In large organisations, the contingent workforce changes shape and size quickly. It can be hard to track and even harder to manage. Too often, the responsibility sits awkwardly between hiring departments, HR and procurement. The shared responsibility means less accountability.
Organisations that rely on a significant contingent workforce often face the same types of challenges. Here are our ‘Big 5’ to look out for – and some tips on how to fix them before they impact your budgets, productivity and employer reputation.
1. Visibility
Contingent workers often enter the organisation informally and without a clear job description or specific contract duration. This lack of visibility makes forecasting for future hiring difficult and can mean that workers are over or underpaid for the role they actually perform.
The fix: Develop a robust onboarding process for contingent workers with clear job descriptions and consistent contracts.
2. Compliance
The flexibility of a contingent workforce comes with added complexity, making it essential for organisations to have the right processes in place to manage compliance, governance and risk.
The fix: Ensure that roles and workers are classified correctly as part of the hiring/onboarding process.
3. Quality
Organisations are facing greater competition for contingent talent, which means that it will become harder to source, engage and hire the best talent quickly. Hiring organisations now need to plan more strategically to attract and build relationships with the best talent.
The fix: Build talent communities and attraction strategies to keep you close to the best available talent.
4. Agency Performance
A complex talent supply chain that relies on many different recruitment agencies creates challenges around consistency, accountability and performance, making effective supplier management essential for maintaining control.
The fix: Invest in a Vendor Management System that makes agency performance more transparent.
5. Fragmentation
Because contingent workforces often grow outside of the standard hiring processes and best practices, it can easily become fragmented if organisations are scaling quickly. Fragmentation makes data less accessible, duplicates work and makes errors more likely to happen.
The fix: Work with a Managed Service Provider to build an end-to-end contingent workforce solution.
The role of a Managed Service Provider
An MSP can help bring order to the chaos by embedding the technology, process standards and performance metrics needs to manage costs, harmonise workflows and deliver savings. Your MSP will tackle inefficiencies, identify areas for improvement, provide governance and drive quality and care through the end-to-end hiring process.
If you’d like to learn more about how to overcome these contingent workforce challenges, get in touch with us.