The Top 9 Workforce Terms You Need to Know

Over the last 10 years, the work world has been highly impacted by new workforce trends that have changed the way we work. These trends have shaped the language of the work world by giving us new terminology that reflects how employers are hiring and managing their workforce, and also describes how we are choosing to work. In order to effectively navigate your career, being well versed in terminology is necessary as you plan your next moves or search for new opportunities.

To help you get started, here are the top 7 terms you need to know and why.

Let's start with agile workforce.  

Today, an agile workforce is a talent pool that is nimble, flexible and responsive in a globally competitive market or in uncertain economic climates. It mixes full-time, part-time and independent workers, giving employers the opportunity to better respond to both customer demands and the next generation of workers who desire flexibility and lifestyle-driven work lives.

Additionally, an agile employer is a goal driven company that values collaboration, adapting to change, and trusting it's flexible workers. Pre-pandemic, employers were beginning to shift to an agile workforce. Post pandemic, after surviving one of the biggest disruptions of our time, employers realize the importance of being responsive to change and disruption. In a recent Randstad 2021 Talent Trends, 77% of employers said they planned to create more workforce agility. Workers who understand the agile mindset of employers will be better able to adapt and respond to employer needs.

Let's talk independent workforce.

An independent workforce is nothing new. For years, employers have hired an independent workforce of on-demand labour such as contractors, consultants, or freelancers. However, what has changed is the accelerated global growth of the independent workforce among highly skilled workers as companies learn how to respond to demands, disruption and competition through the use of technology.

Pre-pandemic, it was estimated by employer's in Randstad's Workforce 2025 report, that by 2025, 35% of the Canadian workforce would be made up of independent workers. In 2016, McKinsey Global Institute published one of the most comprehensive reports on the impact of an on-demand workforce across the globe called Independent Work: Choice, Necessity and the Gig Economy. At this time, it was estimated that 68M Americans were independent workers out of choice or necessity.

As businesses become more agile, they hire more independent workers. Workers who have the capacity to navigate both traditional and non-traditional opportunities will have an advantage because they will be adaptable, flexible and agile.

Let's look at the term independent worker.

An independent worker is a highly skilled worker who often specializes in a specific skill set or knowledge base allowing employers to tap into skills that are not present in their core workforce. Because they are self-employed and not on payroll, they are expected to take care of their taxes, benefits and pension. Their ability to network, build relationships with employers, and develop an entrepreneurial mindset is key to their success. The independent worker has also been called a contractor, consultant, freelancer or gig worker.

Professionals today need to know the difference between being an employee or an independent worker. In some cases, especially with more employees working remotely, on call, casually or seasonally, the lines can be blurry. Yet, it's important that professionals know the differences in order to ask the right questions in an interview, effectively negotiate an offer and also know how to do your taxes.

What’s the difference between traditional and non-traditional workers?

The traditional workforce is made up of permanent workers. This could be permanent part-time or permanent full-time workers who are often working on salary with benefits and have set hours. On the other hand, the non-traditional workforce is made up of on-demand workers whose hours will change depending on the needs of the employer. There are two groups of workers that make up the non-traditional workforce.

First, there are workers that are hired as employees and they work on-call, casually, seasonally, flexible part-time or full-time on contract. With this model in Canada, the employer takes off the workers pay tax, Employment Insurance and CPP. Secondly, there are workers that are hired as self-employed independent workers such as freelancers, contractors and consultants. Independent workers pay their own taxes and contribute to their own benefits.

The non-traditional workforce has grown because it allows employers the opportunity to dial up or dial down their workforce, hire workers with specific skills to work on certain projects or hire workers who want more freedom and flexibility in their work lives

What about the gig economy?

Over the years, the term "gig economy" has evolved globally and now includes subsections. It is now the umbrella term for on-demand labour and can be described as an economy of trading goods and services that supports temporary work as opposed to permanent work.

As already mentioned, the need for employers to dial up or dial down their talent pool to be responsive to disruption, consumer demands and to stay competitive in their industry has driven the growth in the gig economy (on-demand labour). Because of technology access and a globally talented workforce, solopreneurs, startup companies and established employers now have access to remote, independent workers from around the world through talent hubs such as Fiverr, Freelancer.com, HireMyMom and Upwork, to name a few. This creates the opportunity for workers from around the globe to create lucrative side hustles, become a digital nomad or work from anywhere in the world.

