Increase efficiency and become more lean by embracing an agile talent model. Agile talent is at the center of a social, technological and organizational revolution. It is drastically changing the workplace and providing unique opportunities for businesses large and small. In this white paper, you’ll learn: -The key reasons the on-demand economy has emerged -The competitive advantages you can gain by adopting an agile talent model -The specific initiatives you can optimize by leveraging an agile workforce​ -What companies that embrace agile talent can expect as the strategy gains momentum

1. Agile Talent in
the Digital Age

2. Foreword
In this excellent overview, OneSpace reminds us that agile talent is at the
center of a social, technological and organizational revolution. It is changing the
workplace and providing unique opportunity for businesses large and small.
My two sons joined a very different workforce than I entered out of grad
school. Young people want a deeper connection to work and a different kind of
employment relationship. Just as Kerouac’s Dean Moriarty sought the freedom
of the open road, more and more young professionals seek a work life that offers
meaning, growth, and colleagueship. Agile talent offers that.
Technology is playing its part by liberating talent and opportunity from the limits
of time and space. The software engineer sitting next to you in Chicago is collaborating
real time with team members in San Francisco, Buenos Aires and Seoul.
For organizations, agile talent provides flexibility and access to expertise that
never existed before. The potential is profound. But this new freedom is not free.
Organizations must adapt and change. Is your company building the blended
workforce it needs? Are external experts assigned work that’s consistent with
their seniority and expertise, and given the support they need to succeed?
Do project managers have the skill and experience to effectively manage agile
talents and build virtual, organizationally diverse, teams? Do agiles receive
on-going performance feedback and helpful coaching? Is your administration
agile-friendly, or are agiles treated as second-class citizens?
In short, how well is your organization tuned to take full advantage of agile
talent? Keep this question in mind as you read OneSpace’s Agile Talent in the Digital
Age. Then, get to work.
Jon Younger is the founder of the Agile Talent Collaborative
(www.agiletalentco.com), a non-profit cooperative research
organization supporting the agile talent movement. He is
co-author of Agile Talent (Harvard, 2016). He teaches at the
Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, and the
Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India.
Jon Younger

3. Executive Summary
In today’s on-demand economy,
organizations of all sizes and in countless
verticals are looking to create greater
efficiencies, become more lean, and
increasingly, seek to be more agile.
Indeed, this move to an agile talent model is pushing companies
today to embrace new, competitive workforce management
business models that are rapidly increasing in popularity.
Although the adoption of a Division of Labor gained widespread
use during the Industrial Revolution, the Digital Age has
offered a new variation on the model that can be applied to
perform highly specialized tasks efficiently.
Those business leaders that support the efforts of their
internal personnel with external contributors are not
only changing the course of talent management, thereby
optimizing their most valuable resource – their workforce –
but witnessing the bottom line impact on profitability.
In this white paper, you will learn
the following:
• The key reasons the on-
demand economy has emerged
• Competitive advantages to be
gained by adopting an agile
talent model
• Initiatives that can be
optimized by leveraging an
agile workforce
• What companies that embrace
agile talent can expect as the
strategy gains momentum

4. Introduction
Division of Labor and the Industrial Revolution
Division of Labor in the Digital Age
Opportunities for Workers with Specialized Skills
The Virtual Workplace and Workforce
Millennials in the Workforce
Competitive Advantages
The Future of Agile Talent
Conclusion
5
6
7
8
9
10
12
14
16
Contents

5. AGILE TALENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE 5
Several characteristics of the economic landscape have
converged to create an ideal environment for businesses
to take advantage of dividing labor among the most
appropriate team members for the specific tasks, known
simply as the Division of Labor. Today’s Digital Age has
flattened global commerce and removed the previous
necessity for teams to function solely within the confines
of a unique office space.
The advent and rise of the use of digital technology has,
first, not only shifted where and how we do this work, but
realigned the demand for skills, demonstrating that the
current workforce alignment is not necessarily equipped
to meet present-day workforce needs as a whole.
This remains the case even though the digital natives –
millennials – now make up the largest portion of the
labor market; innovation still continues to outpace
skill acquisition.1
Second, technological advances have additionally allowed
businesses to tap those with specialized skills in remote
offices and workplaces, even on a global level.
Finally, the current workforce has demonstrated that it
values the benefits that accompany independent work,
a trend that is projected to continue.
Introduction

