Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/136276
MSP O'Connell: To gain visibility on the permanent and contingent workforce will be a major change. I still think there are barriers to achieving that, and the number one barrier is technology. Barnett: I have to agree. Legislation is driving us to a more equalised society. Workers have equal rights as permanent employees. It's important for organisations to see talent as a whole now. There will always be pockets of contingent labour. For me, it's about a hybrid solution and procurement and HR working together towards that. Zardakas: I absolutely agree. The MSP process started as an administrative one to align process and pull spend together. As buyers have become more educated and as providers have become trusted advisors, we've already seen the transformation start. Stokvis: What I've seen happen over the last few years is that there has been hidden talent not on the radar screen. This talent is working as SOWs (statement of work). In the last 12 to 18 months, I have seen rapid growth of those SOWs. The volumes represent thousands of talent workers. That is one of the growth areas going forward. Clark: Buyers are searching for valuable data. But data they can work with. What's available for innovation of data and analytics? Stokvis: If you look at the mature MSP programmes, through every step in the process there are metrics and data. I think the key is turning data into strategic, valuable information. Technology providers are making significant investments to broaden analytics capabilities. The next step—where MSP and RPO (recruitment process outsouring) are blending together—is turning the data element into a supply and demand management tool. You can use it for strategic decisions making for the next 12 to 24 months and get an answer on what is the talent ecosystem. Stokvis: A client in China had so many contingent industrial hires that they were basically being treated like a commodity. HR stepped in and started to treat them more like an employee with satisfaction surveys and such, and turnover started to lessen, and people started to get more involved and bring ideas back to the organisation for improvements. Clark: Who is more involved: procurement or HR? Barnett: It's absolutely about collaboration. Most buyers come into it for cost savings and to have a glimpse at the data to understand what is trending their organisation. Once we can forecast the peaks and valleys and learn why people are leaving— or whatever the problem is—then we can get around the table with procurement and HR to define what those objectives are. But we are brand new at the beginning. And we need to get part of that culture and organisation. Clark: What does de-risking a solution mean to you? O'Connell: Tends to be around compliance, legislation, ability to fill the roles. It comes back to the point that suppliers and clients, when they first start meeting, dance around it a bit, but will say this is what is important to you, and this is what our solution looks like. But if you change what you think is important to you, then you have to reshape the solution slightly. You have to have an outline of what you want to achieve. HR has to be part of the solution early to help figure it out. Zardakas: On the front end, we aren't talking about the bigger picture: what's the return on a quality workforce. First year is transactional, second year is managerial, and third year is strategic. We need to bring that curve down. There is an opportunity for that, it's just a matter of messaging. Zardakas: We are investing a lot of money to be able to help our clients roadmap and paint the picture. We can look at data and carve it out. Clark: There are multiple forms of employment. They are all part of the talent management strategy. Will RPO merge with MSP into a new product? If this is happening, how is it selling? Clark: How do you demonstrate return on investment (ROI) through data? O'Connell: Two years ago, 50 per cent of our clients were RPO, and 50 per cent were MSP. Now, a third is RPO, a third is MSP, and a third is blended. This is changing very fast. This is a U.K.-driven phenomenon. I think it will happen more and more elsewhere. Barnett: In the MSP world, the ROI that procurement wants to see is savings. That is demonstrated through the model that gets implemented. It's more about the ability to hire into the organisation and retain the workers. It's about bringing talent into your organisation and whether they are staying or leaving. Clark: How can you demonstrate how engaged the workforce is? O'Connell: A challenge a supplier has is that every company has a different definition of what ROI is to them. Procurement wants cost savings, and HR wants strategic, and that's a real barrier for us. What is key is to sit down with all the stakeholders and learn what their definition of ROI is, and then working out the delivery model. We are trying to work with SOW and contingent workers to be aligned to the project, not necessarily the client. You are seldom going to get the same cultural alignment with a contingent worker that you do with permanent staff. So you should think about what you are going to be engaging them on. Barnett: Our last few deals have been hybrid solutions, coming from a sophisticated client that wants to use a one-stop shop for all of their talent. Zardakas: This is definitely happening, but there are prohibitors. Technology is one of them. There are major challenges in that area. There are different technologies, but they do the same things. For these to really converge, HR has to be involved at the front end to drive that and make sure we are talking the same language. Stokvis: I agree. But the challenge is that RPO is very siloed in HR, and MSP is siloed in procurement. The wall needs to be broken down for it to progress. SPRING 2013 | www.hroglobal.com [23]