The Future of the Contingent Workforce: A Conversation with Dr. Jeremy R. Agler

An Unconventional Path

Most people, when I tell them my journey, say: how did you end up where you are today doing enterprise programs and contingent staffing work? I went to school to be a psychologist. I have a doctorate in organizational behavior and leadership psychology — my goal was to focus on coaching and developing the performance of individuals.

But throughout my career, I spent time in the army, found my way into nonprofit work, made the switch to financial services, did a little bit of sales and banking, and now I'm here on the relationship side. And I think that's what every role I've had has been about: building relationships and growing those relationships.

I went into the army after a couple years of college — I wasn't a great student early on, and the army changed that. When I left, I decided to get my master's. My initial focus, before I turned to psychology, was working for local governments. I worked on several campaigns and wanted to be a politician. But then I started looking at how you can build and develop human performance, and that's what took me down the path to my doctorate.

Leading Change When People Push Back

The most important thing I tell any new leader is: always remember your team. Your team is the most important element of any part of your day-to-day. Take the time to ask them: are they okay? How are they doing? And go beyond "I'm good." When somebody says that, I ask — what's good about it? What challenges are you facing today?

Once you take the time to get to know your team, you can help guide change management. But when you're trying to drive change across an organization — especially in procurement — you have to help people understand the rationale. People want to know two things: why is this so important that we're changing, and how does that change impact me?

The CFO wants to know how it impacts the bottom line. The frontline associate wants to know how it affects their role. When you help people understand that, they start to embrace it. And find a champion — someone who can be that voice for you so it's not just coming from one person.

The other message I always share: we often think about today, but we have to start planning for tomorrow. Our policies, our processes, the way we approach our people — we have to look at what that team member is going to look like in the future and be prepared for that. That's where a lot of leaders struggle, because we only want to focus on now.

AI as a Tool, Not a Threat

I personally embraced AI from the initial onset of ChatGPT. What I'm trying to help my team understand is to learn what it can do — not to look at it as something that will take their job or replace them. How can you use that tool?

I've been taking the time to learn different prompts and what the prompts mean. It's remarkable how much the prompt changes the direction of whatever you're trying to accomplish. We have to get to a point where we start looking at things that improve our process — and AI can do that.

My team is excited about it. They see it as a tool to make their jobs easier. And when you can make jobs easier, you free up the talent those people have to do something else in the organization — to drive real change.

The Power of Being a Matchmaker

I like to consider myself a matchmaker. I get a lot of people who come to me and say they want to do business with my firm. And I tell them: that's great, but if I don't have an opportunity right now, let me introduce you to somebody else who might. That's what I've been able to do — connect other people to help them build their own relationships and networks.

Relationships are at the heart of every role I've ever had. That's what drives change. That's what builds trust. And that's what I'm still focused on, wherever my journey goes next.