The war for talent: the forgotten workforce beside the workforce

One group is almost entirely absent from employer branding and employee retention programmes: external staff. Yet in many corporations and mid-sized companies, freelancers, interim experts and independent specialists have long since become business-critical – in IT programmes, engineering projects and transformation initiatives, they frequently make up a substantial share of the project team.

These specialists come from the same contested labour market that HR departments have been talking about for years whenever they speak of the ‘war for talent’. Only the rules of the game are different: there is no salary band, no length of service, no notice period. A freelancer in demand compares clients the way companies compare suppliers – continuously.

Demographics are blind to contract type

The skills shortage affects internal and external hiring alike. As the baby-boomer cohorts leave the labour market, they also leave gaps in the pool of self-employed professionals – while, at the same time, more highly qualified specialists are deliberately choosing self-employment because they value autonomy and variety in their projects. For organisations, this means that a growing share of key capabilities is available only externally.

In this environment, starting every engagement from scratch – a new tender, new screening, new onboarding – means paying twice: in the time it takes to become productive, and in the risk that the best candidate is already under contract with a competitor.

What makes an ‘employer of choice’ in the eyes of external staff

Word travels fast among freelancers about which clients are good to work for. The criteria are consistent:

• Professional processes: clear engagement terms, accessible contacts, punctual payment without the need to chase.
• Fair collaboration as equals: external staff are involved in decisions and communication rather than merely ‘supplied’.
• Prospects: visible follow-on projects, referrals across the group, access to networks and benefits tied to the working relationship.

Each of these criteria can be shaped – just as systematically as organisations shape their employer brand for permanent employees. Those who start today secure preferential access to scarce capabilities – a lead that competitors will have to work hard to close.

The organisations able to staff their projects reliably over the next decade will not be those with the largest recruitment advertising budgets – but those that good external staff keep coming back to.