Utmost -- the first extended workforce management system (EWS) -- is architected in a fundamentally unique and different way, with a single worker profile at its center. One worker profile means one source of truth for each individual across their entire engagement with an organization. This means any worker -- from intern to contractor to full-time employee to freelancer to retiree (or any combination along the way) only has one profile ever.

This single profile captures worker data, work description, skills, performance, availability, and more -- all within the core context of your HR information model. Not only does this allow organizations flexibility to manage workers on multiple simultaneous engagements, as workers move across engagements, details such as work history are updated. It also allows organizations to redeploy workers faster, lowers risk, improves the worker experience, and allows workers to own (and then manage) their data when it comes to on/offboarding, conversions, and more. 

This is a critical differentiator as we move towards a future where workers are defining how they want to work through new channels like talent pools and direct sourcing as freelancers, gig workers, SOW-based consultants, and independents. Traditional VMS solutions that managed the external workforce (i.e., a contractor coming in through a staffing supplier) were built on a collection of different modules depending on spend category. The first time a worker engaged with the VMS was to fill in a timesheet. Utmost is architected differently, putting the worker at the center of our system and allowing them to manage their data and work experience.

How does Utmost ensure only one worker profile?

Automatic deduplication checks examine multiple facets of provided worker identity such as contact, national ID, and personal data to properly identify the worker and correlate them with previous engagements, ensuring that only one profile is maintained per worker. All details, including work history, skills, certifications, education, and availability, are maintained in this profile.

This means the worker can access and manage their profile at any point and without needing a supplier to do so. This allows direct communication from your organization to workers and also enables you to capture a richer set of information, including communication details, COVID policy requirements, and diversity & inclusion data. As we know, this data set will only continue to grow. 

The Utmost platform has something fundamentally different in that we’re delivering a network of participants. Each entity (enterprise, worker, supplier) has its own identity and tenant and can manage its own data, workflows, and access. This allows you to manage all external resources, including your freelancers, independent contractors, consultants, SOW-based workers, gig workers, and more, as you do for your employees, and gives workers ownership of their data.

Why does this matter?

Accurate, timely data has always been the most challenging issue for external workforce management. VMS solutions provide neither the depth nor data necessary to understand skills, demand, availability, nor the breadth to support your total extended workforce in the way they want to work. Headcount tracking is easy, but tracking workers across engagements as they move in and out of your organization, understanding skills, costs, and performance delivered is not. There is a better way. 

This persistent profile is independent of the supplier, ensuring visibility should a worker have an assignment with one supplier, leave, and come back through another supplier, or in a direct relationship with your organization. 

Critically, the hiring organization maintains connectivity to the worker, even after the engagement has ended. Background checks, training, confidentiality agreements, code of conduct, and more continue to be valid across engagements or if a worker returns.  

In addition, the Utmost Worker App allows suppliers (and where necessary, hiring organizations) to communicate with workers by providing critical workplace notifications, a feature critical during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Fundamentally, it improves:

Engagement

Engaging and working with your non-employees to deliver an outstanding experience correlates to more productive workers, a better company culture, and a sense of engagement. Having a seamless process to offer workers -- regardless of how they engage with your organization -- is critical. 

Temp-to-hire conversions

Converting non-employees to employees across multiple systems is historically difficult. Often, workers need to be terminated as non-employees before they can be ‘rehired’ as employees, which leads to lost productivity (i.e., system access is disabled, a worker loses work history, email, drive access, LMS certifications, and more). The ability to move the extended workforce seamlessly without restarting the hiring process means fewer headaches for all parties involved. Bottom line, it keeps the worker working.

Data entry

Coming in and out of a company should be easy and painless. Workers shouldn’t have to input the same data multiple times in multiple systems. This creates frustration and room for error anytime you have to reduplicate information. 

Rather than data being entered into multiple systems, in Utmost, there is just one canonical source of worker data and one place where worker data is maintained for use by the supplier and hiring organization.

Reduced Administrative Overhead

On an annual basis, hiring managers spend up to a day per year entering data to onboard, move, extend, and offboard workers. Utmost’s persistent profiles eliminate much of this overhead and allow activities to be delegated to suppliers.  

Analytics on spend by worker

By tracking the spend across a worker throughout their engagement with an organization, Utmost can show exactly how much the organization is spending on a worker and what an individual worker costs (regardless of how they are engaged). This allows for holistic workforce planning and data-informed decision-making about the most appropriate type of hire. 

If you’d like to learn more about Utmost and how we are helping companies achieve total talent management, we’d love to hear from you at sales@utmost.co.