Unlocking Success: 5 steps to better manage your contingent workforce

If you’ve arrived on this blog, then it’s likely your business operations involve managing a contingent workforce.

And that means you’re aware of how many moving parts this entails and that you probably have a never-ending list of administrative tasks piling up on your desk.

If you saw our recent blog on how an MSP (Managed Service Programme) can take the pain points away when you’re managing your contingent workers, then you’re undoubtedly ready and waiting to get started with an MSP of your own.

But where do you start?

In this blog we’ll walk you through a simple five step process of everything you need to consider to start the journey of making managing your contingent workforce a breeze. (And if you get to the end and find you might actually need a bit of help auditing your contingent workforce – just get in touch).

Let’s go!

Step 1: Audit Your Contingent Workforce Needs

Volume of Contingent Workers

First things first, it’s important to begin by getting a clear picture of what your contingent workforce population currently looks like. Understanding not only how many contingent workers you have, but also what their worker status is, how much you’re spending on contingent workers, and their tenure will help to identify your current requirements.

You can use this information to map out how this might change in the future based on your business needs and ensure that you’re picking an MSP partner with the financial stability to manage your contingent worker spend.

Diversity of Skills and Roles

During your initial audit, you should also consider the range of skills and the types of roles you’re hiring for.

Do you need a variety of different skills or are you focusing in on once niche skill set? Do you need these roles to be based across multiple locations or are they all centralised?

Mapping out these requirements and handing them over to an MSP partner will help to streamline the process and avoid you having to keep multiple plates spinning.

Flexibility and Scalability Needs

During this step you should also have a think about your future business plans. Do you anticipate any fluctuations in demand? Maybe you’re looking to expand one of your business lines and you need people on the ground to make it happen?

By utilising an MSP you’ll be supported in strategic workforce planning and be far better set up to rapidly scale your business by getting feet on the ground, where you need them.

Step 2: Define Your Goals & Priorities

Key Objectives

So now you know where you’re currently at with your contingent workforce, it’s time to take a look at where you want to go and lay out on paper exactly what you want to achieve with an MSP.

This might be cost savings, ensuring compliance with necessary regulations, getting better access to quality talent or maybe even reducing the administrative burden on you and your teams.

Current Pain Points

During this step you should also assess what challenges you’re currently facing while managing your contingent workforce.

Maybe there’s a lack of visibility across the business on what’s going on with the contingent worker population, maybe you’ve got concerns about IR35 or maybe it’s just that you’re finding it difficult managing multiple talent suppliers and the quality of people you’re currently getting isn’t quite what you’re after.

Desired Level of Control

You should also try and decide exactly how much direct control you want over your contingent workers versus how much you’re comfortable completely outsourcing.

MSPs can vary in how they manage vendor relationships so make sure you know exactly what you’re after at the outset. Would an automated and ‘technology first’ approach work for you and your business, or do you think your hiring managers would prefer an MSP partner who can be onsite when deploying new workers to offer more hands-on support?

Step 3: Research MSP Models & Service Options

Choose the Right MSP Model

Next up its time to do your research and scope out what sort of MSP might be the best fit for you. Consider the needs that you defined in Step 2, and with these in mind determine which MSP model might be the best fit. (You can remind yourself on the differences between a master, neutral or hybrid MSP model in this blog).

Consider Statement of Work (SOW) Management

Do you use SOW contracts for your project-based work? If you do it’s worth making note of this during your research phase as you might benefit from an MSP that integrates both contingent labour and SOW management.

With an MSP this could be a day one service or even part of a continuous improvement programme, so make sure you know if it’s relevant to your work.

Ability to Influence the Solution

Now you’ve nailed Step 2 and decided what level of control you require, take the research phase as an opportunity to assess what level of influence you need over your MSP provider. If you want this to be a little more customisable, keep a look out for MSP partners who can tailor their solutions to your specific industry, workforce needs and the location you want the talent to be based.

Step 4: Calculate ROI and Budget Considerations

Estimate Potential Savings

If you’re looking to get started with an MSP of your own, then you’re probably already aware of the potential cost savings that this can bring you and your business. With benefits such as competitive supplier negotiations, rate card management, direct sourcing discounts and even just more streamlined processes, MSPs can deliver you a huge range of possible savings.

During this step, have a go at evaluating the potential financial impact you could get from an MSP to make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck as you get started.

Budget for Implementation Costs

You should also take the time to consider any upfront costs your business will have to make when initially implementing your MSP. This might be anything from new technology that will need to be integrated, supplier transition costs or even factoring in the cost of training.

Compare MSP Costs to In-House Management

Finally, it would be worth factoring in the costs of managing your contingent workers in-house versus the fees associated with an MSP. Having this laid out will help you demonstrate the cost saving benefits to the stakeholders in your business.

Step 5: Evaluate Potential MSP Providers

Industry Expertise

And now we get to the fifth and final step in getting started with an MSP. When you’re looking to get started with rolling out an MSP it’s important that you do your research on potential providers. It’s recommended to look for MSPs with experience in your industry (or similar industry) as this will ensure they have specialist knowledge and can tap into relevant networks for you.

We’d recommend looking for suppliers who are happy to introduce you to current clients and invite you to meet their teams so you can take any references you need and meet the people who will be delivering your service.

Service Level Support

When comparing potential MSP providers, one of the aspects you should evaluate is the level of support you’ll be offered, particularly during implementation and for ongoing account management.

Do you have the option of on-site support if you need it? What sort of resources are available to you for troubleshooting? These are important things to get answers to out the outset to avoid any last-minute panic down the line.

Plan Your RFP Process

Last but my no means least, make sure you set yourself up for success in the RFP (Request For Proposal) process by planning out what questions you need to ask.

During this stage, you need to be able to adequately ascertain whether the MSP providers you’re considering have not only the size, financial stability and experience to meet your needs, but also that they align with your company values and that you can feel confident they’ll represent and communicate your employer brand effectively.

Top Tip – Why not ask the providers you’re considering if they’ll share their RFP templates with you so you can get more of an idea of the key questions you need to be asking?

Ready to get started?

A Managed Service Programme (MSP) can help you to ditch the admin and deliver real business value from your contingent workforce.

Now you know what steps you need to take to get started, why not get stuck into figuring out which MSP model is right for you? We’re on hand to help guide you on which MSP model might work for you and your business, as well as what each of their benefits are.

Our mission is to deliver a best-in-class MSP service, and we use our unique combination of brilliant people, effective processes, innovative technologies and seamless collaboration to deliver this. As part of this mission, we’ve put together our Ultimate Guide to MSPs to set you up for success – and all you need to do is fill in the short form below.

Have any more questions? Please do reach out to Elizabeth Hawkins for a chat about how you can get started with managing your contingent workforce today on [email protected]