CPO Rising often presents content that addresses a wide variety of supply management concerns beyond the “core” or more traditional areas. As Chief Procurement Officers place more spend under management, what were once non-traditional areas of focus, begin to rise in importance and eventually become core. Our coverage of the contingent workforce  (“CWM”) management space is designed to help organizations understand the complexities of this category and the means to improve their CWM programs. In the spring, we offered a series of best practice articles focused on CWM (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, & Part Four) designed to highlight growing concerns within this industry and the ideal capabilities that can be leveraged to improve programs.

While there are a slew of best practices, required strategies and technology options available to the executives tasked with managing their enterprise’s contingent workforce management program, sometimes the underlying issues themselves are hard to identify. Thus, today, we’ll highlight the five questions any organization can ask themselves to truly figure out how the CWM program is performing.

1. Do I understand which of our internal divisions, units and departments are leveraging contract talent? And, can I identify the types of talent utilized and the projects linked to this talent? For any program lead (whether it’s procurement, HR, finance or corporate ops), it’s critical to be able to identify (in real-time) which departments across the enterprise are currently utilizing contingent labor for both project and spend management purposes. Any program can’t pinpoint gaps in the contingent workforce management umbrella (see refresher here) if they don’t know if a specific unit currently leverages more SOW-based labor than traditional temporary labor, or if there are any major risks in other units’ utilization of independent contractors.
2. Can my organization measure the performance of its talent suppliers? The interesting aspect in regards to the contingent workforce umbrella is that many of its required capabilities revolve around the expertise of procurement, specifically, SOW-projects and services. Projects that leverage contract talent need the same robust supplier management techniques as any sourcing or purchasing initiative across the organization, including stout measures to gauge the performance of consultants, contractors and professional services suppliers (i.e. Do they deliver on-time?).
3. Is there a way to extract useful information from the CWM program? I talk often about the “future” of the contingent workforce management industry and how organizations can take this space in a positive direction over the next five years. Well, there may be no better way to set up the CWM program for the future than ensure that it is a source of valuable, real-time and enterprise-useful intelligence. With more and more of the average workforce comprised of contract talent year-over-year, it becomes critical that executives use information regarding spending, suppliers, and projects (those supported by temporary labor) and fuse it into other corporate intelligence for superior long-term planning.
4. Is there a balance of processes for all CWM umbrella attributes? While the emergence of the contingent workforce umbrella sparked an evolution in this industry, some organizations were not prepared for its effects. Those who mastered the art of managing “classic” temp labor (talent sourced via staffing suppliers / agencies) were equipped to handle the “next phases,” including SOW-based labor, services and ICs. Those companies who struggled even with the traditional aspects of CWM could not keep up. The modern CWM program must balance its processes to ensure that every attribute, ranging from SOW management to IC risk mitigation, receives the proper attention.
5. Are you making the most out of your technology? For some companies, this is a no-brainer. If you’re investing resources into an outsourced solution, chances are you’re extracting every last bit of value from that platform. However, those enterprises currently leveraging a VMS or MSP offering and not making the most of it must ensure that they are utilizing these solutions to support a wide range of processes, including analytics, business intelligence, requisition development, supplier management (and supplier performance), SOW management, and services procurement.

Tagged in: Christopher Dwyer, Complex Categories, Contingent Workforce, Performance, Strategy