Aug 16

The pond is only so big…….

By Wendy Linden Contingent Workforce Management, Managed Service Programs, Recruitment No Comments »

As we compiled this past month’s ugliest and hottest jobs data, from across our clients’ market experiences, a theme began to repeat itself. In multiple places, supply could not meet demand but in very different types of locations. As dissimilar as the customers were in these various locations, and the talent needed, (for example, one being high level IT in Silicon Valley and one being short term call center talent in rural North Carolina), the question was the same, ……

……..What can be done to find more talent in a challenged, talent marketplace?

The first call to action/reaction in these situations is to bring in more suppliers to deliver the sort-after talent. Its not a bad strategy, but it is a short sighted one. Additional, new suppliers will in assence drive their recruiting engines at the same talent pool that existing suppliers are already focused on.  A few more fishing poles in the pond doesn’t necessarily guarantee a bigger catch of the day.

So what’s the answer?

You have the have the best fishing lure in the pond, and the ability and willingness to cast far and wide to other types of pools of talent in the locale.

The client examples mentioned above couldn’t be more different. The high cost of living in Silicon Valley coupled with a long recession saw local talent forced to relocate to more affordable areas of the state and country. As the demand of Silicon Valley companies for IT and Engineering talent started to uptick, the required talent supply to draw upon wasn’t available locally in the same numbers.  In North Carolina, locale played a part; so did the prospect of the call center moving from the area. Low pay wage and stringent background and credit checks were also responsible for shrinking the available talent pool greatly.

Talent challenges like these need to have companies and the staffing program partners employ creative strategies of attracting contingent talent in the same manner they would go to employ their full time staff. Flex time, virtual opportunities (technology enables us to grab some levels of talent from anywhere); drawing upon resources that have left the work force (retirees, full time mothers) or those looking for a way to enter it (college student interns, change of career professionals) and offering them even part time opportunities as a way to cast the lure into these new ponds of talent opportunity.

Developing a joint training program with a staffing partner, especially in the technical arena, can entice professionals looking to learn a newer, hot technology, while developing the resources needed by the client.

But sometimes the best lure is the green one with Benjamin Franklin’s face right in the middle. Occasionally pay rate increases are necessary in drawing talent; but other valuable enticements can be part of any program. Signing bonuses, completion bonuses, performance and attendance rewards in monetary or goods add to levels of attracting and retaining talent. Sometimes it’s just the question of how above and beyond a company will go in creative solutions that have you catching fish out of the pond all day long.

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Jul 23

That will be 25 cents please….

By Wendy Linden Contingent Workforce Management, Global Talent Acquisition, Managed Service Programs, Recruitment No Comments »

In early June, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) propose a fee, tariff and/or tax on every 800 number call place in the United States that is routed to a foreign country/off shored call center. Furthermore, his proposed law would require companies to alert the consumer that the call they have placed is being routed to another country and identify the country in which the call is being transferred.

“If we want to put a stop to the outsourcing of American jobs, then we need to provide incentives for American Companies to keep American jobs here,” Schumer was recently quoted in a recent AP article about the proposed transaction tax.

A lot of the buzz on this law is whether it is logical or not; how comprehensively it would be implemented; whether the intended effect of offshore call centers coming back onshore will actually occur or if the “fee” will just be passed on to consumers in the form of price increases. It seems opinion is divided across the political spectrum.

Regardless of one’s “red” or “blue” beliefs, this law may pass, or one similar down the road. Proactive planning needs to be considered with customers who offshore call/contact center/help desk business as to what action to take if/when a statute like this passes.

Clearly, there will be some increased level of staffing needed in the United States should this law pass; the labor arbitrage advantages and cost savings of off shoring will be diminished by the level of fee imposed and how companies have decided how to counter it. The effect may truly be the movement of offshore to onshore and recruitment and staffing efforts have to be prepare for that as quickly as a customer may want to flip that switch. Others have mentioned the use of a level 1 type contact center in the US, (live agent, internet chat or automation have all been mentioned) to resolve the call here first before they would move overseas to more skilled resources.

Dialogue is already happening within organizations that may be facing this call transaction fee. We have to make sure as a staffing provider and Managed Service Provider partner; we are part of those conversations and have solutions at the ready to what could be a fast changing landscape.

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Jul 22

Think Big Picture….

By Mary Anderson Contingent Workforce Management, Managed Service Programs, Recruitment No Comments »

When looking at a Managed Service Program and its supplier base, the high importance level of a strong partnership between these two entities, as they support a common client, is both logical and critical.  So it is really critical to “Think Big Picture” beyond who is your MSP solution provider….you also have to understand the caliber of suppliers and the state of the actual supplier partnerships the MSP provider brings with them.

