One in four large organisations lack full alignment between HR and Procurement on contingent workforce decisions, according to research from People2.0, raising questions about who owns the costs, data and processes behind flexible labour.
Key takeaways
- Set clear ownership across HR, Procurement, Talent Acquisition and Legal.
- Combine workforce visibility with consistent onboarding and classification processes.
- Read the findings as a six-country enterprise study, rather than a UK-wide measure.
The study surveyed 700 senior HR and Procurement decision-makers across the US, Canada, UK, Netherlands, Australia and India. Respondents worked in organisations with at least 500 employees and annual revenues of $100 million or more.
Shared influence, divided responsibility
Between 55% and 58% of respondents rated Workforce Procurement, Talent Acquisition and HR as having a high or primary role in decisions. Yet only 17% named Procurement as the primary decision-maker, with the same proportion identifying Talent Acquisition and 16% pointing to HR.
Finance and Legal also influence programmes. People2.0 argues that involving multiple functions can support better decisions, but only when their responsibilities and priorities are clear.
Many organizations simply do not have a centralized view of their contingent workforce, which means they lack the data needed to manage it effectively.
Fryer said a specialist management function bringing procurement, HR, recruitment and compliance together is an emerging approach to closing the gap.
A growing part of the workforce
Three-quarters of respondents said contractors, freelancers and temporary workers account for at least 11% of their workforce. Some 43% put the share above 20%, making fragmented processes a significant operational issue.
The report identifies inconsistent onboarding, gaps in worker classification and limited visibility over costs and performance as potential consequences of poor coordination. HR and Talent Acquisition tend to prioritise people, skills and workforce experience, while Procurement focuses more on contracts, cost and suppliers.
Christie Heintz, Senior Program Director, Shared Services at People2.0, said the most successful enterprise programmes have a dedicated internal team that owns the contingent labour function.
For recruitment and HR leaders, the findings provide a reason to map responsibilities across the full worker lifecycle, identify where information is held and agree how workforce decisions are escalated.
About the research: An online survey of 700 senior enterprise decision-makers with responsibility for, or influence over, contingent workforce decisions. The sample included 200 US respondents and 100 each in Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, Australia and India. The findings are reported across the combined sample. Source: People2.0, The State of Contingent Workforce Management Report, Enterprise Edition.
