP’ers are very well aware of the situation (or they should be) and the Dutch Tax authorities have been carefully enforcing compliance by heavy offenders since 1 January 2020.

In conclusion, with the employment environment becoming ever more regulated, it is becoming more and more important to manage your external workforce headcount in the Netherlands.

Talk to your usual contact at Beeline to understand more about what we can do to help you facilitate the visibility within the tool. Stay tuned for a follow-up once the Summer recess is over to get an update on the pilot scheme.

This blog was written by Simonetta Hainebach, Beeline Solutions Consultant, EMEA.

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Future-proofing your contingent workforce through the COVID-19 pandemic [Part 3]

Corey Burke — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 17:59:36 +0000

Our intent with this blog series, as the title indicates, is to help you create a future-proof contingent workforce. Well, the future is more uncertain than ever, and it’s not just because of our evolving health concerns. The coronavirus pandemic has changed how we think about work forever.

Rewriting the rules of work in real time

How we work, where we work, and who’s doing the work will all be different moving forward, both collectively and at the individual company level.

Temporary vs. full-time employees
Is the flexibility of contract work still attractive, or do people want the safety net of being a permanent employee during uncertain economic times? For those looking to grow their careers, temporary work will give them the opportunity to gain experience without relying on the operational state of only one company.

But who do businesses need? Are employers lifting their hiring bans to return to normal as soon as possible, or are they remaining cautious throughout the rest of 2020? Using contingent labor allows you to ramp up and down quickly, which will be incredibly important as we experience cycles of normal business activity and shutdowns by geography or industry. But what’s the right workforce mix? It will look a little different for each company based on their unique needs and challenges.

The move to (and perks of) remote work
Are sprawling offices a thing of the past? Once a status symbol of company success, office spaces are less important as more businesses are embracing remote work in far different ways than before. The health crisis backed resistant employers into a corner on these policies by taking away the option to work in the office altogether.

Now that remote work is widespread vs. allowed only for certain departments or individuals, companies have come to realize that relaxing location requirements has its upside. There’s cost savings from having less space and all the expensive perks that go along with it. And, more importantly, it allows companies to access a broader pool of talent in other markets or even overseas in low-cost economies.

An unbalanced business environment
Another way our world of work has changed? Change has been and will continue to be unevenly distributed, by industry, geography, and size, or sometimes even both.

Some industries are growing as a result of the crisis, like transportation and logistics, grocery stores, and healthcare, for obvious reasons. Apart from those, other industries will operate according to the changing waves of the virus. The restaurant industry is bracing for more uncertainty ahead, as are retailers and others who rely on in-person foot traffic. Many smaller companies, no matter the industry, will have difficulty surviving.

Because we are being impacted at different times geographically, one company can be experiencing this health crisis very differently from one location to the next. And more still, some countries will be affected later when supply chains are adjusted as a result of the crisis.

Setting up your company for success

If your plan is to restore your old workforce mix, think again. Regardless of how your company is impacted, the world of work will be forever changed. The best strategy is to focus on how to make your workforce more resilient and more agile.

The strongest companies will be those that are most prepared, and that requires two things.

First, you must design a post-crisis workforce strategy that focuses on these two goals:

Increase your workforce agility and resilience, by both geography and labor category.
Increase your ability to respond to business threats and opportunities quickly and easily.

While that’s well and good, every strategy needs an action plan. To devise one, you need to understand what adjustments you need to make to turn your hopes into reality.

Do you have the right level of workforce visibility? Can your VMS technology support your needs? What features and functionality do you need to turn on to get there, and how long will it take? How about your ability to handle any new curveballs? Do you have direct access to the talent you need, or are you relying on external providers to find them for you?

Let’s get to work

There will be significant challenges for all companies – but also huge opportunities for those with an agile and resilient workforce. Will you use your VMS for visibility into all non-employee talent and to determine the most cost-effective workforce mix? Will you use private talent pools to reduce cost and time to fill?

If you’re a Beeline customer, we’re here to support you in any way possible. If you’re not, register for our next live demo to see just how we’re helping our customers come out of this health crisis stronger – and more strategic – than ever.

The post Future-proofing your contingent workforce through the COVID-19 pandemic [Part 3] appeared first on Beeline.

Future-proofing your contingent workforce through the COVID-19 Pandemic [Part 2]

Corey Burke — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 13:43:22 +0000

For this post, we’re focusing on the next 6-12 months. The only thing we know for sure is that this timeframe will be marked by more instability. The companies that will come out on top are those that make agility a priority.