6. 6AGILE TALENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE
The concept of a Division of Labor – ensuring the right people are
doing the most appropriate tasks as a means to completing a large,
complex project – first gained widespread popularity during the
Industrial Revolution.
Division of Labor and the
Industrial Revolution
Scottish economist Adam Smith officially introduced
the concept of Division of Labor in 1776. Smith
explained how the manufacturing industry could
benefit from this strategy through the use of
workers with specialized skills to tackle individual
tasks to complete a large project. Efficiency would
increase by leveraging a worker’s top skills and
reducing the transition period between tasks in
a project. Overall improved quality in the final
product would be the end result.2
A second Industrial Revolution, the Technological
Revolution, began in 1870 due to U.S. transportation
innovations in which Henry Ford manufactured
automobiles more efficiently with an assembly
line of workers, none of whom knew how to build
an entire car, but each of whom was an expert at
building a specific part of the car.3
Fast forward to modern day. Though, technology
has eliminated many of the manufacturing jobs
that were once found on assembly lines, the
Division of Labor is entering a new, digital space
in which to flourish.

7. 7AGILE TALENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE
With the advent of the Digital Age, the workplace
has begun a metamorphosis that reframes labor
distribution opportunities that could never have
been imagined before. This shift has been driven
by three key forces:
Talent shortage and skills gaps
As the necessity of building and maintaining an
online business presence has grown, the number
of candidates possessing the skills most likely
to result in digital-marketplace success, such
as copywriting and editing, graphic design, web
development, and data processing – or the desired
combination of those skills – has not kept up
with demand.
Connectivity and technological enablement
The Internet has created a virtual workspace
that could not have been imagined 100 years ago.
High-speed Internet and a wealth of online
collaboration tools have made it much easier for
employers to utilize outside talent on a contract
basis, eliminating the limitations imposed by
geography and creating a new, virtual workplace
that spans the globe. Of CEOs polled in 2015, 33
percent said they “have greatly increased their
use of contingent workers, part-time employees,
Division of Labor in the Digital Age
Sophisticated digital collaboration tools and shifts in workforce
demographics have created opportunities for companies to
re-evaluate their operating procedures and discover new ways
to achieve unparalleled productivity.
outsourcing and service agreements,” and this
number is expected to increase significantly over
the next decade.4
Workforce demographic change
Business leaders seeking individuals with the
necessary skillsets have discovered that searching
for qualified candidates solely within their own
geographic areas significantly limits their ability
to find the best talent available. According to a
2015 Price Waterhouse Coopers study, 81 percent of
CEOs have expanded the range of skills they look
for in new hires, but 73 percent of those CEOs are
seriously concerned about actually being able to find
candidates with the skills they need.
81%
73%
of CEOs have expanded the
range of skills they look for
in new hires.
of those CEOs are seriously
concerned about actually
being able to find candidates
with the skills they need.

8. 8AGILE TALENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Opportunities for Workers
with Specialized Skills
A recent survey revealed that almost 40 percent of
global businesses were experiencing significant
issues locating the right talent.5
Thus, the need
for professionals with specialized knowledge and
abilities has increased.
Mechanical jobs may have been taken over by
machines, but no design for a viable artificial
intelligence platform able to replace human beings
exists as it relates to designing attractive and
functional websites, developing marketing campaigns,
solving complex engineering problems or analyzing
photos of outer space.
Nonetheless, as predicted by Malone, Laubacher &
Johns in 2011, “Just as people in the early days of
industrialization saw single jobs . . . transformed
into many jobs . . . we will now see knowledge
worker jobs – salesperson, secretary, engineer –
atomize into complex networks of people all over
the world performing highly specialized tasks.”6
However, specialized expertise is only one part
of the picture. Multitasking, quick assimilation
of information and ability to change ranked even
higher as important traits in workers who work
well in a digital environment. As a result, continual
training has emerged as a core competency.
Skills related to interpretting data, expressing ideas, solving problems
and presenting information are more in demand today than ever before.

9. AGILE TALENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE 9
The Virtual
Workplace
and Workforce
Technological advances have transformed the traditional
brick-and-mortar workplace. Employers are no longer
limited to in-region job candidates. If the most qualified
person for a job is halfway around the world, that distance
can be bridged instantly through a virtual workplace that
allows internal and external contributors to collaborate
seamlessly. Accomplishing business goals has truly
become a global endeavor.