Which brings me to remote workers.

A remote worker is characterized by their lack of physical presence in the workplace. Consequently, the pandemic accelerated the growth in remote work and normalized it. A remote worker can now work from the top of Mt. Everest (depending on the Wifi connection) or can be minutes from the office working from home.  

Although the pandemic forced many of us into remote work, now that we are used to it, many employers and workers want to continue working either fully remote or in a hybrid model. Additionally, remote workers have realized they can move out of larger centers to smaller more affordable communities or take advantage of locations where the sun shines brighter and hotter.  The shift to a remote workforce isn't going to go away. From an employers perspective, it saves significant costs in housing workers. From the workers perspective, it saves precious time and the costs associated with a daily commute, a work wardrobe, lunches out, and parking.

We can’t forget side hustles.

A side hustle is a side income in addition to your full-time job. It can be a casual job, task-based gigs, freelance work, or an entrepreneurial venture. A side hustle job is a great way to get your foot in the door of a new industry or make extra income. A side hustle gig is a great way to build your skills or a portfolio of work. A side hustle business is a great way to flex your entrepreneurial muscles.

Over the last 10 years, side hustles have grown out of choice or necessity. Gig platforms have made it easier to pick up task-based side hustles. The growth in remote work has reduced commute time making it easier for workers to fit in a side hustle. As well, the desire for flexibility and autonomy have made many workers take an entrepreneurial risk and start a business based side hustle.

Side hustles also add extra income to our bank accounts as the cost of living increases making it a growing necessity for many families to have an extra source of income to add to their full-time salary.

Finally, what is a portfolio careerist?

Portfolio careerists are workers that income stream by combining full-time, part-time, freelance, contract, consulting, seasonal, project based or entrepreneurial ventures. (Typically, not all of the above simultaneously, but SOME of the above simultaneously). Someone who has a side hustle can also be classified as a portfolio careerist because they are streaming income from two sources, a full-time job and a side hustle income.

The portfolio career approach to work is nothing new. People have been income streaming for centuries. The farmer who worked off the farm, sold cattle, eggs and rented out a room in their home is an example of a portfolio careerist. However, the term portfolio careerist is a relatively new term in North America.  We have been called multi-trackers, slash careerists and, of course, the bad word of the 1950s, wait for it...MOONLIGHTER. Remember when you couldn't have that night time gig singing in seedy bars because it would look bad to your daytime employer? Well, those days are over. 

Prior to the pandemic, the trend towards a portfolio career was growing. Today, the growth in portfolio careers has coincided with the growth in gig work across North America. It also reflects the need for workers to be more flexible, able to adapt to workforce trends, labour market shifts, and pivot to meet their personal, career and financial needs.

The changing world of work has rapidly generated new opportunities. We now have a a talent pool of non-traditional workers and new terminology that workers need to know to effectively navigate their careers. This new vocabulary both shapes and reflects how employers are managing their workforce and how we are working.

Gail Kastning is a Certified Career Strategist and a portfolio careerist. She regularly interviews portfolio careerists and people with out of the box careers. She features them on her blog and in her speaking engagements.

No Job Title? Seriously.

Through my career services work, I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet hundreds of people from around the world who have come to Canada to live and work. I have learned, from these international job seekers, that job titles can have significant meaning in cultures, creating an important marker of status, value and prosperity. In North America, our job title is also important, giving us a sense of identity and worth.

As a career practitioner and portfolio careerist, although I see the benefit and structure job titles create in the work world, they also can have a negative impact on our sense of self-worth, skewing our decision making in the work search process. Several years ago, I was facilitating an interview skills workshop when I met a man from Africa who had a degree, but when he came to Canada as a refugee, he couldn't find work in his field. At his time of arrival, he had very little English, no Canadian experience and no Canadian education. These factors created barriers, making it difficult for him to access his field. For years, he studied English and eventually found work as a security guard, also doing odd jobs on the side. When he found himself in my interview skills workshop, he was out of work for the first time. As participants practiced accomplishment stories, he quietly confessed that he felt like a failure, and he could not identify one accomplishment since his arrival.

