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Should buyers care what their staffing suppliers think?

CWS 3.0 - Contingent Workforce Strategies

Should buyers care what their staffing suppliers think?

Frank Enriquez
| October 8, 2024
Evaluation with woman using her smartphone on a couch

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In today’s competitive landscape, enterprise organizations’ contingent labor programs rely on suppliers not just to provide contingent talent but to become strategic partners that help drive innovation and efficiency.

And while program offices evaluate their suppliers via scorecards, many suppliers are turning the tables and scoring their enterprise clients. When this happens, it is a valuable opportunity for organizations to get real, unfiltered feedback from their staffing suppliers. In turn, this feedback can help enhance supplier relationships and improve overall performance.

Here’s what contingent workforce programs can gain when their suppliers conduct a scorecard assessment.

Benchmarking performance. Supplier scorecards provide a structured framework for comparing client performance across key metrics ranging from responsiveness and feedback, requisition accuracy and submission-to-interview-to-hire ratios, total average time to fill, profitability and ease of doing business, to name a few. By understanding where their enterprise organization ranks among their suppliers’ other clients, enterprises can identify specific areas for improvement. This benchmarking provides the opportunity to set performance goals and potentially enhance operational efficiency.

Enhanced accountability. Scorecarding encourages suppliers to hold enterprises accountable for their performance by highlighting areas where clients may be falling short. This accountability leads to more constructive feedback loops, prompting enterprises to refine their processes and interactions with suppliers. For instance, feedback on rejected candidates can help enterprises adjust their expectations and improve candidate quality, benefiting the entire contingent workforce ecosystem.

Increased transparency. Shared evaluations foster a culture of transparency, making enterprises aware of their standing in the eyes of suppliers. This transparency encourages enterprises to engage proactively with their suppliers, leading to improved communication and collaboration. Enhanced trust between suppliers and enterprises can result in innovative solutions to common challenges, ultimately driving better outcomes for both parties.

Risk identification and management. Scorecarding provides insights that help suppliers identify potential risks associated with low-performing clients. If a supplier consistently rates an enterprise poorly in specific areas — like ease of doing business or responsiveness — it may signal operational risks that could affect both the supplier’s performance and the enterprise’s overall supply chain. Understanding this relationship allows enterprises to take proactive steps to mitigate risks and enhance their operational stability.

Competitive advantage and differentiation. Suppliers use scorecards to identify clients that align with their strategic goals and values. Enterprises that perform well on scorecards may receive preferential treatment, such as priority access to their best talent and best efforts. Metrics like profitability can also influence supplier relationships, creating a powerful incentive for enterprises to enhance their operations and be viewed as valuable partners in the supply chain. Profitability goes beyond pay rates, bill rates and associated markups; it has more to do with the relationship between opportunity and success.

Feedback for continuous improvement. Supplier scorecarding can offer enterprises structured feedback that helps identify both strengths and weaknesses in their operational practices. By understanding how they are perceived relative to other clients — particularly in areas like requisition accuracy and submission-to-interview-to-hire ratios — enterprises can motivate themselves to seek continuous improvement. Leveraging scorecards as tools for growth can refine processes, enhance overall performance and ultimately deliver better results to key stakeholders.

There is an opportunity for contingent labor programs to drive the conversation for suppliers to scorecard them against their other competitors and companies. Buyers should consider creating key metrics that they want their suppliers to scorecard them against to achieve consistent feedback and data from their staffing suppliers. For enterprise organizations, supplier scorecarding is not just a routine assessment; it represents a vital opportunity for continuous improvement and strategic alignment. This practice significantly impacts operational performance, risk management and relationship dynamics when the metrics are shared back to buyer organizations in an anonymous way.

By recognizing and engaging with the implications of scorecarding, enterprises can take proactive steps to enhance their standing, foster collaboration and drive mutual success in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Understanding this process is essential for optimizing supply chain relationships and achieving long-term strategic goals, positioning enterprises for sustained growth and innovation.

Sample Supplier Buyer Scorecard

SLA/KPI 

Details 

Benchmark 

Responsiveness 

How long it takes for a CW program to respond to inquiries

4 hours 

Candidate Feedback 

How often the CW program provides feedback on all candidates submitted 

70% 

Submission-to-Interview Ratios 

The ratio of candidates submitted to those who get interviewed 

Submission-to-Interview Ratio= 

Number of Candidates Interviewed/ 

Number of Candidates Submitted​ 

Interview-to-Hire Ratios 

The ratio of candidates interviewed to those who get an offer 

Interview-to-Hire Ratio= 

Number of Candidates Hired/ Number of Candidates Interviewed​ 

Profitability 

Measurement of level of effort to required earnings/revenue 

Scale of 1 to 10