How a Global Industry Leader Uses Upwork to Keep Up With Changing Market Forces

Like most B2C companies, this global leader in nutritional sciences is keeping pace with modern demands by digitizing its operations and adapting how it engages with its consumers. And like many businesses, the company can’t do it alone.

“As part of that digital transformation comes two things,” said the company’s senior director of digital strategy and e-commerce. “One is to create winning digital experiences for our consumers. And the second, which is more internally led, is to drive a lot of organizational change and organizational mindset shift.”

So, the executive turned to Upwork.

His teams work to create engaging digital experiences that show consumers how their values are mirrored in the purpose and passion of the health and wellness company—but they lacked business agility and a diversity of viewpoints. Working with independent talent in a global marketplace provided those two advantages.

Accessing critical skills in a fraction of the time

Work is changing so quickly that not all projects require a full-time employee. Many times, teams require someone with a specific skill who can jump in at a certain time to complete a project.

That’s when a team member logs into the Upwork platform, finds the exact person they need, and gets work started quickly. The executive said:

“Upwork has been tremendous because having that ability is absolutely critical to whether we achieve our ultimate goals or not. We not only need this resource because of the expertise available in the marketplace, we need Upwork because of the speed and the agility that is demanded when you are working in digital. When you are working in digital, things change all the time.”

Overcoming initial biases and fears

In the beginning, employees were understandably hesitant to skill-source talent. “They worried, ‘Can I trust a freelancer working in another city to write my email?’ Then I asked them, ‘What’s the difference between that and trusting a large agency in New York to do the same?’”

The leader guided teams in overcoming their fears by shifting them to an outcomes-based mindset. “We started to think less about whether the talent was based in New York, and more about what that person was creating. Because in the end, all that matters is the outcome we’re trying to generate versus who does it.”

“If the decisions that we make to select talent are still based on a very elitist approach like where they’re located or whether they’re an employee, then we cut ourselves short on the potential of that talent.”

Embracing learning opportunities

A benefit the executive didn’t anticipate was how working with independent talent forces teams to start projects with a higher level of clarity. He said, “A lot of times we say, ‘We're trying this. If it works, great; if it doesn't, then we assess why.’ We need to employ enough critical thinking to really evaluate when something doesn't work.”

When a project doesn’t turn out as expected, teams aren’t afraid to ask themselves tough questions. Could the project brief have been written better? Did all project team members do their job? Did we contract the right skills for the project? Is the work something a freelancer should do? “Oftentimes we learned that when things don’t work out, it wasn’t the talent’s fault. It was because we could have done a better job,” he admitted.

Occasionally, the talent doesn’t work out. When that happens, the work can still continue moving forward. His core team first ensures they have a clear idea of their needs, then engage a new freelancer with the right skills for the task.

Leveraging collective mindshare

“I have a full-time team and there's a purpose for that. To be able to complement this really awesome team, who I'm really privileged to have, with independent talent is a winning proposition,” said the executive. He values how independent talent not only brings specific skill sets to projects, but also external perspectives gained from working with other companies.

What really makes a winning brand

In the beginning, the executive turned to Upwork just to get work done. But as his teams increasingly worked with independent talent from different countries and backgrounds, he believes Upwork facilitates another advantage that the business can’t do without:

“The perspectives they gain, not just as an employee, but as a human being, enriches the employee experience and gives them an environment to perform even better. If we don’t embrace the talent diversity available, and use Upwork to maximize it, we would be doing a disservice to our objective of creating winning consumer experiences. Because those experiences are being delivered to people who are very diverse too. In marketing, digitizing doesn’t create a winning brand—everyone must digitize. The brands that win are the ones that empathize with their consumers better.”

When he meets a business leader who is hesitant to give independent talent a try, he tells them, “There's no better way to validate or invalidate your fears than to give it a try. And my advice is to give it a try because the advantages are there: more agility, lower cost, and higher speed to source.”