CWS 3.0: May 18, 2011 - Vol. 3.12

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Heard on the Street: A One-Stop Shop

“Customers are looking to wrap all their talent acquisition strategies in one platform. We are coming to a stage when the client is looking for consolidated process and providers that can provide them with a solid solution suite across all of their temporary labor requirements.”

 Andrew Zarkadas, VP business development at the Guidant Group, a provider of workforce management solutions

Imagine one vendor that can provide a gamut of services, like MSP, RPO, VMS and compliance. Does that sound far-fetched? Some experts out there don’t think it is. “We’re seeing a consolidated format of talent acquisition strategies. We do have clients coming to us with these requests,” says Zarkadas.

Let’s take a look at the current state of CW programs. Staffing firms have moved into providing managed services and handling payroll for clients’ other temporary workers. Vendor management system providers have dipped into managed services as well. Further, managed services providers (MSPs) are now handling recruitment process outsourcing. And MSPs and staffing firms now offer compliance as a service. Indeed, there are some whose sole offering is independent contractor compliance. The list goes on.

These business model consolidations will continue to happen in the industry, says Zarkadas. In fact, things are moving to a point where contingent and traditional employee hiring are no longer mutually exclusive within companies. Globalization has forced many talent acquisition and HR professionals to look at the workforce on a more macro level.

These professionals realize they’re going to have to optimize a mix between the two types of labor: contingent and full time. Moreover, in certain situations and certain economic climates, that mix will look different. Companies are going back and forth between different providers with varied strategies and work ethics, not an easy or harmonious task.

Perhaps the most challenging of concerns for companies is compliance. The issue has been getting a lot of a attention, especially with headlines in the mainstream media involving a variety of lawsuits, such as misclassification, wage and hour, and over-time issues. Companies want to stay on the right side of the law, which is driving companies to entrust compliance of their CW workforce to a single source. “From a pricing perspective and from an overall return on investment viewpoint, a client obviously is going to gain more value by going to that one singular provider rather than starting new relationships,” Zarkadas says.

In order to stay competitive, suppliers are forced to be innovative. Companies need to stay on top of the issues and market, too. Do your homework and understand the landscape. There is a lot of activity — bids, request for proposals, new entrants — currently in the CW space. “Look for the provider that has the solution, infrastructure and the best practices to provide you a sustainable program over a long period of time,” says Zarkadas.