In a recent blog, How the COVID-19 Pandemic is Impacting the Contingent Workforce, we discussed how times of uncertainty often expedite the growth of the temporary workforce. A new study has gone one step further, finding that companies have significantly enhanced their non-employee management processes over the past year.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a “complete overhaul” of contingent workforce management solutions, according to a new survey from Guidant Global, as HR and procurement teams begin to better collaborate together to support their company’s non-employee workforce.
This improved collaboration has led to a more consolidated and centralized approach to contingent workforce management.
The survey, which was carried out during the recent CWS Summit: North America and the SIG Global Executive Summit, found that 37 percent of respondents had completely reviewed how their business managed its external talent in light of Covid-19 - with 26 percent implementing a more joined-up approach to managing their non-employee workforce.
Yet, despite this being a step in the right direction for what has long been a siloed talent strategy, there’s still a long way to go to ensure that contingent workforce management is a company-wide initiative.
In fact, 21 percent of respondents revealed that different divisions had managed their own change.
Budgets and competition continued to be the biggest non-employee workforce management challenges
Budgets and competition for top contingent talent were found to be the biggest challenges facing HR and procurement teams (47 percent).
Commenting on the results of the survey, Simon Blockley, CEO of Guidant Global, said: “It’s common knowledge that COVID-19 has been a catalyst for new and better contingent workforce solutions. As flexibility becomes the norm for businesses in light of the pandemic and global lockdowns, firms have begun to recognize just how valuable external workforces can be. And with a growing need to streamline costs, transparency of contingent spend has understandably been a focus for both HR and procurement teams.
“What is particularly promising from our survey, though, is the move towards a more joined up approach, not just between the divisions that are responsible for the contingent and permanent workforce, but the entire business.”
Why it’s crucial procurement and HR teams work together with the business for successful non-employee workforce management
One of the most common questions among small and medium-sized businesses is who manages the non-employee workforce - is it HR for its expertise with people or procurement for its experience with vendors?
The answer should be both. Non-employee workforce management should be a company-wide strategy that has buy-in from every manager across your business. Without this, your organization will have no control over its contingent workforce management program - resulting in hidden costs, wasted time and rogue spend.
So, how exactly can you do this? Many small and medium-sized businesses try to manage this through manual spreadsheets, SharePoint sites and in-house databases, but it’s simply impossible to manually manage so many vendors and so much data.
That’s where a Vendor Management System (VMS) comes in.
How a Vendor Management System can help
A VMS is a cloud-based software solution that acts as a mechanism for your business to procure and manage your non-employee workforce and the staffing agencies and vendors you use to source them.
A vendor management system will enable you to automate the entire non-employee workforce management process, from engaging staffing agencies, measuring vendor performance, sourcing independent contracts and much more.
The use of a VMS will consolidate your vendors into one centralized location, provide you with the analytics needed to measure the performance of these vendors, improve the visibility into your non-employee workforce, ensure your able to make better hiring and vendor decisions, and automate every management process along the way.
Want to learn more about the importance of a vendor management system, and how Conexis VMS’ unique solution is helping businesses with smaller non-employee workforce spend manage their temporary labor and vendors? Contact our team of experts today. We’re ready to answer any questions that you may have.
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