Talent as a Service (TaaS) in Poland’s Business Service Sector: Opportunities and Challenges in a Digitalized Labour Market

The purpose of this article is to present the TaaS (Talent as a Service) model and the opportunities and limitations of its uptake as a form of work delivery and competence building. The accumulation of factors affecting the labour market, such as the consequences of the 2008 economic crisis, pandemics and disrupted supply chains, the war in Ukraine and the start of economic wars, have had an impact on the international division of labour. The factors outlined above are further reinforced by the digital transformation and, as a result, a large number of people will have to invent their own workplaces, based on new types of work organization that exploit digital markets and platforms. In the context of the phenomena described above, the spread of the TaaS model seems to be an inevitable and even desirable measure. Arguably, under the TaaS model referred to, only those with the right set of competences will have a rewarding job. This text aims to identify opportunities for the use of the new hiring model in the business services sector (BSS) in particular. The article adopts a broad definition of the sector, including the activities of BPO, SSC, GBS, IT, and R&D centres. The geographic scope of the analysis covers mainly Poland, as the expertise relates to organizations located in Poland and essentially using local human resources, and labour market conditions, employee attitudes are key to talent management strategies. In terms of work form solutions and talent management concepts, a broad perspective is taken, taking into account the possibilities of flexible knowledge workers in a hybrid model from a workplace perspective. The trends in the modern business services sector point to three key issues related to talent management in the GBS sector: multifunctionality (more than three functions) resulting in competence diversity in the workforce, an emphasis on developing a strong culture, well-being, and flexible working practices as assets in the battle for talent and the three most common non-traditional talent models are: contingent workforce, part-time employees, and remote working.