Joe Fuller: Welcome to the Managing the Future of Work podcast from Harvard Business School. I’m Harvard Business School professor and visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Joe Fuller. This episode is one of the series of special dispatches on the sweeping effects of Covid-19 on our economy, society, and the future of work. In addition to our regular podcast episodes, we will be bringing you shorter and more frequent interviews with business leaders, policy makers, and leading scholars on the coronavirus.

The Covid-19 pandemic has obligated many employers to furlough or lay off large numbers of workers at an unprecedented rate. At the beginning of May 2020, the US and other developed economies had unprecedented levels of joblessness. In order to help alleviate that situation, several chief human resource officers—or CHROs—of leading companies came together. Their idea was to create a marketplace in which employers could help provide opportunities for furloughed or laid-off workers by placing them with other employers of the B2B marketplace. To enable that, Accenture, the global consulting firm, spearheaded the creation of People + Work Connect, an online business-to-business job-placement platform. The service, now up and running in 44 countries has already facilitated multiple transactions between the companies involved. I’m joined today by Accenture’s Mary Kate Morley Ryan and Nicholas Whittall, who led the effort to launch the People + Work Connect platform. Mary Kate and Nicholas, welcome to the Covid dispatch from the Managing the Future of Work podcast.

Nicholas Whittall: Thank you so much for having us today.

Mary Kate Morley Ryan: Yes, thank you Joe.

Fuller: Covid-19 caught a lot of companies flat-footed. They went from nearly full-bore operations to being flat-footed. You organized this concept of People + Work Connect very quickly at Accenture. Could you tell us a little bit about how you had the vision to do it and how it got launched?

Whittall: I’d be happy to, Joe. As we’ve looked across the landscape, we’ve already seen five main themes emerging from this economic and health crisis. First, how do companies predict workforce shifts? Second, how do they determine the right skills for their future? Third, how do they connect workers at pace and scale to work? And that’s both within their organization and potentially what we’re seeing—and I’ll dive into that a little bit more—across their organization boundaries to other organizations. The fourth thing is, how do we accelerate learning to prepare for this future that we’re headed toward? Then, ultimately, how do we create that shared workforce resilience? So it was against this backdrop on March 24th that our CHRO, Ellyn Shook, and Eva Sage-Gavin convened about 36 different CHROs for a dialogue. It was during that discussion that the conversation quickly turned toward this concept of significant workforce shifts occurring across industry lines. After the call, four CHROs came together from Accenture, Verizon, Lincoln Financial Group, and ServiceNow with a view that the well-being of our people was really fundamental to protect. We took the principle of, we want to get something out there quickly that is going to provide some value to companies and, ultimately, to individuals, to families, to the economy. So we took a couple of design principles of: we’re going to keep this simple and scalable; it’s going to be open to all; it’s going to be free of charge. In 14 short days, we got something out the door. But it was really, we were very specific about what we felt the need was that we could provide a solution for. Unfortunately, Accenture and Verizon, Lincoln Financial Group, ServiceNow couldn’t create [inaudible 00:04:04] but we could create a technology platform to connect workers to work. We threw our weight behind that, and the support and response has just been overwhelming. It’s been incredible to see how companies have really responded.

Fuller: Mary Kate, could you just tell me what happens between companies using the platform? What’s the nature of the exchange?

Ryan: Sure, Joe. As Nicholas shared, this is a B2B platform founded by a group of CHROs. One comment I want to make about that is, they’re all females. And maybe in some of your work, Joe, you’ve seen some of the research around various leadership styles. I think Ellyn Shook, our CHRO, recently shared that there’s a fair amount of research around how women use relationships to accelerate change versus broadcasting and telling people what to do. And that’s exactly what happened here. So the platform is really an enabler to remove that friction. The magic is really in the human-to-human connection that is facilitated by the technology. So organizations provide specific details around the available roles that they have or their available workers, and then they’re able to see that information on the platform. For example, if I’m a large retailer—which we already have some of the largest retailers in the world on the platform along with upwards of a 100,000 roles—and I currently have a surge of needed workers—for instance, in Orlando, which is experiencing some record rates of unemployment due to heavy dependency on tourism and travel. I might see several hundred workers from other organizations available on that platform who have been temporarily furloughed. I can use the technology to see what types of workers are available in Orlando, and then I can reach out to the point of contact listed for those available workers who either have clearly related skills or potentially adjacent skills to quickly offer temporary or even long-term employment in my organization.

