The 10 Must-Read Articles for Recruiters This Week

If you’re a recruiter struggling to fill your open reqs, a new survey from McKinsey & Company highlights another factor that may be contributing to hiring challenges: More and more U.S. workers are choosing to be independent workers.

In McKinsey’s latest iteration of its annual American Opportunity Survey, the consulting firm found that 36% of respondents described themselves as independent workers, up from 27% in 2016. That’s potentially a whopping 58 million U.S. workers who are choosing not to take on a full-time job for one employer, including those “working a short-term placement through a temporary agency, tutoring, driving passengers, delivering food or other products, short-term renting a personal property, creative jobs such as acting or writing, and substitute teaching.”

To find out more about this “underreported and understudied” group of workers — including that they have a rosier outlook than so-called traditional workers about their own futures and the greater economy — be sure to check out the top spot in our list below of must-read articles for talent professionals. And further down our list, you can also learn why some companies are cutting back employee parental leave; why everyone’s talking about crying bosses and CEOs; and why Gen Z is looking to escape the cubicle.

Here are the must-read articles from this week:

1. Freelance, Side Hustles, and Gigs: Many More Americans Have Become Independent Workers (McKinsey & Company)

2. When Your Boss Is Crying, but You’re the One Being Laid Off (The New York Times)

3. What Puzzling Effect Did COVID-19 Have on the U.S. Labor Market? An Expert Explains (World Economic Forum)

4. Companies Are Cutting Back on Maternity and Paternity Leave (The Wall Street Journal)

5. How to Recruit the Best LATAM Software Engineers (LatamList)

6. 5 Tactics That Will Help You Find Hidden Talent (LinkedIn Talent Blog)

7. Company’s Latest Retention Tool: Stay Interviews (Times of India)

8. Remote Startups Will Win the War for Top Talent (Future)

9. Gen Z Workers Demand Flexibility, Don’t Want to Be Stuffed in a Cubicle (The Washington Post)

10. Can We Stop with Forced Fun in the Workplace? (Refinery29)

This week’s must-listen podcast:

Onboarding Evolved (Recruiting Future with Matt Alder)

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