Orange company

Data Honey created a number of social networking sites where jobless talent could find advice, share experiences and seek new job opportunities. In fact, Data Honey was able to offer a number of short-term contracts to members of this network to support its client needs.

When Workbook entered the scene in late 2010, Data Honey encouraged its social networking group to support the site. Workbook succeeded where other large recruitment firms had failed because of its pricing model. Candidates posted their information for a small fee, and employers were charged a commission fee commensurate with project specifics such as duration and required level of expertise. Since overheads were lower, these commissions were kept well below those charged by the traditional recruitment firms.

When the upturn came, Data Honey had a significant advantage over the competition, who were still struggling with the old model of hiring talent back into their organisations for permanent positions. Data Honey gained a market-leading reputation for being able to cherry-pick the best people from a global talent pool for its clients—often within a matter of hours.

Data Honey quickly spotted the trend of freelancers’ marketing themselves as companies, rather than self-employed contractors, and advanced this trend by helping to set up the first guilds. These “technology tribes” included: information architects, Web designers, game-engine developers, technology consultants, search optimisers, online marketers, content specialists, software engineers and systems testers. The guilds provide services—payroll management, tax preparation, global resource mobility and training, as well as legal representation—to help make life easier for members and employers alike.

Early adopters of Workbook and the Universal Employee Rating, Data Honey was quick to recognise that in an age of complete adoption and socialisation of social media, networks had become so large as to be pervasive and self-validating.



The transparency of online profiles allowed potential employers to check potentially inflated credential claims, which led to the requirement by professional services companies—now adopted by other industries—that all employees maintain available online profiles.

Data Honey uses many contractors, which it calls “team workers”. Both permanent and temporary employees are encouraged to join the appropriate global guilds for everything from training and development to retirement, insurance and healthcare.



HR as it was known in the 1990s is almost non-existent. All that remains in-house is a talent sourcing role, which has been expanded to include management of internal communications. Most recruitment is run through Workbook, the universal recruitment platform.

Data Honey believes that most people lose their creativity if they stay too long in the same role. Many people leave to go and work for Data Honey’s clients, and end up returning a few years later. Most of the management function is remote, which has required specialised training for some senior managers and a constant investment in communication technologies.

In the Orange World, individuals providing professional services, such as programming expertise, now tend to market themselves as companies rather than as freelancers. Rather than offering a specific skill set to a prospective employer, such as capability with a particular software programme, individuals have changed their value proposition to offer “microproducts”.

Technology developers now leverage the power of the guilds and application marketplaces to sell highly specialised applications to enterprise. Previous barriers to entry—high capital costs for product testing as well as the fast burn rate of marketing and advertising expenditure—are now borne by the guilds and the platform providers in exchange for a share in the upside.



Data Honey has benefited by the shift from “buying talent” to “buying products”: much of the project risk has been transferred to the contractors and the guilds supporting them. On an operational level, product managers at Data Honey no longer have to chase contractors on a myriad of specific project details; instead, they get the “product they need”.



HR has become almost invisible. Employees get advice, training and development and even legal support from the global online networks provided by the guilds.