Howto develop a best-in-class extended workforce program in 6 easy steps
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 • Choose a technology provider dedicated to keeping you ahead of the innovation curve
2 • Establish a plan to include all non-employee talent
3 • Use a multi-faceted talent pipeline strategy
4 • Leverage experts for industry best practices
5 • Apply workforce analytics for better decision-making
6 • Long-term thinking for a short-term world
About Beeline
For most organizations, human capital expenses constitute the largest single cost of doing business. Your workforce is also a growing concern because it’s hard to acquire the top-tier talent you need to compete and succeed in an on-demand world.
To solve this problem, organizations that once depended on an internal workforce of direct employees are increasingly turning to a mix of traditional workers and contingent, non-employee labor—all while maintaining workforce visibility, physical and data security, and compliance with applicable policies, laws, and regulations.
Fortunately, technology exists to help you achieve these objectives and turn external talent into a competitive advantage for your organization. Here are six steps you can take to create a successful, best-in-class extended workforce program.
A vendor management system (VMS) provides the core technology to achieve visibility, security, compliance, and cost management. Since it will be the heart of your program for years to come, it is important to choose your VMS wisely. Many providers can deliver a VMS that meets your needs today. But for a best-in-class program, you need to invest in technology that is focused on the entire life cycle of the non-employee workforce. While a VMS manages contractors or statement of work resources, an extended workforce platform enables companies to deploy a talent strategy for their external workforce.
Beeline’s innovations originate in close collaboration with our clients. In fact, more that 35 percent of our R&D activities are based on client suggestions, and 100 percent of our new products and system innovations are developed with client engagement via Technical Business Reviews, focus groups, Beeline Client Advisory Board, ProductBoard, or early adopter programs.
Just a few client-focused innovations you should consider include integrated direct sourcing, AI, powerful workforce analytics, and drag-and-drop integrations. If your VMS doesn’t have them, where are they on the roadmap? Unless your VMS provider has a proven history of—and a credible commitment to—product innovation, your program may be unable to adapt to meet strategic or technological changes in the future.
All leading VMS solutions are delivered via the SaaS (Software as a Service) model. But the quantity and quality of the services delivered with the software can vary dramatically. While some providers offer only help desk and break-fix support once your technology is implemented, others provide more comprehensive support.
At Beeline, we schedule regular two-way conversations to discuss your program’s health, operational problems, technical issues, new product developments, and much more. Ask around. You will find that our collaborative approach to service is unparalleled in the industry, and it is available throughout the life of your program.
When you are under pressure to ensure system uptime for your users, it may seem like your technology provider’s most important role is to “make it work!” While critical, we see short-term fixes as only one small part of our service responsibility. Our true dedication is to “get it right!” So, we are determined to identify and correct the source of each problem—whether it originates with people, processes, or technology—in order to preempt future problems.
As talent increasingly becomes a brand differentiator, organizations are turning toward workforce optimization to gain a competitive advantage. Managing contingent workers is vital, but if you are controlling only one part of your contingent workforce—a single labor category or a single location, for example—you are not really controlling it at all. Contingent workforce programs must be able to effectively manage all types of talent, regardless of engagement type (T&M/SOW) or employment status (W2/1099).
To bring an entire contingent workforce under centralized control often depends on your program’s maturity, but it is important—from the very start—to set clear objectives and implement technology and processes that you won’t outgrow.
For new Beeline clients, our Solution Design team works closely to understand your program goals, data collection and exchange requirements, your organizational policies, procedures, and preferred workflows. We configure our products to fit your needs and your processes.
And, to ensure your users get all the value your program can deliver, we provide training for both your staff and your suppliers, and we update this training as your program matures and expands to cover additional labor categories and geographies.
No contingent workforce program can achieve its goals without effective change management and whole-hearted program adoption. It starts by publishing and communicating program goals to your entire stakeholder ecosystem.
Show how your program goals align with organizational objectives. Instead of using basic terms like “savings” and “compliance,” define the metrics—the key performance indicators (KPIs)— you will use to optimize your contingent workforce management program. The fundamental question your stakeholders will ask is “What’s in it for me?” Your communications should answer this question for all stakeholders, including your suppliers.
