We all need a starting point when outlining the current state of our total talent management program. Ask yourself four key questions to establish a solid baseline for where your current program stands, and determine a clear plan of action.
Here, we outline four key questions to better understand where your current plan stands today.
1.) Who Owns Each Labor Group?
The first question you should consider is that of labor group ownership. We typically find that HR owns hourly or full-time employees and procurement owns the contingent or project-based workforce. Alternatively, HR may take ownership of all labor groups or all labor groups except services procurement labor.
Regardless of where your talent is centrally managed, identifying where it’s all coming from (whether you know exact numbers or not, and where processes currently exist) will help you identify what needs to be reviewed and changed.
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2.) Who Manages Each Program?
Once you have a clear understanding of who owns the overall labor categories, it’s time to determine who manages each program. You might be wondering if that’s the same thing. Good question—but no, not exactly. This will depend on the level of outsourcing your team operates within your organization.
Some possible scenarios include:
- All programs are run completely in-house with all labor managed by the appropriate departments.
- HR runs programs via a Recruitment Outsourced Provider
- Your contingent program runs via a Managed Service Provider.
- At VectorVMS, for example, there’s even a unique segment of clients that run their program in-house and share responsibility with us as their Shared Managed Service Provider.
Whether you manage any given program or you don’t, make sure to document it appropriately to help everyone, internally and externally, determine your current state!
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3.) What Systems Are In Place Today?
Now that you’ve determined who your program managers are, the next question to ask is whether you have the right technology in place to help them. If you discover nothing else, finding out where your full-time and contingent recruitment is happening today will be crucial.
The vast majority of programs already have an applicant tracking system (ATS) in place to manage full-time recruitment, and many also implement vendor management systems such as Vector VMS to manage the recruitment and management of the contingent workforce.
Another system to look at is your HRIS and whether or not your contingent data is being passed to this system of record. You will also want to determine how payments take place, which AP systems are set up, and whether these are managing both your full-time and contingent labor.
There are a number of periphery systems to also consider, such as alternative sourcing, servicing, learning, performance management, and many more.
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4.) What Are the Challenges Driving Change?
When gathering data, it’s important to ask yourself what challenges you’re currently facing and which inefficiencies you want to solve.
For many organizations, some of the biggest challenges include:
- The need to make sure that cost is maximized across programs
- The need to get more individuals onboarded efficiently and ensure the same compliance for all workers, regardless of their employment type.
For example, whether you hire a contingent or full-time staff member, it’s imperative to ensure that the individual steps onto your site only as needed and that they’re fully credentialed. This brings us to an important point: What technology do you have to give you that kind of visibility? If you don’t have a VMS in place, it might be time to consider gathering all of your contingent workforce information into one single source of record.
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This article has been adapted from our recent webinar, ‘4 Steps to Making Total Talent Management Part of Your Workforce Strategy.’ Listen to the full webinar to find out how to get your program off the ground, the trend towards total talent management, and more. Alternatively, reach out! Discover how a VMS can help you manage your contingent workforce.
Meet the Expert
Taylor Ramchandani – VP of Strategy
Taylor Ramchandani is responsible for the management and strategic planning of the VectorVMS vendor management system. Taylor is committed to client satisfaction and to ensuring VectorVMS technology meets the current and future needs of clients and managed service providers (MSPs). She uses market research and in-depth industry experience to create products and services that make extended workforce management efficient and intuitive. Taylor oversees product development, marketing, and business partnerships for VectorVMS and is responsible for driving innovation for contingent workforce management. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
