Staffing firms’ opinion of vendor management systems fell further this year, according to a survey of staffing firms by Staffing Industry Analysts. Firms’ perception of VMS has been on an increasingly negative trend since 2008 when tracking of their opinions began.

When asked whether VMS was a net positive or net negative, only 10 percent of staffing firms called it a net positive while 52 percent claimed it as a negative. The net negative of 42 percent is up from each year since 2008. The net negative was 38 percent in 2011.

The influence of procurement departments on contingent staffing was also not viewed positively with a net negative of 46 percent in 2012. It received a net negative of 44 percent in 2011.

“Attitudes toward VMS, along with procurement departments, and gross margin trends have trended increasingly negative, at a fairly constant rate, every year since 2008,” said Theo Vadpey of Staffing Industry Analysts, who authored the report.

When the survey asked about attitudes toward exogenous issues such as the economy and globalization, staffing firms were most positive on the effect of the Internet with a net 58 percent saying it was a positive. However, that was down from a net 69 percent last year who said it was a positive.

When asked about the legal/regulatory environment, staffing firms reported state unemployment taxes were the most negative with a net negative of 57 percent.

“While attitudes toward issues in the legal/regulatory environment have also tended to be increasingly negative over the past five years, they showed signs of moderation in the most recent year,” Vadpey said.

The survey included respondents from 622 individual staffing firms.

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