Addressing economic uncertainty with workforce agility

The economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis is far from over. Many experts are predicting multiple cycles of normal business activity and imposing shutdowns as the virus runs its unpredictable course. This will vary by geography and the restrictions put in place by state and country leadership officials, creating a complex business environment whether your company is operating nationally or globally.

While a curve is expected, whether it’s an L, U, W or something else entirely is yet to be determined. What this inevitably means is that the only way to prepare for the immediate future is to be resilient and expect the unexpected. For that, you need workforce agility.

The definition of agility is “the power of moving quickly and easily.” When we think of large workforces made up of employees, contingent labor, and service providers, quick and easy access to talent doesn’t immediately come to mind. You must be able to harness the power of both your relationships and your technology for your workforce to truly be agile.

Driving agility with private talent pools

The answer to workforce agility lies in private talent pools.

Who makes up your private talent pool? Furloughed employees, retirees, former interns, and other known, vetted talent who have a history with your company. During times of crisis, having access to these resources allows you to streamline or even forgo the lengthy screening, training, and onboarding processes that can slow you down.

But it’s more than just knowing who these resources they are. It’s also about understanding how they can contribute to your business. You’re only as good as your data, and formalizing a private talent pool gives you the opportunity to capture the important workforce data you need to act quickly in times of crisis.

Once you know who they are and how they can help, you can deploy these known resources in flexible ways to meet the changing needs of your business. For example, furloughed employees can be given contingent assignments or remote-enabled workers can be redeployed to where your business needs them. And on an ongoing basis, all new skills and experience at the individual worker level can be captured so you know exactly who qualifies for any need you might have.

With Beeline’s Direct Sourcing, organizations get direct access to expanded pools of qualified talent. Not only will this help you meet your immediate workforce needs, but it also puts your organization in a better position to utilize your known resources effectively in the future. This will ultimately allow you to create deeper relationships with your talent, save on unnecessary recruiting costs and fill your workforce needs more quickly.

If you’re a Beeline customer, reach out to your relationship manager at any time to learn more about Direct Sourcing and how to stand up your private talent pool for immediate results. If you’re not a customer yet, register for our next live demo to see it in action.

In our final post of this series, we’ll take a long look at what has changed forever in the world of work and what it means for your business.

The post Future-proofing your contingent workforce through the COVID-19 Pandemic [Part 2] appeared first on Beeline.

Future-proofing your contingent workforce through the COVID-19 Pandemic [Part 1]

Mackenzie Best — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 19:14:17 +0000

Picking up the pieces and developing a plan for the rest of the year and beyond is no easy feat. There are no “best practices” to rely on. There isn’t a playbook to follow. Each business was and is currently being impacted differently, based on factors like industry, geography or workforce mix. And there’s no telling what’s to come in the future.

Today we’re kicking off a three-part blog series aimed at helping contingent workforce owners navigate through these unprecedented, challenging times. But our goal is to do more than simply sum up how devastating this pandemic has been or offer up a few generic how-to’s on getting back on track. We’re tackling the issue from start to finish.

In this first post, we’re focusing on the now. What needs to happen immediately to get your business through this uncertainty safely and effectively? And what can you do to lay the groundwork for a successful workforce strategy, no matter how the business environment shifts? In future posts we’ll tackle what’s next and what has changed forever in the world of work.

Agility starts with visibility

Contingent workforce program owners are no strangers to the need for business agility. In fact, it’s why contingent labor programs exist in the first place, so companies can tap into qualified talent quickly to meet fluctuating demand or fill a specific skill gap in their businesses.

When a crisis hits and you need to act fast, it’s critical to have all of your contingent worker data at your fingertips. In the event of today’s coronavirus pandemic, program managers need to quickly answer four questions about their non-employees:

Who are they? This includes ensuring that their contact information is current so they can be communicated with effectively.
Where are they? Protocols for business operations differ at not only the country level, but also state level and sometimes even by city.
What are they working on? Non-employees work in different capacities throughout their tenure, and businesses need to know exactly which projects they are working on to ensure nothing falls through the cracks.
What access do they have? When businesses switch to a remote model, all workers need to have the right access to equipment, networks, data, etc. to continue doing their jobs effectively.

Rightsize your workforce

Shifting your business operations quickly requires the right workforce. The labor needs of organizations are all over the map, based in part on where they are in the world and whether they are considered essential or non-essential.

Many industries experienced unprecedented increases in demand, like hospitals, grocery stores and logistics companies. Some industries were forced to shut down immediately, including retail and entertainment businesses like movie theaters. Others had to change their business model overnight, such as restaurants who eliminated dine-in service but continued to offer carry out and delivery.

