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Reshape your contingent workforce strategy for resilience and growth

41% of Business, HR, and Talent leaders across the UK admit their organisations are unprepared for future workforce demands. Is yours one of them?

In a fragile and fast-changing workforce landscape, contingent workforce strategies cannot afford to be reactive – they must be proactive and designed to flex to change.

But resilience is not built overnight. Our survey of 2,000+ business leaders points to the critical trends and challenges threatening strategic adaptation:

  • 41% report disruption is outpacing their workforce strategy.
  • Over 25% say geopolitical risk is their primary business concern.
  • 30% view changing regulations and external shocks as critical threats.

Left unchecked, these challenges can interact and amplify, creating inefficiency, longer hiring timescales and spiralling costs.

The contingent workforce challenge

Three pressure points are reshaping how organisations manage contingent talent:

1. Geopolitical shifts

KPMG’s report, ‘Top Geopolitical Risks 2025’, shows UK finance leaders continue to rate geopolitics as their top concern for business continuity and growth.

Trade frictions, policy shifts and regulatory divergence are forcing companies to redraw their talent maps, turning workforce planning into an exercise in adaptability.

2. Market and supply chain disruption

29% of business leaders say uncertainty caused by market or supply chain disruption is having the biggest impact on their organisation.

Uncertainty exposes firms that can’t adapt. Without agile models, talent pipelines dry up just when demand peaks, resulting in delayed projects and increased costs.

3. Accelerating regulatory change

A 2024 Qdos survey estimates that IR35 misclassification affects 43% of contractors. Updated PAYE rules for labour supply chains utilising umbrella companies will also come into effect from 6th April 2026 (for more information on the changes, read our blog).

Rapid policy shifts – such as the Employment Rights Bill – expose organisations without agile HR systems to significant risk.

The impact on your contingent workforce strategy

These challenges can combine to cause:

  • Volatility in location strategy and talent pipelining.
  • Sudden spikes or dips in contingent talent availability.
  • Disruptions to established supply chains.
  • A growing need for backup talent pools and suppliers.
  • Fast-changing cross-border compliance.
  • Compliance exposure as policy shifts outpace governance.

Left unchecked, these effects can quickly compound – with reactive hiring becoming the norm.

Here’s how to get ahead:

Safeguard your strategy: four pillars

1. Make your strategy responsive to change

Adopt skills-based planning that moves beyond roles. According to a Workday report, 81% of business leaders agree that a skills-based talent model drives economic growth.

Use dynamic resource reallocation to move talent and budgets in real time. McKinsey’s survey, ‘Tying Short-term Decisions to Long-term Strategy,' finds that agile workforce planning and dynamic resource reallocation significantly add to business resiliency.

Establish a rapid-response team for supply chain visibility.

Research shows businesses adopting a responsive ‘control-tower’ approach to workforce deployment and planning see measurably better outcomes, including the ability to quickly adapt to unexpected challenges1.

At Pontoon powered by Adecco, our fully managed supply chain for 25+ public sector clients fulfils critical roles while simplifying processes and ensuring a cost-effective service. Our centralised response team maintain visibility, ready to address unexpected issues and pivot as needed to maintain delivery. To date, we have delivered 1,400+ skilled contingent hires, enabling frontline services to maintain operational continuity during peak demand periods.

2. Build geopolitical and regulatory strength

  • Embed geopolitical intelligencep into workforce planning.
  • Align HR plans with evolving laws and regulations, including tighter compliance and mapping of the end-to-end contingent worker journey, with clear internal ownership and automated checks.

Pontoon powered by Adecco takes compliance headaches away. For a global banking client, our flexible MSP ensures compliance through unified governance and centralised management. The client is now considering expansion into new regions – with an MSP programme built on reliable governance, we can support their growth ambitions.

3. Increase access to talent

  • Look beyond established contingent talent banks, to include returners, apprentices, career-changers, graduates and other high-potential candidates with non-linear career pathways.
  • Diversify and expand the supply chain to expand access to niche talent and in-demand skills.

Accenture’s research report, ‘Making Autonomous Supply Chains Real,’ finds that businesses that adopt agile supply chains can respond to disruptions 62% faster and recover 60% more quickly than their competitors.

For Brunel University of London, our hybrid MSP utilises direct delivery for primary recruitment needs, while also leveraging a diverse supply chain of specialists for niche and in-demand roles. This ensures that the client can quickly and efficiently access the right talent at peak times, ahead of the competition.

4. Strengthen cost and delivery fundamentals

  • Build cost-containment capabilities, including recruiting and training for financial planning, budgeting and cost efficiency to weather inflationary pressures.
    Our MSP enables clients to typically achieve average cost reductions of up to 20% in their first year, while gaining access to the UK’s largest staffing network and reducing time-to-hire by up to 40%.
  • Enhance cost management and reporting, with a focus on identifying process improvements to reduce cost, drive efficiency, and increase return on investment (ROI) over time.
    Our MSP service for London Borough of Barking and Dagenham focuses on achieving ongoing, sustainable savings of £2 million per year, enabling critical reinvestment in the client’s frontline services.

These four pillars form the foundation of a resilient contingent workforce strategy.

But implementation is where most organisations stumble – and where the right partner can make all the difference.

Secure your competitive advantage

This analysis confirms what you’re likely already sensing: standing still isn’t an option. PwC’s 2025 Global CEO Survey shows 42% of CEOs believe organisational reinvention will be crucial over the next ten years.

The window for adaptation is narrowing – organisations that act quickly and secure a partnership approach to contingent talent will define the competitive landscape for the next decade, while those who wait will find themselves perpetually reactive.

Ready to stress-test your contingent workforce strategy?

Book a complimentary workforce resilience assessment with one of our specialists.

We’ll show you where you’re exposed, and where you could save up to 20% on costs:

BOOK YOUR COMPLIMENTARY STRATEGY SESSION TODAY

1. OPERATIONS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT Vol. 17, No. 3, 2024, pp. 236 - 251 ISSN 1979-3561 | EISSN 2579-9363 Systematic Review of Supply Chain Control Tower Critical Success Factors.