Tara Sudama

Arcadis, a global design and consultancy organization that advises clients on their natural assets and built assets, did not have an overall contingent workforce management program when Tara Sudama joined the company in 2018. Sudama created and implemented the company’s global program and currently manages it in the UK and Europe, with a budget of about £80 million.

“Instead of directly managing the contractual relationship of our UK external workforce, we engage third-party brokers to handle the relationship management on our behalf,” she says. “It’s made us more compliant, more efficient and more flexible. Plus, it’s given us access to multiple agencies that we wouldn’t necessarily be able to access by ourselves.” Her efforts have saved the firm approximately £15 million annually.

The most complex issue she has dealt with, she says, is Britain’s IR35 legislation, which governs proper independent contractor classification. In 2021, Arcadis examined all its contingent workers and recategorized them as necessary. “It unraveled a complex web of issues, revealing challenges present in multiple countries,” she says.

With The Netherlands considering a similar law, Sudama’s team is implementing a country-specific program ahead of that likely legislation. This new initiative is also being structured with an eye toward saving money and increasing diversity.

To continue to provide value to the Arcadis organization, Sudama plans to grow her team — to which she attributes the program’s success — and expand its reach to the Americas in 2025. “Arcadis and our clients are the pinnacle of our contingent workforce program,” she says. In the meantime, work in Britain and Europe keeps them busy and provides ample variety. “One day we could be dealing with the supply chain in the Netherlands, the next day in Germany.”