Many times, a supplier in one common client may be found in multiple client accounts of MSP providers. Occasionally, a top performing supplier with the ability to provide the quality talent a customer needs may only be found in one client.  MSP Supplier participation lists at customer locations typically have been “built” by absorbing the current supplier base already on the ground at a client. Unfortunately though, you can get some great suppliers included in a new MSP solution, you can also get some not so good. You can, and often do, get the good, the bad and the ugly.

But what if a MSP provider already knows all about the bad and the ugly supplier characters out there in the marketplace?  Giving a new client the ability to avoid bad and ugly choices or changing those choices in a new MSP engagement? What if, through a stringent screening and qualification process, the supplier with the most competitive rates, the strongest ability in staffing capabilities and the best reach for a particular client geographic coverage areas walk in with the MSP provider?

A triangular benefit occurs: The MSP provider smoothly implementing a supplier program with companies familiar with its processes; suppliers gaining a new client to their portfolio they know they have the ability to support; and, a client that gets a seamless transition in supporting their contingent hiring!

Furthermore, a stronger and longer lasting partnership between MSP supplier and its supplier partners develops outside of just an individual client, with acknowledgement and reward tied together by a long-term partnership focused on the clients’ needs and requirements.  Leading Japanese business organizations have, for decades, managed successful long-term, high quality partnerships thru what is know as “keiretsu”.  Maybe a little of this long-term partnership philosophy needs to be the standard operating practice delivered by solutions in the MSP industry today.  And clients need to more deeply evaluate the “keiretsu” depth of the MSP’s supplier partnerships.

Think Big Picture…..The MSP solution is only as good as the partnership management capability of your MSP provider and the caliber of suppliers willing to do business with them, long-term.

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Jun 24

Don’t Forget the Importance of Supplier Satisfaction in a Successful MSP Engagement…

By Wendy Linden Contingent Workforce Management, Managed Service Programs, Recruitment No Comments »

Recently, Staffing Industry Analysts rolled out its 2010 VMS/MSP Buyer and Supplier Satisfaction Survey, seeking a brief “Net Promoter Score (NPS)” opinion and rating of VMS/MSP solution providers like SourceRight Solutions and its competitors. Now, many will automatically focus on what the buyers thought; who had the most customer responses; and, were buyer satisfaction levels a high or low rating on the quality of services provided. After all, the customer is the most critical satisfaction perspective in any business transaction, right?

What may be a more telling result from this industry satisfaction research however is the NPS satisfaction opinion of the staffing suppliers who participate and support MSP engagements. For any participating supplier, there is certainly an advantage of having access to a known volume of customer spend with managed competition. This is true regardless of the MSP models/engagements, though admittedly, some models can provided more attractive returns than others for a supplier.

For sure, the surveyed buyers will definitely be focusing on the overall quality of their MSP program/engagement, which would include supplier delivery performance to predefined service level agreements and other metrics. But when a supplier is rating the quality of a MSP engagement, what might be the business perspective of their opinion?

Opportunity. Fair Access. Participation Levels. Efficient, Managable Process. Profitability. And, equally important, a Collaborative Partnership.  An MSP program cannot succeed without the strength of some “highly satisfied” supplier partnerships that support a mutual MSP customer. Suppliers may be similar in staffing service offerings, but every organization is unique in its history, experience, capability, business operations and point of view. MSPs need to engage their staffing supplier community beyond the required SLAs and KPIs. Ideas for process and program refinement, improvement and optimization come from open lines of communication and a shared, common interest to provide the highest levels of quality services to exceed a client’s staffing needs and requirements.

So look for SIA’s announcement of their 2010 VMS MSP Buyer Satisfaction Survey results in the next month or so, but carefully review the accompanying Staffing Supplier satisfaction results to get the complete picture of industry leading MSP program/engagement performance.

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Jun 09

SourceRight Advisor MSP Bulletin: Ugliest & Hottest Jobs in America

By Wendy Linden Contingent Workforce Management, Managed Service Programs, Recruitment, SourceRight Advisor Bulletins, Ugliest & Hottest Jobs No Comments »

Ugliest Job in America, June 2010

Application Developers in the state of California.

California employers are being forced to confront an interesting workforce anomaly when trying to hire application development talent contingently:  Unemployment pay is a better deal.  Pay rates have dropped everywhere in response to the recent recession. They have not yet trended upwards; Hence, unemployed application development talent in the state are not being lured back to work. The current contingent pay is lower, the contract lengths are shorter, and they would have to give up their unemployment pay and benefits….not an attractive deal for application development talent.

Runner-ups this month:

  • Welders
  • Material handlers
  • Producers/Animation Motion Graphic Artists
  • Websphere Portal Architects

Hottest Jobs in America, June 2010

Contingent worker titles with the highest demand, based on employer feedback.

