More than likely, a good proportion of your traditional (full-time, permanent) employees are seeking more flexibility in their careers. We know this because free agency is on the rise worldwide, and there’s an increasing focus on this workstyle among those with higher education and skill-sets.

Rather than just accepting that these workers will inevitably leave your organization and that their skills and knowledge will go with them, companies can consider creating alternative career paths for employees. By developing ‘free-agent’ career paths for current employees, you can give workers another option to stay engaged with your organization.

Implementing programs to keep these talent pools engaged brings many benefits, including:

- Helping you to leverage the intellectual capital of alumni and retirees;
- Lowering your future HR risk and uncertainty by having access to a qualified, experienced pool of talent;
- Providing access to high-quality hires (since you know in advance the skills and competencies of the individual);
- Expedited time to hire; and
- Expedited time to productivity: because these individuals know the culture and processes of the company, they can add real value more quickly than traditional hires.
Case in point: retirees to the rescue

At Kelly Services®, we work with many clients to develop programs for alumni and retiree talent pools. For example, we developed a solution for an insurance client that taps into their vast retiree database to respond to catastrophic events like tornadoes and hurricanes. When the need arises, retirees are ready to be deployed to the troubled area within hours.

This program gives the client access to a qualified, experienced talent pool that can be scaled up and down with speed, and it allows the retirees to be “back in the action” while maintaining the freedom and flexibility they desire.

Do you need a similar program?

This post is extracted out of the free Ebook, 7 Ways Organizations Can Capitalize on the Free Agent Workstyle Trend.
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Photo Credit - Flickr®User - Víctor Nuño