14 February 2022

3 Ways Scaling Businesses Can Stay in Control of Contract Workers

Wayne Burgess
Wayne Burgess

Are you managing the workforce requirements of a start up business that’s growing rapidly? Does your organization experience significant seasonal fluctuations in demand? If so, it’s likely you have a portfolio of contingent workers that will grow with your business.

As your business grows, the successful management of your contingent workforce program becomes even more important. 

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If you don’t focus on implementing an effective contingent workforce management program as the number of contract workers you utilize increases, your business could soon start suffering from issues such as:

  • A complete lack of visibility into your contract workforce, with data being stored across different documents and systems.
  • The loss of time from poor administration processes.
  • Rogue spend that runs rampant throughout your organization, with hiring managers having no standardized rates in which to pay contract workers and staffing agencies.
  • Poor performance from the staffing agencies you use as part of your contingent workforce program.
  • Risks due to thin contractual arrangements in favour of staffing agencies

So, what’s the key to successfully managing your contract workers as your business grows (or scales)? By using a vendor management system to gain proper visibility and control over your contingent workforce program. 

In this blog, we take a look at five ways your organization can use VMS software to stay in control of your contract workers.

#1 - Centralize your contingent strategy in one system

As your contingent workforce grows, so does the amount of data that you need to store to manage it effectively. Using spreadsheets, emails and Sharepoint-like websites to store that information is an unsustainable method as you grow.

Storing data manually is not only incredibly time-consuming, it leads to fragmented processes that reduce your visibility into your contingent workforce program. Hiring managers across your organization will save data on their own spreadsheets, and you’ll quickly lose visibility into the program. The result will be hiring managers engaging staffing agencies on their own terms and at their own price, and a complete lack of visibility into how your program (and your vendors) are performing. 

To gain complete visibility into your contingent workforce program and to ensure all hiring managers are following standardized processes and the overall contingent strategy, a VMS is an easy way to store all contingent information in one centralized database.

#2 - Save time by automating processes 

As your company grows, so does the amount of time that your HR and procurement teams spend on managing contract workers. Yet, since these teams are likely balancing multiple tasks, there’s a chance they’ll cut corners and give less attention to some administration over higher value tasks. 

But when that happens contingent workforce data isn’t stored correctly. That results in inaccurate data that leads to poor decision making, the loss of control of your entire contingent strategy and increased risks that seep into the program.

A vendor management system automates processes such as sourcing contingent workers, onboarding, time entry and approval, payments and so much more. Your HR and procurement teams can save a huge number of hours - allowing them to both effectively manage the contingent workforce, and spend more time on the high value tasks that really help your business grow.

#3 - Gain data and insights that improve program performance

As your business grows and scales up, you’ll need to find the right workers that help you achieve your goals. You can’t do that unless the staffing agencies you partner with are helping your business to meet its workforce requirements.

To make sure they are fulfilling those targets, it’s important to measure and analyze vendor performance. A vendor management can help you do just that. 

A VMS will give you key insights into metrics such as time-to-fill, time-to-submit, turnover and much more. The more metrics you have around staffing agency performance, the better you develop your contingent workforce strategy in the future to ensure your vendors are helping you meet your targets.

Interested in learning more about Vendor Management Systems?

Whether you are looking to change your VMS solution, or just getting started, we are here to help. Contact Us for a Free No-Obligation Consultation to discuss your workforce challenges (and get immediate actionable insights). See how easy Conexis is to use by taking a quick 2 minute Self-Guided Tour, or Book a Personal Demo Today! 

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Wayne Burgess

Wayne Burgess

Wayne Burgess is the President of Conexis, a technology company focused on helping organizations get control of their Contingent workforce.

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