“The fact that this country has a very agile contingent workforce has been a savior for healthcare systems to be able to tap into that workforce” during the Covid-19 crisis, Kristen Mussman says. As senior director, contingent talent management, national HR, at Kaiser Permanente, she oversees staffing for the country’s largest not-for-profit health system with 40 hospitals and 750 clinics.

When the pandemic hit and the need for flexible labor surged, Mussman was proud of the organization’s response, to which she credits having a framework and strong relationships with valuable suppliers. The key to continued success in the contingent worker space is “to be as flexible internally within our organization as our external non-employee workforce has committed to be,” she says.

Mussman also takes pride in the program’s migration to a true total talent view of looking at not just temporary contracting but independent contracting and consulting as well as recruitment outsourcing options for the acquisition of full-time equivalent employees. She is also proud of how the program has become an employer and destination of choice, noting the high percentage of temporary workers who return to Kaiser Permanente for additional assignments or opt to become employees.

With 28 years’ experience working in talent acquisition and HR leadership, Mussman has overseen a variety of talent acquisition teams at Kaiser Permanente over the past decade.