Flexible Work Solutions

Independent contractors/freelancers/independent consultants, whatever they choose to call themselves they are a growing, critical segment of the workforce.  In a recent Harvard Business Review article, the concept of “supertemps” – top managers and professionals who choose project-based work over traditional working arrangements - was introduced:

They’re increasingly trusted by corporations to do mission-critical work that in the past would have been handled by permanent employees or established outside firms. New intermediaries have sprung up to create a market for such marquee talent. Supertemps are growing in number, and we think they’re on the verge of changing how business works. Both the independent talent and corporations stand to benefit.

Union membership accounts for less than 20% of the current American workforce, with less than 10% of the private workforce.  HR professionals tend to divide into a small group of generalists who eat, breathe, and live collective bargaining, and a much larger portion of us who simply thank our lucky stars that we don’t have to deal with that level of confrontation.  We know we have to pay attention to Title VII, the ADA-AA, the USERRA, the FLMA, and the FLSA, among many others.  However, we tend to regard the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) as something that only those poor souls who work in “labor relations” need to worry about.
Unfortunately, we’re wrong.  The NLRA applies to your workplace whether you want it to or not.

One new report finds that CEOs' chief talent challenge is the recruitment and retention of high-potential middle managers, while another survey finds those same managers are missing out on personal-development opportunities within their own organizations. What's HR's role in keeping these middle managers from leaving?