This lovely man adapted to a new culture, learned a new language, found a job when he had little English, raised his children, paid his bills, contributed to his new country and had saved to put his children through university and he felt like a failure because of his job title. When we pointed out all of his accomplishments and his personality traits of tenacity and adaptability, his countenance changed. The participants in his group affirmed his value through his work and the challenges he had overcome. They brainstormed his accomplishments in a new way and he left that workshop with a new sense of pride and purpose, having never looked at his accomplishments through this lens.

Job titles can undermine our sense of value and they can also skew our decisions. Recently, I have met job seekers in our current recession in Alberta who have turned down jobs, preferring to pay bills on credit rather than accept a job that is "beneath them" (their words not mine) in title and pay. I have also met job seekers who have asked me if they should travel for long lengths of time on their severance package, not because they can afford it, but because they are concerned about filling a gap in work history. They wonder if travel is better to put on their resume than a job that doesn't carry weight in their industry.

I understand the underlying concerns job seekers have around working outside of that job title box, the monetary value and the career ladder they are trying to climb. I also understand that folks are worried about the "what ifs". What if I get a better offer in six months? What do I do when the economy turns around and I want to go back to what I did before? These are all legitimate questions. However, I am left to wonder how long people can wait for that perfect fit. I'm left to wonder how long folks can go without work and still make their bills. I'm also left wondering when did a good day's work and just the simple act of supporting ourselves regardless of title stop being enough?

Zappos and Gusto are two companies, featured in the below links, that wondered the same thing. They got rid of job titles in their organizations because they believed it would strengthen their company culture and put the focus back where it needs to be - on a good day's work. They claimed titles created barriers, unnecessary power distance and prevented the flow of creativity and growth. I give these organizations props for test driving this "No Job Title" idea. It's a brave thing to do.

However, as career practitioner, I'm in the business of work search and career management so I clearly understand that job titles are still used for necessary markers of negotiation, promotion and access into higher paying positions within an organization. However, as a portfolio careerist (someone who streams income from multiple sources) I don't pay as much attention to job titles because I'm not necessarily looking to climb a ladder. I'm building a portfolio tree where the focus is on creating income streams, building relationships and looking for opportunities to add benefit and value. The portfolio style of work does blur the boundaries that bind us to job titles, and challenges us to view work in a new way.

This doesn't mean we have to end all job titles in the workforce. That isn't realistic. However, if you read the articles below on organizations that have eliminated titles, it is an interesting concept to just get rid of them altogether to see if that frees us up to work differently. Personally, I would just like to see us relax a little around job titles in our culture. It would be really nice for a job seeker to feel comfortable taking a lower paid job that has less status because for them it is a wiser thing to do for their long term financial freedom. I would prefer that job seekers not be scared of what that "outside of their industry" job would look like on their resume, or be concerned about what their friends would think.

In our current economy, many career development specialists and recruiters suggest that job seekers become open, flexible and be willing to do something new because these are valuable skill sets that employers prefer to see in potential candidates. I know we aren't going to completely eliminate job titles, at least not yet. It appears the world of work is not yet ready for Zappos CEO's Holacracy concept. I guess the "No Job Title" idea was too confusing. Nonetheless, could we please just relax a little and meet the needs of an organization that needs our help? 

I would like to end with two quick stories. I met a woman a few months ago who was a laid off accountant from the oil and gas industry and she was helping out her friend who owns a restaurant. She was serving, working in the kitchen, and doing whatever needed to get done. She said she didn't necessarily have a job title, but she added, "I quite like the variety and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I don't know if I'm going back to what I did before." She was exploring new options.

I recently learned that an old family friend had lost their job. He worked for oil and gas too. Surprisingly, through connections, he landed a new job building sets for a film. After building one set, he now has more projects in the film industry lined up. Who knows, he may be headed in a new career direction. 

What I learned from these stories? If we just relax a little around our job title and meet the needs around us, we not only can find work, we just never know where something new may lead us.

Click on these links for articles on eliminating job titles:

Companies without job titles: Gusto

Impact of job title removal: Zappos