Contingent workforce management programs are complex. With around 41.5 percent of the average enterprise’s workforce being made up of “non-employee” workers (Ardent Partners), large organizations need to implement strategic plans that make the management of this workforce more efficient and cost-effective.

Many companies, however, are failing to get this right. Contingent workforce management programs are highly strategic, time-consuming and require highly skilled professionals that have expertise in contingent workers and how to manage them.

Labour is one of the largest expenses within your company, and failure to manage your workforce correctly will result in huge costs that impact the profitability of your business and leave you far less efficient than you should be.

The biggest problem is that contingent workforce chaos is invisible.

The vast majority of large companies have fragmented contingent workforce management programs, which are managed by a number of hiring managers, all located in different departments with their own processes, price points and vendors in place.

This lack of visibility and control of your non-permanent workforce results in high costs, over-payments, inconsistent hiring process, wasted time and a wide range of other issues that all negatively impact the core processes of your company.

So, what’s the solution to these major issues facing employers of contingent workers? Other than the obvious use of a managed services provider (MSP), there are a variety of methods that will ensure your business is properly managing its contingent workforce.

One of the most important is the use of technology, and, in particular, the implementation of a vendor management system (VMS).

What is a VMS?

A vendor management system is a cloud-based software platform that solves challenges across every stage of your contingent workforce, from finding skilled workers, acquiring talent, analyzing vendor performance and managing your entire non-permanent workforce.

A VMS is an all-in-one solution that allows you to automate and streamline the processes that support the sourcing, acquisition, management and payment of your company’s non-permanent workforce.

In fact, the implementation of VMS technology will help your company with every aspect of contingent workforce management, from candidate selection, onboarding, vendor management and performance analysis, compliance, time management, payments and much more.

How will a VMS benefit your contingent workforce management program?

Contingent workforce management is essentially impossible without the implementation of a vendor management system. The visibility, control and automation that a VMS brings your company will significantly enhance your ability to manage contingent workers.

Here are just a few ways in which a VMS will improve your company’s contingent workforce management program:

Total workforce visibility: Since your entire contingent workforce will be visible, organized and strategic through the use of a VMS, you’ll have complete visibility into your non-permanent workers. This will allow your business to maximize cost savings, improve candidate selection, ensure compliance and successfully analyze the performance of your contingent workers.

Gain control of workforce spending: From the increased visibility that comes through the use of a vendor management system, your organization will have far greater insight into how much its spending on contingent workers. Your business will be able to see exactly where it is overpaying and underpaying temporary workers, and how you can better achieve market rates for those workers.

The automation of processes: Creating a requisition, onboarding non-permanent workers and sending payments are all manual processes that take time away from your HR or procurement teams and leave room for human error. With the use of a VMS you can completely automate these processes and minimize mistakes.

Do you want to learn more information about how HCMWorks can transform your contingent workforce management program through a VMS, giving you more visibility and control over your non-permanent workers? Contact us today. We would be more than happy to answer any questions you have.