  • Engineering Designer and Drafters
  • Buyers in Procurement departments
  • Credit and Collections talent
  • Recruiters
  • Senior JAVA Developers

Full time worker titles, based on job postings from Wanted.com

  • RNs
  • Retail Sales Managers/Supervisors
  • Retail Salespersons
  • Systems Analyst (IT)
  • Customer Service Representative

 

Data Source: An aggregation of SourceRight Solutions MSP client engagement activity

Definition: “Ugliest Job” category is defined as the most difficult to fill position with the “Hottest Jobs” category being positions with the highest demand.  A job position can be defined as both simultaneously.

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Jun 07

SourceRight Solutions in the Global News…

By Rebecca Callahan Contingent Workforce Management, Global Talent Acquisition, Managed Service Programs, Recruitment Process Outsourcing No Comments »

Increasing globalization is driving the need for RPO and MSP providers to broaden their geographic reach, while maintaining consistent delivery of high quality services.  In response to this growing business requirement, in March, Hays plc and SourceRight Solutions announced a strategic alliance to provide global outsourced workforce management services.  Now, Hays and SourceRight have taken the next step of broadening our combined reach by introducing WorldSource Talent Acquisition Outsourcing Solutions.

WorldSource is designed to manage and integrate worldwide Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and Managed Service Provider (MSP) programs, while improving the global recruiting and resourcing experience for all stakeholders.  WorldSource has the capabilities to leverage strategic talent acquisition teams of more than 4,500 recruiters across 900 offices in 29 countries to attract and hire the world’s top talent.

Also, SourceRight is announcing the expansion of its MSP offerings to help the world’s top organizations maximize the value of their contingent workforces. See “SourceRight Expands MSP Offerings and Leadership Team” at link: http://bit.ly/cTRGLa

SourceRight’s enhanced talent acquisition capabilities takes our MSP solutions to the next level – a scalable outsourcing model that provides flexible configuration options, global program management oversight, optimized supplier management and client decision support analytics.

Our enhanced MSP solutions are designed to control costs and minimize compliance risks through streamlined processes and infrastructure, access to a global preferred supplier network, and improved supplier performance and client spend with timely insight to strategic market trends data.

As current pressures from the challenging economic climate force businesses to adopt recruitment strategies that adapt quickly to fast changing market conditions, these recent announcements provide further evidence of our commitment to our value proposition of helping large, global organizations maximize the value of their blended workforces.

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May 27

SourceRight Solutions to Attend The VMS Professionals Sixth Annual Conference – June 3-4 at McDonald’s Hamburger University, Oakbrook, IL

By Wendy Linden Managed Service Programs No Comments »

On Thursday June 3rd and Friday, June 4th, SourceRight Solutions’ Vice President of Professional Contingent Workforce Services, Karen Turner and Stas Wolk, Vice President of the Business Solutions Development will join VMS Professionals, a national association comprised of end user companies, to network and discuss best practices in the acquisition and management of contingent labor.  In the past, leading industry experts from business organizations such as Kraft Foods, Altria, Abbott Laboratories, Baxter Healthcare, BMC Software, Discover Financial, McDonalds and Cisco have participated in this premier VMS/MSP professionals’ industry event.

While the use of contingent talent and/or independent contractors isn’t a new workforce provisioning strategy; the impact of the recession has accelerated the practice.  And as more employers are looking to reduce costs and maximize flexibility, using contingent talent/independent contractors will help them tap into specialized talent quickly and efficiently without adding long-term obligations. Continuing economic pressures will likely drive this “on-demand” workforce trend to never before seen levels over the next few years. The conference attendees will discuss the best practices and solutions for enhancing the management of contingent workforce programs and strategies.

If you are planning to attend this year’s VMS Professionals Conference and would be interested in meeting with SourceRight to discuss the effective management and leverage of a contingent “on-demand” workforce and how to ensure that your organization is compliant with all the emerging engagement regulation associated with this workforce, contact Peter Simandl at PeterSimandl@Sourceright.com or call Tel. # 1-630-919-2784.

*** VMS Professionals is a national association comprised of end user companies networking to discuss best practices in the acquisition and management of contingent labor.  The VMS Professional Association’s mission is to network and educate with the highest professional integrity for the purpose of growing VMS Best Practices and contributing to the industry as a whole.  To contact the VMS Professional Association go to link:                              ( http://www.vmsprofessionals.com/AboutUs.aspx )

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May 17

Component Pricing of Contingent Labor Programs and MSPs: The Pros and Cons

By Cathy Clauss Managed Service Programs No Comments »

Managing the cost of labor is the No. 1 focus for human resource professionals in 2010. Procurement officers are under similar stress to deliver cost savings across all of their sourcing channels, including contingent labor. Add in significant increases in state unemployment taxes (SUTA) and other federally mandated taxes and you have the perfect storm, driving many companies to urgently look more closely at their contingent labor programs.

