Embracing AI in Contingent Workforce Management

At ProcureCon 2025, I had the chance to sit down with Angela Westhead, Senior Manager for Procurement at Zendesk and mother to an eight-year-old daughter. As a self-described “technology nerd”, Angela brought valuable insights on how AI is reshaping contingent workforce management and the mindset needed to thrive in this rapidly evolving landscape.

Overcoming AI Adoption Hurdles

The conversation around AI in business settings often focuses on capabilities and potential use cases, but the real challenge lies in implementation and adoption. Angela highlighted this exact pain point facing many organizations today.

“Getting people excited about using AI and not scared of it is the real challenge.”

While Zendesk isn’t currently using AI specifically for contingent workforce program management, they’re leveraging tools like ChatGPT to accelerate team productivity. This gradual integration approach allows teams to experience AI benefits firsthand before wider implementation.

Addressing AI Bias Concerns

As organizations rush to implement AI solutions, Angela expressed important concerns about potential bias in these systems, particularly as they relate to hiring and workforce management.

“We need to find people and vendors that are mindful about the bias in their tool.”

This perspective aligns with recent research indicating that 68% of executives consider AI ethics and bias as significant concerns when implementing these technologies in HR and procurement functions. Organizations must prioritize understanding how AI systems make decisions and ensure they don’t perpetuate existing biases.

Embracing Change Rather Than Fearing It

When discussing concerns about job displacement, Angela offered a refreshingly historical perspective that puts technological change in context.

“Don’t be afraid, lean into it.”

She acknowledged that while roles evolve and sometimes disappear completely, new opportunities always emerge. This mindset shift from fear to opportunity creates space for professional growth and adaptation, allowing contingent workforce professionals to focus on developing skills that complement rather than compete with AI.

The New Value Proposition for Workforce Professionals

The emergence of AI doesn’t spell the end for contingent workforce professionals – it actually creates opportunities to focus on higher-value activities.

“AI leaves us more time to be in the business, to be business partners.”

This evolution transforms the contingent workforce professional’s role from administrative task manager to strategic business partner. By offloading routine activities to AI, professionals can invest in relationship building, strategic planning, and other areas where human judgment and emotional intelligence remain superior.

The Skills That Matter in Today’s Market

For organizations embracing technological change, certain candidate qualities stand out as particularly valuable in this transition period.

“We’re looking for people that are empathetic and hardworking and tech-focused.”

Angela advises candidates to study the role and consider how technology intersects with it. Being engaged, continuously learning, and bringing fresh ideas to the table are qualities that set successful candidates apart in an AI-enhanced workplace.

Leading Through Technological Transition

While the future remains unpredictable, contingent workforce leaders can position themselves and their organizations for success by embracing technological change rather than resisting it. The opportunity lies in reimagining what’s possible when routine tasks are automated, creating space for more meaningful work.

“See what you can automate so that you can do something else more creative.”

For contingent workforce professionals, the path forward is clear: develop your business partnership capabilities, embrace continuous learning about emerging technologies, and focus on the uniquely human aspects of workforce management that AI cannot replicate. By doing so, you’ll not only survive the AI revolution – you’ll help lead it.

Interview Transcript

Joseph Cole (00:00.238)
Awesome. Well, Angela, thanks for joining us today. We’re here at Procurecon. Anything that you’re excited about learning about?

Angela Westhead (00:01.302)
Hi. Yeah, of course. I am a technology nerd, so I’ve been really into seeing some cool demos and seeing what has happened in the technology space in the last year.

Joseph Cole (00:22.326)
Awesome. And actually, I’m going to start over again, but we can record this. It was my fault. So, Angela, welcome. Why don’t you give us a brief background about who you are, what you do, who you work for, and then something personal that someone might not be able to Google.

Angela Westhead (00:26.326)
Okay, sure. So I’m Angela Westhead. I’m Senior Manager for Procurement at Zendesk. And, something personal. I am the mom of an incredible eight-year-old named Elizabeth.

Joseph Cole (00:54.318)
Awesome, well thanks for joining us again. We’re here at ProcureCon 2025. What’s something that you’re interested in learning about or something that’s really caught your interest?

Angela Westhead (01:05.235)
I’m always really interested in learning about technology and what’s different in the market in the last year. So I’ve been taking some demos and seeing that people have been cooking up over the last year.