Beeline’s team can help you establish the strategic plans you will need, along with tools and tactics to drive program acceptance, support, adoption, and expansion. Based on our extensive experience with all types of contingent workforce programs, we can help you develop your business case, change management program, and stakeholder communication plans.
The traditional approach to building a contingent workforce involves managing multiple vendors who recruit and present candidates whose skills, experience, cost, and availability match their clients’ requirements.
Increasingly, these traditional sources are being augmented by a variety of options, including specialized consultants and independent contractors, and other resources—including online talent platforms—to support the growing “gig economy.”
Since traditional staffing vendors provide access to only a fraction of the talent actually available, it is particularly important for your program to tap much larger talent pools—including multiple online talent platforms and, your own retirees, alumni, silver medalists, interns, and other known resources. One of the best options to expand your talent options is direct sourcing.
Managing an external workforce program can keep you so busy and often you don’t have time to be strategic. To be truly productive, you need to make the time to get away from your desk, see new products, hear new ideas, and compare notes with other professionals in your field.
Beeline has over 20 years of experience across a range of industries and geographies, and many of our employees have run contingent workforce programs themselves. Our experts keep current on industry trends and best practices, and are available to help you.
On average, Beeline’s client services team has more than 10 years of relevant industry experience—running their own programs, or as MSPs, or as staffing suppliers. Not only can they give you advice based on their own experience and that of their clients and specialists throughout our organization— configuration specialists, reporting specialists, financial operations specialists, and integration specialists—they can also introduce you to your peers and industry experts, and show you how to participate in client communities, regional forums, special interest groups, etc.
20+ years across a range of industries and geographies
10+ years of average relevant industry experience of client service team
Success for your program starts with your implementation. But it doesn’t end there. True success will depend on how you use the data your program creates, combined with all the industry data available, to optimize your program.
The advanced analytic tools available will give you visibility into potential cost savings and quality improvement opportunities. You will have confidence that you are running your program based on facts, not assumptions—the confidence to explore, manipulate, analyze, interpret, and understand your data in order to make the best business decisions about your contingent workforce.
Beeline provides the operational and strategic guidance you to need to exploit these powerful analytic tools. From program office development and market rate analysis to business process engineering and advanced scorecard creation, we can provide professional consulting and advisory services to help you realize your program’s full potential. Take advantage of our years of technology and program management experience, and you will be on your way to achieving a best-in-class program.
Business needs and expectations are evolving faster than ever before. In an age of disruption, HR and procurement leaders are being pressed to rewrite the rules for how they organize, recruit, develop, and manage their workforce.
While some view this as a challenge, we see it as an opportunity – an opportunity to reimagine talent sourcing and management practices, and an opportunity to create platforms, processes, and tools that will continue to evolve and sustain their value over time.
In this environment, a truly best-in-class contingent workforce program must deliver more than just immediate benefits in terms of lower costs, improved security, and absolute compliance. It must also offer innovative ways to optimize workforce productivity now and in the future.
Your program needs a technology that will innovate and grow with you— backed by much more than a 24-hour call center. You need a diverse team of professionals with a commitment to your long-term success.
Beeline offers a team with deep operational and strategic expertise to ensure that your program adapts and evolves to meet your changing business requirements throughout the lifecycle of your program. It is one reason more than 350 clients worldwide, including nearly 100 Fortune 500/Global 2000 companies, choose Beeline to support their external workforce programs.
350 clients worldwide
~100 Fortune 500/Global 2000 client companies
For over 20 years, Beeline has empowered businesses worldwide to achieve competitive advantages with their extended workforce. Beeline Extended Workforce Platform gives companies the visibility needed to mitigate risk, achieve cost savings, and meet dynamic business needs. With tailored solutions that solely focus on the complexities of the extended workforce, clients leverage Beeline products that fit their unique requirements. Through thousands of integrations, clients can connect their extended workforce data from all technology stacks, including major procurement and HR systems.
Join the list of renowned brands benefiting from Beeline’s deeply seasoned experts, collaborative innovation, and industry-leading partner network.
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