10. 10AGILE TALENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE
As of 2015, millennials comprise the largest segment of the U.S. workforce,
surpassing Generation X’ers and Baby Boomers. By 2017, millennials are
projected to overtake Generation X to comprise the largest portion of
independent contractors as well.
More than any other generation, millennials value flexibility and passion for
the work they do over traditional factors, such as salary and benefits.
Freelancing particularly appeals to the independent spirit of today’s millennial
workforce; rather than seeking full-time jobs, many skilled individuals prefer to
maintain control over their day-to-day schedules and workloads by working as
independent contractors.
Furthermore, millennials view less traditional employment as
an opportunity to have a positive impact on the world and pursue
creative endeavors, such as web and graphic design.
Millennials in
the Workforce

11. AGILE TALENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE 11
Despite those millennials who have made the
conscious choice to pursue independent work, the
impact of the Great Recession on this generation
cannot be underestimated. Still suffering
disproportionately from the effects of the Recession
– during and after which millennials came of
employable age – 5 percent of millennials have
chosen freelancing for lack of traditional
employment opportunities.
Regardless of the reasons for seeking non-traditional
work, millennials have had an undeniable effect
on the agile talent model and are expected to
continue to enter the independent workforce in
growing numbers.8
Millennials as an Agile Talent Resource 7
of millennials have passed on job
opportunities because they did not
align with their personal values.
of millennials want to choose (within
limits) their own start and finish time
of the work day.
of millennials express a desire to work
remotely or want more opportunities
to do so.
of hiring managers say it’s difficult to
find and retain millennials.
of millennials feel all of their skillset is
not fully utilized.
49%
88%
75%
53%
72%

12. 12AGILE TALENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Just as companies are moving IT infrastructure
to the cloud to achieve scale and streamline
processes, efficiencies of similar proportion can
be gained by tapping into the cloud for talent.
Technology creates virtual workspaces that
allow workers to collaborate without physically
clustering together.
The companies driving this change have found
that many of the tasks currently allocated to
full- or part-time employees can be completed
more quickly and at a lower cost by freelancers
possessing the exact skills necessary to do each
job. Add to that their ability to access talent at the
exact time it’s needed, and companies embracing
the virtual workforce movement have a distinct
competitive advantage.
Competitive
Advantages
Today, as predicted, businesses relying upon a distributed workforce of freelancers
or 1099 contractors instead of – or in addition to – a team of full-time employees, has
become a trend that’s rapidly gaining momentum.
An agile talent model empowers managers to
better leverage internal team members’ skillsets
and create custom teams from a combination of
experts across multiple channels.
Benefits an agile talent model can provide:
• Allocate work to the individuals most suited
for each assignment
• Scale workforce up and down as needs change
• Access specific expertise or skillsets at a
moment’s notice
• Engage thousands of professionals to

13. AGILE TALENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE 13
In today’s market, it’s easier than ever to find
independent professionals with varied skillsets
and areas of expertise. A company can supplement
its internal workforce with scalable external talent
to complete just about any large project, including
the following:
• Administrative tasks, including data entry,
tagging and categorizing images and videos,
video transcription, and translation from one
language into another
• Skill-based tasks, such as graphic and web
design and development, copywriting and
editing, marketing campaigns, video editing
and instructional design
• Management tasks involving coordination of
resources, budgeting and project timelines
• Problem-solving tasks that require
engineering, science or programming skills
• Brainstorming ideas for product or service
innovations with the help of a global think-tank
• Transcription of audio files, which is particularly
suited for outsourcing, since audio files can be
split into multiple parts that are then assigned
to a team of remote transcriptionists who can
work simultaneously, rather than in sequence,
to return a complete, accurate product in a
timely fashion
complete large-scale projects
Opportunities to simplify operations with the use
of agile talent are essentially limitless. Not only
does the utilization of agile talent reduce costs
through more judicious applications of resources
without increasing the permanent workforce,
critical initiatives can be completed more
quickly, significantly increasing ROIs. Moreover,
agile talent may challenge an organization’s
conventional thinking and assumptions with
outside ideas.9
Whether it’s something as simple as data entry
or a complex task, such as 3D animation or
robotics engineering, the likelihood of finding an
expert with the time and ability to fulfill one’s
needs increases exponentially when searching

