Ardent’s Research Director and complex category guru, Chris Dwyer, kicks off the week with the first in a series of articles highlighting the best practices in contingent workforce management.
Welcome to the first post in a four-part series that will unveil a series of best practices and recommended strategies for managing the modern contingent workforce umbrella (click here for a refresher).
Here’s the thing about managing this increasingly complex category of corporate spending: there’s no one “cure-all” strategy that can alleviate all challenges and issues. Every company must consider a wealth of options and mix-and-match what works best to drive maximum value, visibility, and effectiveness from a contingent workforce management program.
- Above all else, respect the umbrella. What can be extremely frustrating about this space is that some companies will ignore the evolution and changes happening around them. It’s not 1995 or even 2005 anymore; contract talent is not comprised solely of temps sourced via staffing agencies. Independent contractors and SOW-based projects / services are viable (and significant) components of the contemporary contingent workforce umbrella.
- Understand which internal units are leveraging contract talent. We speak of “visibility” pretty frequently: visibility into spend, visibility into suppliers, etc. There’s a reason for that. Visibility is crucial in managing any complex or indirect spend category, especially contract labor. Chances are that the typical organization is utilizing contract talent across an avenue of functions, including IT, administration, finance / accounting, sales and marketing, and that translates into a wide array of suppliers, projects, budgets and delivery dates.
- Pinpoint the gaps in your current program. I know, sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? Well, it’s harder than it looks. Remember the point above? Exactly; contract labor utilization is happening all around the organization. Figure out which areas of the program require an overhaul or more efficiency. Can you easily extract a list of all suppliers providing services or talent? How difficult is it to analyze how professional services are performing against agreed milestones and delivery items across all functional areas? Can you forecast the utilization of contingent labor six months from now? A year?
Stay tuned for Part II, and be sure to stop by HR.com’s upcoming virtual conference, which will feature my thoughts on the above best practices and other items that should be part of your contingent workforce management program.
Postscript: Can’t get enough of our lists? Click here for our recent collection of lists.