No matter which of these three groups your business falls under, you need to make swift workforce decisions that are best for your organization, and contend with a future that’s still uncertain.

Staffing up. Do you know where your talent gaps are and how to fill them in terms of skills and numbers of workers? Do you need to bring on all new workers, or do you have talent in different geographies that can be redeployed to your locations with a greater need? Can you tap into similar workers laid off from jobs in your top markets? Can any of the work switch from in person to remote in order to open up your talent pool?

Staffing down. If you find yourself in the position of needing to reduce staff, do you know which workers to terminate? Do you know which mission-critical work is being done by which type of worker? If you need to cut in-person work but can still maintain them in a remote capacity, are they able to do so? Do they have the right equipment and system access?

How your VMS and talent partners can help

We believe there are two things you can do right now to ensure you can meet your business needs with the right workforce.

Utilize your VMS more effectively.

There are a number of new features and functionality in the Beeline VMS developed in direct response to the needs of our customers during this crisis. Several of them are focused on helping you gain the right level of visibility into your extended workforce to make decisions quickly.

For example, many organizations have contingent worker populations that are not currently tracked in the VMS, and are forced to search other sources in order to see all of the contingent workforce details. Resource Tracking can provide you with a global view of all contingent labor.

To help companies make the switch from in-person operations to managing a newly remote workforce, new workforce continuity features have been made available to Beeline customers. Workforce Continuity reports summarize worker headcount by geography and, by using remote-eligibility fields, you can quickly see which individuals are in remote-eligible positions.

Take advantage of your talent partnerships.

If you’re in a position of needing to staff up your business quickly right now, you can’t go it alone. Your MSP and/or supplier relationships are critical to your success. Not only can they help you with the visibility piece, but they can also be an important ally in finding new sources of talent.

You should also partner closely with those in HR responsible for your company’s employee populations. Are there any furloughed employees in non-essential positions who can be given contingent assignments? Are there any employees who have a particular skillset that be utilized in a different part of the organization temporarily? Having a full view of the experience and skills of your entire employee and non-employee workforce can help you fill any gaps more quickly. A strong relationship with your employee counterpart is the first step.

What’s next?

Our next post will cover how to prepare for the next 6-12 months.

If you’re a Beeline customer, reach out to your Relationship Manager for help implementing new features. If you’re not a customer yet, register for our next live demo to see our new functionality in action.

The post Future-proofing your contingent workforce through the COVID-19 Pandemic [Part 1] appeared first on Beeline.

Webinar Recap: The Power of Business Continuity Best Practices in an Unimaginable Moment

Corey Burke — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 20:17:32 +0000

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Has All Your Hard Work on IR35 Been in Vain?

Corey Burke — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 14:14:05 +0000

Prior to this announcement (17 March 2020), it seemed that the freelance workforce was one of the few not being offered direct financial support as we battle this worldwide pandemic, with businesses small and large being given rates holidays (not something that will impact your average PSC) or access to government-underwritten loans to the tune of £330Bn. It remains to be seen, though, what reaction companies, and those engaged through PSC arrangements, will actually have at this late stage. Most of our clients began preparations for reviewing their engagement structures mid-2019, and by now, the vast majority have already assessed their incumbent populations, and built, with Beeline’s support, means to determine and record role and assignment statuses. Will this all now be torn down or mothballed for 12 months? Will assignments already re-structured via Umbrella companies, or converted into PAYE engagements be reversed? Has all that hard work been in vain? We certainly hope not. Much of the preparation work for the changes has rightly centred on the need to better understand the engagement models used for non-permanent hiring, and educating those who do the hiring in the behaviours required of all parties to ensure compliance. That work has not been in vain, and the extension until 2021 will allow for any adjustments to become established, for determination paths to be stress-tested, and for solutions to be enriched to the benefit of both the hirer and the hired. The visibility gained over the past 9 months must not be squandered, but should be leveraged to build a more deliberate workforce mix, the better to weather the business landscape that emerges from Covid-19’s wake. Having rushed to tidy up our houses for inspection, we have now been given an extension of time. Rather than allow our surroundings to become messy again, let us use the extra time to revisit items we hastily stashed out of sight in the attic, and make better determinations as to their long-term future. This blog was written by Alastair Dobson, Senior Client Relationship Manager. Alastair has spent over ten years at Beeline and has worked in the staffing industry for more than 20 years. This blog was published on 18 March 2020.

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