Most global firms (80 percent) rely on a contingent workforce, and 65 percent plan to increase their use of contingent workers, according to Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) research. These firms have an exciting opportunity to increase the return on investment (ROI) of their contingent workforce by using workforce analytics to obtain visibility into the actual work performed on their organization’s behalf. This data inevitably reveals ways to reduce costs, improve capacity management, drive productivity, and enhance business decision-making.

 

“What data is showing consistently, time and time again, is that there is at least 30 percent untapped capacity in the contingent workforce that could be redeployed in a business in a way that can generate more value,” explained Sapience President Sue Watts at a recent SIA webinar sponsored by Sapience.

 

At the event, Watts joined Geoff Dubiski, global TA lead, contingent workforce strategy & planning at Intuitive and Stephen Clancy, senior director, CWS knowledge and research at SIA, to explore how organizations can use workforce analytics to enhance the value of contingent workforce services.

Read on for a few takeaways from the fascinating discussion. Or, better yet, click here to watch the event in its entirety.

 

The QECR Performance Management Framework Requires Visibility 

Quality, efficiency, cost, and risk (QECR) are key performance elements organizations use to assess and manage initiatives designed to improve a contingent workforce program. These initiatives include dynamic bill rate management, supply and staffing partner optimization, and risk mitigation, to name just a few. Such undertakings are not possible, though, without visibility into a contingent workforce program.

“You can’t manage the value in any kind of detailed way if you don’t understand what is being delivered at that moment in time. And that takes access to data,” Clancy explained. 

 

VMS Solutions are Vital but Don’t Show the Full Picture  

A vendor management system (VMS) provides significant value to customers, especially in managing contingent workforce and service procurement. Dubiski described how Intuitive uses a VMS as a single source of truth for non-employees, harvesting information from other sources, too, including a timecard system.

A VMS is integral to contingent workforce programs. But it deals with the processes related to getting people into your business and not what people are actually doing once they are inside. The platform includes data on self-reported hours worked, but not insights into the actual work performed by contingent resources.

“A VMS system lacks the visibility into work habits – measurable outputs on productivity. It lacks work time, visibility and accuracy in terms of what people are doing – the number of hours they’re actually working, etc.,” Watts said. 

 

The Workforce Analytics Opportunity

Organizations can use work data for a variety of use cases that provide value to the organization and improve the contingent workforce program. These include: 

• optimizing resources and improving capacity management
• obtaining visibility into work habits
• validating self-reported timecards
• understanding onboarding processes and training programs
• assessing whether you have the right person/skills for a given role
• understanding work patterns, including utilization of technology

 

Ask – and Answer – the Right Questions 

When considering whether your organization would benefit from a workforce analytics platform for the contingent workforce, as well as what to do with the data, Watts suggested asking a few simple yet enlightening questions, and using the data to answer them:

• Are people working, i.e., what’s the actual work time versus your expectation? Who is working long hours or over the weekend, and is that necessary? 
• How are people working, i.e., when people are working, are they spending their time on tasks that are valuable to the business? 
• What is the variation across teams, and where are the opportunities for improvement? 

 

Share the Data with Intention

Creating value from contingent workforce insights comes down to execution. You must share the information with the appropriate stakeholders and make a clear plan for acting upon the insights.

“Our job as program owners is to harvest this kind of data, create something very visible for our leadership, and go to them with some insights and observations – some things that we think we could do – and engage them in that kind of conversation. Because at the end of the day, regardless of my will and desire to do things, I obviously need the business’s support,” Dubiski explained.

He noted that who is responsible for acting upon the data depends on the findings and could include a program owner, suppliers, and line managers. He also suggested providing context when circulating data, which will inevitably be shared “downstream,” to reduce misinterpretation. 

These are just a few of the takeaways from the live event. For more tips on using workforce analytics as well as simple steps for using a small investment in workforce analytics to unlock immediate business gains, check out the full webinar recording. 

 

Interested in learning more about Sapience’s platform and our contingent workforce solution, schedule a demo or contact us today.  We look forward to speaking with you!