They are turning to their contingent labor suppliers and MSPs to help them address these issues. Specifically, they are looking for increased transparency regarding incremental costs. One extreme is pricing engagements that break out each component to the granular level, locking the supplier down to a cost plus price. Examples include MSP pricing for training and communication plans, staff and travel, help desk and technology fees. The staffing costs are also broken out with state by state mandatory taxes, return on SUTA caps, worker compensation rates, cost of sourcing and staffing companies’ profit margins.

What are the advantages and disadvantages to component pricing?

The Pro’s:
1. Companies can set cost savings goals on areas that are not mandatory or don’t involve fixed costs. There are strict rules on what is considered “cost savings” for contingent labor so it’s best to focus on the variable costs, as well as work with suppliers to add value and reduce costs overall.

2. Ideally, all parties can remain whole in terms of cost and profit goals. Suppliers have cost and profit goals just like customers. Build a sourcing plan that can be managed more effectively to meet profit goals on both sides of the relationship.

The Con’s:
1. MSPs and staffing companies may be limited in their ability to scale up and down to meet the changing needs of the customer engagement. While MSPs will often do their best to meet clients’ component pricing requirements, their services are typically comprehensive and it could be difficult to break them down too finely. They may deliver their value based on their ability to bundle and combine related services from shared service resources.

2. More meaningful savings opportunities, such as pay-rate management, may be overlooked. Considering that 70 to 80 percent of cost is labor, clients who seek savings across the board may not be taking advantage of the areas, such as labor pay rates, that can yield the greatest savings.

At the end of the day, the visibility garnered by deconstructing contingent labor and MSP pricing can potentially lead to some better understanding and cost-effective management of these solutions for the clients and providers involved. But the real value management opportunity lies in managing the effective usage rate levels of contingent labor itself.

Advising and assisting clients with their engagement rate levels of contingent workers will bring much bigger benefits then just fine tuning the MSP fee or auditing what is included in contingent labor rates. The starting point is more effective access to contingent labor program data and analysis that enhances the visibility of a client’s contingent labor usage trends, spend and organizational tendencies.

Providing expertise and guidance in the effective usage of contingent labor is the true and next most meaningful holy grail of cost-effective, contingent labor spend management.

Then the next step will be to enhance labor resource choices and decisions with a singular comprehensive view of an organization’s workforce options, from contingent to interns to project contractors to full-time employment solutions, etc., which will truly allow an organization to quickly enhance the cost-effective acquisition of its overall labor usage rates.

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Mar 17

It’s not easy being the Contingent Talent Gate Keeper….

By Wendy Linden Managed Service Programs 1 Comment »

Imagine an overloaded procurement manager, with strategic critical projects and responsibilities interrupted frequently with meetings about new projects, new RFPs, new contracts to review and sign, and managing up to their company’s “C” level leadership.

This procurement professional also happens to have the privilege of refereeing the buying process of contingent labor, engaging staffing suppliers, perhaps, negotiating price and helping onboard resources from staffing firms. And dealing with whatever performance issues the staffing firms or their temporary staff resources may have…..all in a community of hundreds to potentially thousands of contingent, contracted resources……welcome to procurement morphing into full-blown human capital management.

Oh, and they have to field multiple, daily incoming calls of staffing suppliers looking for an opportunity to do business with their company. Maybe the human resources department used to perform this function, but the trends show more and more procurement departments have taken on this entire responsibility, from procurement to vendor/contract management.  Breathing and eating become optional today for the procurement “guy” or “gal” in charge of a company’s temp staffing resource solution.

The scenario is an oft noted reason for the inception of a MSP/VMS program. Frankly, there are a lot of great reasons: cost containment, risk mitigation, supplier performance metrics, rate card normalization, and consistency of process, to name a few.

Centralization of contingent workforce procurement by engaging a MSP and/or VMS solution gives the procurement folks a fighting chance to survive and capture sought-after strategic goals and objectives. These solutions provide clients with workforce management expertise for their procurement team, so they can focus on their strategic procurement goals and responsibilities. It also can help offload the intricacies of a contingent hiring process and workforce administration/compliance for companies’ hiring manager community.

The client’s outsourced MSP/VMS team becomes the eyes and ears to a contingent labor procurement process, a team and process that is customizable by software, by hiring process, by pricing schemes, by the shaping and management of supplier performance. And, a team backed by in-depth market knowledge and expertise in applying best practices for a streamlined, flexible program.

And a little room to breathe!

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