Fuller: How do the economics of this work? Is it that the organization that needs the workers is compensating, let’s say, the current employer if the employee is on some kind of furlough or part-time compensation? How do the numbers clear?

Ryan: Yeah, great question, Joe. I think we’re really leaving that up to the employers to work out between themselves. We are not getting in the middle of that right now. But there have been some interesting partnerships. I don’t know if, Nicholas, you want to speak to some of the things that we’ve seen.

Whittall: Yeah. I think what we’re seeing is, as Mary Kate said, we’re certainly leaving it to the two companies to determine how best to approach that. The four companies did provide some of their best leaders within their companies around the concept and topic of benefits to determine what might be some thoughts or thought process, considerations, as companies really engage in a match to determine how to iron things out. But in order to scale the platform across the globe, we have taken certain decisions to ensure that the data we are requesting retains no personal identifiable information. So we are kept in a very green spot from a legal consideration standpoint. And one of the other legal quagmires could be how prescriptive you start getting and how companies are announcing the arrangement that they want to broker. So we’ve really left that to the two companies to determine.

Fuller: I imagine that can be quite complicated given even large companies certainly are dealing in multiple jurisdictions that have different regulatory legal requirements for employers and have introduced different programs for supporting workers who are on furlough. So it must be really quite complicated to sort out all the details. Makes sense, of course, you leave it to the two consenting parties to work through that. Is the design to get groups of workers deployed? We’ve heard, for example, of companies shifting their entire call centers from their ongoing normal everyday business use to the use of, for example, government agencies in the United States. Is it really about groups of employees or entire teams of employees? Or does it go down to the level of the individual?

Whittall: What we focused on what it is—Mary Kate touched on it—a business-to-business platform. We’re not connecting through this platform an individual that got furloughed to their next job. We felt that there were technology platforms that already existed out there. What we’re providing is visibility to senior business and HR leaders into the puts and takes that are occurring within the workforce. And we’re also providing insights into best practices of how other companies are addressing, navigating, through this crisis. Those are the two fundamental purposes that we believe this platform will fill the gap for. But it is not a human capital management system, it’s not a job board for individuals, and we’re not being prescriptive in the recommendations that we might house within the knowledge exchange. We call it “our minimally lovable product” because we felt that we had to start somewhere and scale from there. So far, as I said, we’ve had probably 800 companies leaning in to discover more about People + Work Connect. We’re in the process of onboarding around 400 companies now. There’s certainly a lot of interest in ensuring that collectively we can make an impact on people and, as organizations think about their role, how they can connect workers to the future of work for themselves.

Fuller: That’s a great little phrase. I’d certainly look into trademarking that, copyright it if you can. Or get it on some tee shirts. It sounds like this has gained a lot of steam in terms of the number of companies involved. Was that just organic? Or is that through Accenture’s client-service partners? How’d you get hundreds of companies involved in this amount of time?

Ryan: So it was a mix, Joe. We’ve had obviously sort of public information and communications that have gone out across a couple of different platforms. But really that core group of people who Nicholas mentioned, those four CHROs—Ellyn Shook, Pat Waters, Lisa Buckingham, and Christy Pambianchi—really leveraged their networks through various HR groups, policy groups, and frankly, personal connections to really do one-on-one reach-outs to some of the other CHROs. Then those folks have talked to other people, and those folks have talked to other people. And then, at the same time, to your point, as appropriate, if our clients have reached out to us, we share information. It is not a push approach at all. It’s more of a, if our clients have interest, we provide very one-on-one information, and they can decide if it’s a good fit for what they have right now.

