Protecting the Budget for Flexible Talent Keeps Teams Ready When Workloads Spike

When a company tightens its budget, the money for flexible talent is usually the first to go. That budget lets a team bring in outside specialists to cover a stretch the permanent staff can't handle on their own, a merger, a leadership change, or a launch that can't wait. Cutting it removes the option to add that help at the moment it's most needed, and the people who stay absorb the extra work.

Amy Spencer is the CEO and Chief Matchmaker at Evo Communications, a firm that provides exactly that kind of help. It pairs corporate communications leaders with vetted, senior independent consultants for projects, leaves, and workload surges. She spent years leading communications inside large organizations before launching the firm, including a period as Vice President of Internal Communications at UnitedHealth Group and director-level roles at Target. That experience gives her a pointed view on how companies fund the teams they build.

"Discretionary budgets should no longer be labeled as nonessential wants. They are required needs," Spencer says. What a business gets from that budget depends on how a leader spends it. Spencer takes in the details of each need, and depending on where the gap is, she'll recommend talent options in areas like media relations or change management when workload spikes.

Matching the need

A recurring project, a one-time event like a company's 100th anniversary, or a major announcement that needs extra planning all call for temporary support. A growing company might bring someone in for a set number of hours a month, long before it adds up to a full-time job. When the need becomes steady, adding a permanent hire makes sense. The budget is what keeps that choice available. "Protecting both headcount and discretionary budget gives leaders the flexibility to add the right talent and capabilities at the right time," Spencer says.

Many of these engagements do not stay temporary. "We often do work that transitions eventually into headcount, and that's part of the ecosystem," Spencer adds. Whether any of this succeeds comes down to the person who fills the seat.

Proof before placement

Spencer screens every consultant closely, and for each client she puts forward three, any one strong enough to do the job. "I interview them the way I would if I were leading a corporate communications function, for the qualities they need to walk into a large, matrixed organization, assess what needs to happen, and start delivering value within days," she says.

Beyond the interview, she reviews work samples to judge quality for herself, and she looks for someone credible to vouch for them. A network she has built over her career often connects her to a consultant directly, or to someone who knows their track record. She also watches how a candidate earns trust in the conversation itself, because the ones who do it well with her tend to do the same on a client's team.

These consultants come in for the moments a permanent team can't cover on its own. They start with a specific assignment and have little time to prove themselves, so the screening has to be thorough.

A wider bench

More professionals go independent every year, which gives companies a large pool to draw on. Using that pool depends on whether a business can move quickly enough to bring someone in, and on the strength of the team already in place. Full-time staff hold the history and the relationships that a newcomer can't have at the start. "There is no one who walks in the door and on day one has the institutional knowledge, so there is always a little bit of ramp up," Spencer notes. Part of what the in-house team does is close that gap, briefing them on how the organization works and how a particular leader likes to operate, so they can contribute quickly.

A consultant who has done the same work at several companies also brings that experience back to the team, and the staff pick things up by working alongside someone more experienced. Paired well, the two give an organization a depth of experience a fixed roster can't match on its own. "If we only hire internal full-time staff, we're missing a whole sector of talent," Spencer says.