Its time we brought contingent staff into the fold - Peopleclick

Europe has one of the worldís highest rates of contingent staffing, with an estimated 1.8 million temporary workers in the UK alone, costing businesses about 22 bn a year.[1] In this region then, vendor management solutions must be a priority if HR departments are to track and manage this massive workforce effectively, according to Larry Cucchi, Director of Operations for Peopleclick, the global leader in workforce management technology and services.

To date, some of the larger staffing agencies have created their own bespoke solutions in-house. However the large costs associated with technology development, combined with the need to focus on providing value through placements rather than IT, have meant that many of these systems have now been abandoned.

Cucchi believes that bespoke solutions have not delivered the right results: ìStaffing agencies have moved away from costly in-house bespoke tools, towards specialist web-based technologies. A big bonus is that no upfront capital investment is required, as vendor management solutions tend to be costed on the volume of traffic generated. Also, because they are web-based, there is no requirement for IT infrastructure to be put in place and, therefore, no burden of maintenance and development costs in the future.î

The automation of temporary staff recruitment also offers potential benefits outside the HR department: procurement managers and directors can significantly improve vendor management. Through the use of tailored metrics and key performance indicators included in these packages, directors can begin to run more sophisticated comparisons of their agencies and determine which ones are delivering the best performing candidates, at the best rates, in the fastest times.

Cucchi concludes: ìUltimately, any investment in HR technology and, indeed, staff, must be justified in terms of return: As Michael Dell of Dell Corporation so aptly puts it: ëIf you canít measure it, donít buy it.íî

[1] Source ñ Recruitment and Employment Federation, May 2003