Global Virtual Labor Markets: The "Human Cloud" and Offshore Employee Leasing
Author(s)
Ross, Peter K
Ressia, Susan
Sander, Elizabeth J
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2017
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The human Cloud and offshore employee leasing (OEL) labor market models represent a paradigm shift in the way that firms engage and manage workers and our characterization of the workplace itself, as firms increasingly leverage the skills on offer in global virtual labor markets (GVLMs). In many ways, these models epitomize the impacts that new information and communication technologies (ICTs) are having on globally competitive labor markets and build on the virtual teleworker models outlined in Chapter 2. Supported and enabled by Cloud-based collaborative tools (see Chapter 4) coupled to increasingly ubiquitous internet ...
View more >The human Cloud and offshore employee leasing (OEL) labor market models represent a paradigm shift in the way that firms engage and manage workers and our characterization of the workplace itself, as firms increasingly leverage the skills on offer in global virtual labor markets (GVLMs). In many ways, these models epitomize the impacts that new information and communication technologies (ICTs) are having on globally competitive labor markets and build on the virtual teleworker models outlined in Chapter 2. Supported and enabled by Cloud-based collaborative tools (see Chapter 4) coupled to increasingly ubiquitous internet access, GVLMs have developed into “sourcing ecosystems” that allow firms to tap into virtual worldwide workforces via Cloud-based middlemen (Kaganer, Carmel, Hirscheim, & Olsen, 2012, p. 23). The human Cloud has been defined as “a type of workforce where tasks or projects, not jobs, are performed remotely and on demand by people who are not employees but independent workers” (FT, 2016). While this definition accords with the subcontractor internet “platform worker” typology (O’Connor, 2015), the labor market skills that can be accessed through human Cloud-based platforms, along with the nature of their governance structures and subsequent employment relationships, varies markedly. This chapter therefore goes beyond the sometimes relatively narrow discussion of the human Cloud worker, by examining the differing types of labor skill sets, internet platform services, and governance structures that are being offered within this multifaceted environment. It further contrasts and compares the subcontractor internet platform worker typology, with the concurrent growth of Cloud-supported OEL models, such as “staff leasing” arrangements that allow firms to “co-manage” overseas-based workers in partnership with business process outsourcing (BPO) firms (Ross, 2016). The chapter places these rapidly emerging labor market trends in the context of historical outsourcing and offshoring governance models and trends.
View less >
View more >The human Cloud and offshore employee leasing (OEL) labor market models represent a paradigm shift in the way that firms engage and manage workers and our characterization of the workplace itself, as firms increasingly leverage the skills on offer in global virtual labor markets (GVLMs). In many ways, these models epitomize the impacts that new information and communication technologies (ICTs) are having on globally competitive labor markets and build on the virtual teleworker models outlined in Chapter 2. Supported and enabled by Cloud-based collaborative tools (see Chapter 4) coupled to increasingly ubiquitous internet access, GVLMs have developed into “sourcing ecosystems” that allow firms to tap into virtual worldwide workforces via Cloud-based middlemen (Kaganer, Carmel, Hirscheim, & Olsen, 2012, p. 23). The human Cloud has been defined as “a type of workforce where tasks or projects, not jobs, are performed remotely and on demand by people who are not employees but independent workers” (FT, 2016). While this definition accords with the subcontractor internet “platform worker” typology (O’Connor, 2015), the labor market skills that can be accessed through human Cloud-based platforms, along with the nature of their governance structures and subsequent employment relationships, varies markedly. This chapter therefore goes beyond the sometimes relatively narrow discussion of the human Cloud worker, by examining the differing types of labor skill sets, internet platform services, and governance structures that are being offered within this multifaceted environment. It further contrasts and compares the subcontractor internet platform worker typology, with the concurrent growth of Cloud-supported OEL models, such as “staff leasing” arrangements that allow firms to “co-manage” overseas-based workers in partnership with business process outsourcing (BPO) firms (Ross, 2016). The chapter places these rapidly emerging labor market trends in the context of historical outsourcing and offshoring governance models and trends.
View less >
Book Title
Work in the 21st Century: How Do I Log on?
Subject
Human resources management
Social Sciences
Business
Management
Business & Economics