EY builds digital HR tools to find, place gig workers

Tax and advisory company EY has developed a digital HR tool to better manage its contract work.

Earlier this year, the firm deployed an internally created job-placement portal called GigNow. The system lets freelancers and contractors interested in working at EY remotely upload their resumes. GigNow then uses advance search and ranking capabilities to sort through freelancers’ skills and match them with openings, according to Carolyn Slaski, EY’s vice chair of talent. The company says it is in the process of adding AI capabilities to the platform.

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Ernst & Young LLP employee Ruth Lloyd takes a break outside their building in New York's Times Squart on July 2, 2003. Ernst & Young LLP, the fourth-largest accounting firm, has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a U.S. Internal Revenue Service inquiry into its sale of tax shelters. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News.

Likewise, gig workers can remotely access the portal and search for assignments based on keywords, such as job title, service line, competency or skills; location; the anticipated duration of the project, such as less than six months, six to nine months or more than nine months; and a part-time or full-time contract.

“We’ve been promoting it through many different avenues to get contractors to load into the database,” Slaski says, which includes reaching out to EY’s existing pool of temp workers and former employees.

See also: 5 trends affecting the gig economy

The system was brought online in March. Since then more than 1,000 positions have been listed and 622 have been filled through the platform.

The move to harness contract workers comes as the gig economy grows. More than half (51%) of employees said they are interested in contract or freelance work as opposed to a full-time job, according to MetLife’s annual U.S. employee benefits trends study published in April.

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