Whittall: Just building on that thought from Mary Kate, what I have been struck by is the power of the networks that the CHROs that founded People + Work Connect have. We set out to launch this. We thought that there would be a level of interest. But their ability to galvanize the CHRO community around their role in responding to the economic and health crisis has been incredibly impressive. So we often think about People + Work Connect is, in part, a technology platform that has a solution associated with it. But the other important part is this network of connected individuals and CHROs that are really leading the charge and helping their companies figure out how they respond to the crisis that’s unfolding.

Fuller: Do those networks extend down to medium-size companies, people in larger companies, supply chains, or their customers? Or is this pretty much big-name, well-known MNCs with tens of thousands of employees?

Whittall: No, it certainly extends down to medium-size enterprises as well. We set out with one of our design principles as that we’d launch four companies with a volume of 100-plus roles or 100-plus workers. We’ve now got critical mass on the data side, and we believe that there is real valuable insight that can be derived. We have some very large participating companies that both have workers that were made available as well as jobs that they’re looking to fill. So we have a number of companies that I would not classify as large by any means. But they really believe that they have a need, and they are rolling up their sleeves and participating alongside us.

Fuller: It’s interesting that you should mention companies that both have workers available and workers they need. Can you illustrate, either one of you, some examples of that? What do people have in surplus or on furlough? What do they need instead?

Whittall: So let me take a quick spin at that. A large retailer needs cleaners, especially in light of Covid. They need cleaners for their distribution centers, for their warehouses, for their stores—a prolific number more cleaners than what they used to need. The hospitality industry has furloughed a significant number of cleaners as their hotels have closed down. Obviously, those hotels will reemerge and reopen. But in the interim, there’s a real synergy between a cleaner who is providing services in a hospitality setting with an individual that’s needed in retail today. Those are the kinds of connections and matches that we’re seeing. But it’s not just on a certain type of worker perspective. We’re seeing the breadth and spectrum of workforce types, job types, emerging through the engagement we have with various companies that span everything from frontline workers to knowledge workers and everything in between. So there’s quite a lot of encouraging signs that the platform has a use case beyond a certain industry or a certain type of job, and we’re really seeing a lot of applicability across multiple lines.

Fuller: If we go back to the beginning, you had those four CHROs who met and the team around them had some sense of some possibilities here in terms of what could be achieved. What were those purposes? And what has unfolded? What’s actually been achieved? Have there been any surprises?

Ryan: I think I’ll take this one. It really started with how do we keep people in work? And what resources and what capabilities do CHROs have in the role that they serve in organizations? And how can they use that role to serve society? That’s really the conversation that we held. At what was coincidentally our periodic convening of CHROs, we actually had had our CEO, Julie Sweet, join that group and talk about the importance from her view as a CEO of the role of CHROs now—within a company, but also within society. So that’s, I think, really how the conversation started. Then to Nicholas’s point on just how impressive and inspiring these women have been around galvanizing and bringing other people to the table, I think to me that is remarkable, but not surprising, I guess in some cases—just the power of those networks. I think some of the other things that have been, frankly, beautiful to hear about and witness and then have some of the conversations with our clients is the interest in talking about more things around portability of benefits and portability of credentials. Joe, you mentioned that’s a very complicated conversation when we think about the legal requirements and we look at different geographies. But the fact that people are willing to have that conversation and really start to work on the nitty-gritty components and complex processes to me signifies that we’re going to see some more changes over the coming months—and say it’s months or coming 18 months or so here—that will last for a long time and really serve people well.

Fuller: Two of the companies that cooperated early on the platform where Walmart and Nordstrom—obviously two different ends of the spectrum in terms of their retail strategies. Can you share a little bit about how they put this to use?

Whittall: So, Joe, as you mentioned, they were both actually very kind in joining the other four CHROs in an open discussion about that. But if you consider a CHRO has a prolific network today—I think what Walmart has found and what Donna Morris shared in the discussion was having visibility in a single-stop shop, where the puts and takes occurring across the spectrum has been incredibly helpful as they’ve sought to ramp up their workforce significantly. On the other side of the equation, those companies that are furloughing or laying off I think see an incredibly important role that they can play in helping in whatever way they can to connect their workers to the future of work. So I think what we heard from Christine [Deputy] at Nordstrom was this social responsibility to their workforce and their workers and ensuring that they’re doing everything they can to bring visibility into where the opportunities exist within the geographies that they do business in. So I think it’s been encouraging to see both sides of the spectrum—those that are seeking to hire at pace and at scale and those that are in a situation where they’ve, unfortunately, had to furlough workers for a period of time—really coming together to say, “How do we solve this challenge collectively? And what role could we jointly play in getting people to work?”

