Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/169755
RPO regions. Each client has their own tipping point on how they're going to be truly harmonised on a global basis." What's Next? Bigger and better things. "The future is bright," Callahan says. "We've got some very successful programs that are yielding positive results, which bodes well for other buyers that want to proceed," she says. "It is an exciting avenue of growth for all of the providers." There is a lot of buzz in the industry that in the future, more buyers will incorporate permanent, temporary, and contract workers in their workforce plans. Karen Browne, president of Advantage xPO, explains that a total workforce solution covers both managed services programs (MSP) and RPO. "We at Advantage xPO are really working to cultivate that— looking holistically about what type of workforce planning drives material change to their business and how to create more density and flexibility across talent categories," Browne says. While the U.S. is one of the more sophisticated regions related to staffing, she believes many U.S. companies are "extremely siloed in their buying behaviour," whereas EMEA companies are set up with one vendor for both RPO and MSP and can "course correct faster." As such, more providers will likely unify RPO and MSP programmes, to ensure clients have "a more complete, realtime view of capacity and organisational capability globally," Collier says. "In the future clients can't see RPO and MSP solutions as discrete activities—they have to have a unified platform to drive efficiency, matching demand and supply most accurately." MacDonald says buyers need to be careful of temporary staffing agencies offering such services. "Just because they have had a physical presence in 120 countries doing temp work doesn't mean they have end-to-end experience placing full-time employees in the regions where buyer want to staff up." The more sophisticated global buyers are likely spending up to 60 days to conduct due diligence and review partnerships with at least three or four potential RPO providers, and then building their business case, she says. While Hull's HR team might integrate the company's More providers will likely unify RPO and MSP programmes, to ensure clients have "a more complete, real-time view of capacity and organisational capability globally. In the future clients can't see RPO and MSP solutions as discrete activities. They have to have a unified platform to drive efficiency, matching demand and supply most accurately." —Jerry Collier, Alexander Mann Solutions temporary contingent workforce into its overall workforce planning strategy, it may not be within one solution, he says. However, Hull can understand why providers are heavily promoting the idea of combining RPO and MSP programs: "They want to protect their margins." "On the permanent side of RPO, the margins are getting thinner and thinner because it's becoming more of a commoditised service," he says. "While on the surface, integration of everything from temporary to permanent sounds easy, it's not quite as simple." For example, Germany, France, and Italy have strict rules on how to employ low-paying workers for temporary and contract work, and "buyers need to be really careful about how they manage that." "One solution for all types of recruitment might work in one country, but if it's for multiple countries with multiple legislative and regulatory requirements, it might not be so straight-forward," Hull says. There are challenges with a single source RPO model as many RPO companies have limited breadth and do not have access to all markets around the world, Serff says. "In addition, as markets evolve, it is important that our recruitment strategy is flexible to meet the changing needs of our business and customers," he says. SUMMER 2013 | www.hroglobal.com [21]