14. 14AGILE TALENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Although the technology exists to make operating
in a virtual work environment possible, employers
have found that searching for the right talent across
multiple freelance platforms can be time consuming,
and juggling various online collaboration tools can
quickly become unwieldy. In addition, many
employers are unaware of, or unprepared to comply
with, the complex labor regulations related to
using independent contractors.
At the same time, freelancers committed to
establishing careers outside of the traditional
full-time work model often find it equally difficult
to find a reliable source of freelance opportunities.
As businesses become more interested in
incorporating outside talent to accomplish their
goals, and specialists find they prefer contract
work to traditional, salaried employment, a need
The Future of
Agile Talent
for tools designed to bring these two groups
together has emerged. Just as technological
advances have fueled the advent of the on-demand
economy, software innovations are accelerating
a shift to agile talent as a go-to business strategy.
Coordinating assignments and deliverables
between internal and external project contributors
can exhaust a manager’s time and resources.
Even with a project management platform,
managers often find the process of integrating
teams, tracking progress and managing payments
to external contributors challenging.
As more companies adapt their talent models
to take advantage of this game-changing
approach, expect to see them embrace a new
breed of talent management platform in their
quest to realize their full potential.

15. AGILE TALENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE 15
If the objective is to streamline operations by
allocating the right assignments to the right talent,
the ideal solution is a platform that allows managers
to better leverage internal team members’ skillsets
and create custom teams from a combination of
experts across multiple channels.
A platform offering access to a large network of
freelancers that also contains an algorithmic
talent-evaluation system designed to match
pre-qualified talent with suitable projects takes
much of the burden off managers to sort through
multiple applications and evaluate individual
candidates. Such a platform empowers managers
and team members to dramatically boost
productivity by scaling operations as needed.
A truly effective platform for managing an agile
talent strategy needs not only easy access to
multiple talent channels, it must also feature a
built-in virtual workspace.
Robust project management and communication
tools allow managers to design project workflows
that seamlessly route assignments between
both internal and external contributors without
onboarding teams to multiple platforms.
Additionally, a platform that allows internal and
external team members to communicate in real-
time eliminates the need to jump between email,
project management platforms and in-document
comments to collaborate effectively.
With remote and internal teams collaborating
within the same work platform, disconnects in
productivity are less likely to occur. With all talent
channels and workflow procedures managed in a
central location in the cloud, managers can rely
upon real-time performance analytics and quality
control measures that apply to all workflows
across all teams.
Over 50 percent of companies plan to
increase their use of external talent over
the next three to five years.

16. AGILE TALENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE 16
Conclusion
As the on-demand economy becomes more ubiquitous,
the agile talent model is becoming a broader reality as
professionals throughout the world are discovering new
means to solve problems and increase productivity. Those
organizations that are developing agile talent strategies may
be ahead of the curve today, but the economic landscape
is evolving rapidly. Opportunities to allocate work more
effectively and simplify operations with the use of agile
talent are essentially limitless.
Reasons professionals choose to
work independently 10
· Flexible schedule
· Ability to choose interesting assignments
· Ability to work at home
· Multiple income streams

17. AGILE TALENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE 17
1
Accenture: Trend 2: Liquid Workforce: Building the Workforce
for Today’s Digital Demands. Technology Vision 2016
2
David Sarokin, Demand Media. How the Specialization of Labor
Can Lead to Increased Productivity, 2016, Houston Chronicle.
3
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dt13as.html
4
PwC 18th Annual Global CEO Survey: People Strategy for the
Digital Age.
5
Accenture: Trend 2: Liquid Workforce: Building the Workforce
for Today’s Digital Demands. Technology Vision 2016.
6
Thomas W. Malone, Robert Laubacher, & Tammy Johns, The Big
Idea: The Age of Hyperspecialization, Harvard Business Review,
July-August 2011.
7
Elance-oDesk 2015 Millennial Majority Workforce: Study Results.
8
MBO Partners State of Independence in America 2015: Five Years
of Inisight on the Growth of the Independent Workforce.
9
RBL Group survey (2013).
10
Contently State of Freelancing in 2015 Study.
Sources

18. AGILE TALENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE 18
OneSpace is a talent management platform specifically designed
to support an agile talent strategy from recruitment and talent
onboarding to compensation and compliance.
With OneSpace, managers can supplement their workforces with on-
demand external talent curated from an elite network of over 94,000
prequalified independent professionals. The platform streamlines
workflows and communication by providing a means for internal
and external teams to collaborate in a single, user-friendly virtual
workspace.
To date, OneSpace has facilitated more than 125 million completed
assignments for clients such as eBay, Facebook, Hallmark, Orbitz,
Overstock, Sears and Staples.
Schedule a demo of our platform today to see how you can revolutionize
the way you work.
(855) 276-9376
info@onespace.com
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