Fuller: A lot of the companies you’ve mentioned—Verizon, Nordstrom, or Lincoln Financial—are US based. Obviously Walmart, Accenture are global companies. Is this primarily a US and North American phenomenon, or are you getting some global reach with it as well?

Whittall: We’re getting a lot of global reach. We’re live now across 44 different countries. We are also in discussions—this is not just a platform for the private sector—we’re in a number of conversations with states and local public-sector entities to determine how they might leverage the platform to provide visibility into their needs. A lot of the public sector is seeking to hire workers, especially as they administer their own versions of the stimulus packages. That has required a number of additional people to be staffed in those agencies. So we think that there is a lot of value in continuing to pursue and onboard the public-sector entities, and we’re continuing to do that on a daily basis. We have conversations across the globe with various entities, but so far in 44 countries and growing.

Fuller: I know that you’re probably exhausted from all the work of having set this up, and it’s only a couple of weeks old in terms of being live and available. But do you think about extending it beyond just additional geographies or employers? Are there other capabilities you’ve been discussing with your CHRO compatriots or clients—I don’t know quite how you think about them—about what more is going to be needed?

Ryan: There have been a lot of asks in that space, Joe. I think Nicholas and I and many others across Accenture, as well as that core group, have fielded a lot of different requests and thoughts around various partnerships. I think we continue to hold to those initial design principles and that ethos of “minimal lovable product” and make sure that we’re continuing to provide value and not overcommit or go into spaces where there’s lots of different players and there’s folks that are already adding value. Nicholas, what would you add there?

Whittall: No, I think you hit the nail on the head there, Mary Kate. I think we’ve kept things simple and scalable. This is an investment from Accenture’s perspective, and I will add that Verizon, ServiceNow, Lincoln Financial Group have been phenomenal partners that have really had a significant amount of skin in the game as well. We’ve made a decision right from the get-go that this is not charged for. It is free, and it will remain free for as long as it’s needed. From that perspective, we want to make sure that we focus on doing a great job with the need that we see and not overextend ourselves.

Fuller: Do you have any sense of how long it will be needed? Or are you thinking about this as something that will stay up and running indefinitely or just until the first wave of re-openings is settled and maybe it’s getting back closer to business as usual?

Whittall: I think we view the pendulum has swung out as far as the initial wave of furloughs and layoffs that we’ve seen, the initial surge of hiring that we’ve seen in certain companies. We are going to see the pendulum swing back as the hiring starts to reignite within those companies that have furloughed workers. Determining based on how we see the fall play out, whether there’s a reemergence of Covid in some form or fashion, we see the value of the platform measured in sort of a-year-to-18-month increments, not in a one- to two-month increment. We think it’s going to have a valuable place to play for a good year or 18 months.

Fuller: I’m interested that Accenture has approached this as a contribution, as opposed to a service, because it sounds like it’s actually quite a valuable business service.

Ryan: Yeah, Joe. I think, as Nicholas shared, we really started out with the intent of not really monetizing this platform. And it’s free. People + Work Connect is really about facilitating and navigating uncertainty together.

Fuller: Well, Mary Kate Morley Ryan and Nicholas Whittall of Accenture, thanks so much for joining us on this Covid-19 dispatch from the Managing the Future of Work podcast with this fascinating story of the creation of People + Work Connect.

Whittall: Thank you, Joe.

Ryan: Thanks, Joe.

Fuller: Thank you for listening to this special episode of the Managing the Future of Work podcast. To find out more about our project on the future of work and for more information on the coronavirus’s impact, visit our website at hbs.edu/managing-the-future-of-work and sign up for our newsletter.