How Data Visibility Provides Answers About Your Contingent Workforce

The Contingent Workforce continues to grow nationally and as it does, the challenges and complexity of managing that workforce also grows. Nearly 20 percent of employees in the average US corporation are contingent workers, yet organizations still fail to manage them effectively. Companies that have not invested in robust end-to-end data visibility find themselves spending too much time and money on contingent labor and stand to face major challenges in terms of security, compliance and misclassifications. Investing in contingent labor data visibility is critical to improving hiring, ensuring access to skills and ultimately, managing costs.

Contingent Workforce Data in Use (In Real Life)

Experts are always touting the benefits of leveraging data, but what does it actually look like when the rubber hits the road? Is contingent labor workforce data really that valuable?

According to case studies presented by Sourcing Industry Group (SIG), a large utility company leveraged contingent worker data to facilitate decision-making when it came time to determine whether to renew a worker’s contract, release them, replace them or re-deploy them. Data helped HR identify contingent workers’ talents and strengths and allowed them to move contingent workers to new projects without having to start the recruiting process over.  In cases where workers had to be replaced, data was leveraged to improve the recruiting process for the next round, saving both time and money.

SIG also looked at “Total Talent Solutions,” the holistic workforce management approach that combines employee and contingent workforce management platforms into one. Historically, organizations have struggled in combining employee and non-employee data for tangible insights and results.  However, that struggle often lies with organizations’ inability to articulate the right questions from the outset. With clearly defined goals and robust platforms, companies can understand their entire workforce and get a picture of the costs associated with different worker classifications, to get an end -to-end view of the talent pipeline and understand the skill and talent gaps in the existing workforce and how well the pipeline is prepared to address those gaps.

Finally, SIG also looked at the way a pharmaceutical company leveraged data to improve hiring and retention. The aggregated publicly-available data from sites like Glassdoor and ran an intensive internal survey program to study candidates and employees’ feelings on the hiring process, onboarding process, termination process and their feelings about the company while employed. This helped the company understand why employees and contingent workers liked working there and why they did not. This data helped shape policies across the board and ultimately improved candidate quality and lengthened average employee tenure.

Making Data Visibility Work For You

There is no shortage of workforce management and vendor management software available to companies to help them tap into contingent labor data. However, it is only with the right combination of technology and expertise that true insights can be derived. Many forward-thinking companies rely on a Managed Service Provider (MSP) to help them successfully leverage data.  When considering a partnership with an MSP, always take time to learn about data visibility capabilities and commitment.

If you are ready to realize the business benefits of working with an experienced MSP with a proven track record of success, the team at CSS vSource is here to help. Call us today at 856-222-0020 to learn more about the ways managed services can help you achieve your contingent hiring goals.