Joseph Cole (01:14.168)
Yeah, well, AI, speaking of technology, is the elephant in the room, right? It’s basically ubiquitous with everything that we’re doing, whether you’re in contingent, whether you’re full-time, what have you. So I guess from a contingent workforce standpoint, what are some of the challenges that you’re experiencing with AI in your programs?

Angela Westhead (01:24.694)
Yeah, I would say writ large it seems to be adoption. Being able to get technology in the door, paying for it, and then getting people to be excited about using it and not scared of it. So it’s a hairy beast, but I think once we get people excited about it, it’ll be much more widely used.

Joseph Cole (01:53.848)
Yeah. Are you currently using AI with your programs at Zendesk?

Angela Westhead (01:57.142)
No, not in the program management, but Zendesk is huge on AI. We’re super excited about that in our tool, and so we’ve been starting to implement ChatGPT just as a team to help accelerate our work.

Joseph Cole (02:10.136)
Yeah, well, I guess, you you as a contingent workforce professional, what concerns do you have about AI with your role specifically?

Angela Westhead (02:18.132)
Yeah, I mean for me, think bias in AI is really important. We’ve worked really hard as an industry to be really mindful about eliminating bias, and now we have a new technology that we aren’t quite sure about what the bias risk might be. So really unpacking that, understanding it, and then working to find people and vendors that are mindful about the bias in their tool.

Joseph Cole (02:39.928)
Yeah, and with AI, there’s a lot of concern around and a lot of fear naturally about what parts of my job would it take or which part of my job will be eliminated or will my job be eliminated. I guess what advice would you give to other contingent workforce professionals about how to re-skill or up-skill themselves so that they aren’t necessarily at that risk immediately?

Angela Westhead (03:01.894)
I think about it this way. My great-great-grandfather was a chimney sweep in England. No one’s a chimney sweep anymore. Kind of, yeah. And I had another one that was like a ship’s captain on an old wooden ship. Those jobs don’t exist anymore. But our lives are really good now and we have different jobs. So I think if you lean in and you learn, you can open up more time and experience. See what you can automate so that you can do something else. Do something more creative, do something different. Don’t be afraid, lean into it.

Joseph Cole (03:34.286)
Yeah, but I guess now with that being said, what is the new value prop that continue workforce professionals now have to the enterprise with AI?

Angela Westhead (03:41.908)
I think a lot of our jobs have been manual for a long time. So Being able to hand off manual things like entering candidate information, or, I mean, back when I was a resource coordinator scheduling interviews and doing the calendar jenga of it all, we can hand that off to AI now. That leaves us more time to be in the business, to be business partners. And AI is not a business partner just yet, right? So we can really double down on that skill set and leave all the button pushing to the computer.

Joseph Cole (04:09.39)
Yeah, I agree. Now, 2030 is just around the corner. It sounds like this big, number, right? But it’s only five years away. Crazy. You know what mean? What predictions, if you have any, do you have, obviously with AI and everything else, changing so much so quickly?

Angela Westhead (04:13.45)
Yeah, this is probably a bad answer for a podcast, but my life has been so unpredictable in the 37 years that I’ve been on the planet that I can’t even guess what’s gonna happen in five years. But I hope that we have a much better idea of how to use the tools that are around us and maybe we can work on eradicating some of the fear around it.

Joseph Cole (04:42.936)
Yeah, and also actually I do have one more question, if that’s okay. Specific to the programs that you manage at Zendesk, you know there’s volume, there’s a lot of people coming in, you’re trying to hire. What kind of skills have become more important for Zendesk?

Angela Westhead (04:57.704)
Yeah, think at Zendesk we really look for people who are excited about the future, who are bullish on technology, because we’re bullish on technology, and that we treat each other really well. So we’re looking for people that are empathetic and hardworking and tech-focused. That would be a really great profile of a Zendesk person.

Joseph Cole (05:18.478)
What advice might you give candidates looking to work at Zendesk through one of your programs?

Angela Westhead (05:24.138)
Yeah, study the role, right? Study where you think technology will intersect with this role, because it’s intersecting with all of us right now, because we’re so double down on making our product beautiful around AI, making it a delightful experience for the user. So if you’re engaged and you’re always learning, and you’re ready to come to the interview and talk about ideas that you have and things that you’ve done in the past that you’re scrappy and gritty, you’re going to do really well at Zendesk. Yeah, thank you.

Joseph Cole (05:50.646)
Well thanks