The challenge:
Our client, a collaboration of local government and emergency services organisations, was seeking a fresh approach to managing their contingent labour workforce demands, having previously experienced inconsistency in results and service standards.
They sought an MSP partner that could effectively combine an innovative technology-based solution with a dedicated, knowledgeable team, to improve the experience across the hiring community. This included effectively embracing their EVP to create collaboration-wide talent pools and assisting them in achieving year-on-year cost-saving targets they faced because of the severe impact the pandemic had on their revenues.
Our client also wanted a provider who would work in partnership with the collaboration to deliver social value, progression, and development, to give back to London and the local community.
Key deliverables for success included:
A seamless transition from the outgoing MSP provider of all incumbent contingent workers to achieve immediate cost savings, at the same time mitigating disruption to business operations and maintaining any supplier relationships which were deemed essential
Integration between the customers technology platform and Reed Talent Solutions’ proprietary tech platform, as well as achieving a number of bespoke system developments in time for go live
Creation of a collaboration-wide candidate talent pool, to minimise the need for reactive resourcing and reduce time to hire
Rationalisation, and formalisation of key supplier partner relationships across specialist area, where required
Consistent delivery against high service level expectations and performance metrics
The solution:
Reed Talent Solutions created a bespoke managed service programme to effectively address the collaboration’s previous challenges and the negative perceptions that had been created throughout the organisations involves as a result of previous ‘one stop shop’ programmes. This was achieved through high levels of dialogue with key stakeholders prior to the official tender process to truly understand the gaps in service and identify the root causes of pain points.
We created an interface between the customer’s tech platform SAP, and our proprietary vendor management system, XMS to enable ease and consistency of use for hiring managers. By doing this we also improved visibility across the recruitment process.
We deployed a dedicated team of on-site resourcing business partners, a locally-based talent acquisition team and onboarding specialists, as well as a team focussed on talent pool management. The teams are vertically aligned to our client's business areas, enabling them to become truly customer centric and improve our ability to forecast requirements and identify the right candidates more effectively.
We created a bespoke collaboration-wide talent pool utilising our applicant tracking system platform, focussing on skills sets in chronic shortage, specialist nice requirements as well as alumni management.
We partnered with a select number of specialist suppliers, as well as those on the client’s previous preferred supplier list to maintain consistency of supply in niche areas. The supply chain was managed via one VMS platform, for a complete procure-to-pay lifecycle enabling time capture, expenses, invoicing and reporting.
We engaged with the collaboration collectively, conducting joint service reviews to share feedback, best practice, opportunities for continuous improvement and joint initiatives to promote all organisations involved as employers of choice and evolve the service.
The results:
Reed Talent Solutions transitioned 1,565 incumbent workers over from the collaboration’s previous contract, while retaining relationships with support suppliers on new lower margins.
All the incumbent workers were transferred to Reed Talent Solutions at a payrolling fee. This fee was significantly lower than the previous recruitment fee, resulting in significant cost savings across the collaboration. This was completed smoothly and in time for go-live in the space of six weeks.
Considering the volume of transfers and alignments required, the process went remarkably well, with minimal concerns occurring within the contractor population.
Since going live with the service, all reported key performance indicators are green and we have successfully filled 1982 contingent roles. On top of this we’ve achieved 100% compliance and a reduced time to hire- with 98% of roles filled within four weeks, and an average time to hire of two weeks and three days.
A year on and owing to the success of the service and the relationships developed, the collaboration has expanded its requirements to include permanent recruitment and executive recruitment, via a bespoke permanent recruitment managed service.
As part of this solution, we work alongside other smaller, niche, senior appointment recruitment companies. The service has been tailored for each individual client organisation and their unique HR processes, and we have to date successfully hired across senior roles in HR, commercial and procurement, finance and marketing while allowing for consistent service levels across each of the functional bodies.
For the first time, the organisations have been able to access niche talent under one MSP, overseeing the process and supply chain, including a single point of contact, consolidated invoicing via our XMS system, full visibility of spend and set management fees.
In the first six months of the contract, we have delivered a saving of £5.6m on supplier margin fees across the collaboration. This has been achieved due to high levels of direct fulfilment of roles via our dedicated talent acquisition team who successfully delivered 80% of the people needed.
Find out more about our managed service programmes, or get in touch with one of our experts to talk through your needs.
