The industry has traditionally focused on matching supply and demand for labour, with market fluctuations dictating the need for permanent or temporary staff throughout the financial year. As such, organisations have historically taken a relatively reactive approach to recruitment. But the needs of business have changed. Firms of all sizes now need a flexible solution to workforce planning, to accommodate the dynamic change we are seeing at a macroeconomic level.
In response to the current economic climate, blue-chip organisations are revising their workforce planning. We are now seeing a convergence between what used to be two very separate streams – permanent hiring and the use of contingent or temporary workers.
Progressive organisations are increasingly taking the view that they have to hire, engage and manage their workforce on a holistic basis for reasons of cost efficiency and driving performance. The division between the hiring of permanent and contract workers is therefore set to dissolve.
We at Hyphen believe this convergence is a significant trend that could see the shape of the workforce change dramatically over the next few years – and, consequently, the way in which recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) functions and the role that RPO can play in the development of new talent streams across the entire business model.
There is substantially more to RPO than simply managing external hiring: advising on attraction techniques, managing internal mobility, pre-employment screening, offer management and on-boarding are all part of the offering. RPO organisations are also actively involved with managing the quality of hire and attrition rate, to ensure the recruitment process continuously evolves and improves.
RPO can play a vital role in enabling shifts in workforce dynamics: by overseeing the overall talent acquisition workstream and becoming more involved in forward resource planning, as well as executing defined hiring plans.
RPO practitioners have a greater awareness of budgets and the strategic targets of the business, enabling them to plan their go-to-market approach proactively, as opposed to being forced into last-minute hiring or 'distressed purchases'. Practitioners are therefore able to ensure consistency of hire – meaning candidates are not only hired on the basis of skill and experience, but also for their likely fit with the broader organisational culture.
We are seeing an increasing desire from blue chips to implement consistent talent acquisition frameworks on a regional or even global basis, while retaining the quality and consistency of a localised offering. RPOs are already advising on this proposition; the next step is implementation across the globe.
But for many firms, this is far from being an exact science and there continues to be a disconnect between planning for permanent hiring and the use of contingent workers across many organisations.
Flexible workforces tend to be hired to complement established workforces, but not factored into overall recruitment plans, resulting in a lack of planning and organisations taking on contingent workers as a 'distressed purchase'.
Often temporary worker and contractor requirements are overlooked by HR. This is borne out by research conducted by the Unlocking Britain's Potential report, from our sister company, Adecco Group. This shows that only 42% of organisations engage with their temporary or non-direct workforce. This needs to change.
Temporary employees are a valuable resource and need to be engaged to ensure they are as productive for an organisation as possible. To open up opportunities for a sustainable temporary workforce of the future, organisations need to stop viewing contingent workers as being on the fringes or margins of their workforce, and instead see temporary employees as a resource to be deployed according to the needs of the business.
As the staffing needs of multinational organisations develop in line with fast-shifting work patterns and technology, it is imperative we stop viewing a contingent workforce as a last-minute add-on, never integrated and ever disposable. Instead, we have to see a shift in thinking at management and HR director level.
This change is beginning to take place – as the take-up of Hyphen's 'employed consultant' model by major organisations such as Aviva and National Grid demonstrates. We believe that the offering, which provides a flexible workforce for large organisations looking to recruit for particular projects and work streams, sets a precedent for the industry: taking a holistic view, bringing permanent and temporary strategy together – and moving towards a total workforce solution.
Organisations must now see the imperative to hire, engage and manage their workforce on a holistic basis – negating the divisions between contingent and permanent staff – as a matter of strategic importance to the wider business. Failure to do so could result in a lost opportunity to fully engage with a new, innovative and dynamic way of working – both adaptive and flexible, and able to move in sync with a fast-paced, ever-changing marketplace.
Zain Wadee (pictured) is MD at recruitment consultancy, Hyphen
