Contract Workforce and Talent Exchanges

This brief session is the introduction to the eighth two day virtual event for the Institute for Human Resources - Contract Workforce and Talent Exchanges. The goal of the Institute is to provide on-line sharing, training and educational opportunities for HR staffing and procurement specialists on the effective utilization and management of contract talent within their organization. Over 3600 members have joined our growing community over the past year. Even if you have attended one of our events in the past, we’d still encourage you to attend. If this is your first time attending an event, the introduction will provide you an overview of the certification program.
Lynn Kelly, Content Facilitator for the Contract Workforce & Talent Exchange Institute for Human Resources will take you through this introduction:
During this short session she will:
- Introduce you to the Advisory Board
-Review the progress of the Institute and upcoming events
-Explain the Certification program
-Provide you with an overview of the sessions and speakers for this event
-and most of all - help you learn how to become an expert in the area of Contract Workforce and Talent Exchange

If you have not yet signed up for the certification program – you still can. During this session you’ll find out how to get started. Get an update on the hours accumulated to date. Find out what you have missed and take a look at what is coming up for the next couple of months.

If you are new to the Institute for Contract Workforce and Talent Exchange this introduction will cover not only our past accomplishments but also explain why you should participate and be a part of this growing community!

For those with questions regarding the Institute and its content this is your chance to share your ideas.

According to the American Staffing Association Staffing Index, since the beginning of 2012, temporary and contract employment has grown 28.1%. Are you and your organization positioned to properly address the challenges and opportunities this places on your contingent workforce planning and management? Join Industry Experts, who are members of The Institute for Human Resources – Contract Workforce and Talent Exchange’s Advisory Board as they answer your questions, share their insights and engage with you. This is a great opening session to begin 2013’s, 2 day Virtual Event.

Jeff Nugent from Contingent Workforce Solutions will moderate our panel, which includes:

•Matt Rivera, Yoh Services, LLC
•Jerome Gerber, Volt Workforce Solutions
•Jason Posel, ClearPath Workforce Management
•John Martin, IQ Navigator

These individuals are leaders in contract workforce management and have uniquely diverse yet complementary experiences. You won’t want to miss the opportunity to hear these five experts share their thoughts and experiences. They will begin the discussion with their observations of changes that have impacted this sector over the last 12 months and look ahead to the challenges and opportunities of 2013. They will use polling questions and take questions during the webinar to get your perspective while sharing their insights.

Topics for discussion include:
•       What trends can we expect to see in relation to contingent worker compliance?
•       What does the re-election of President Obama mean for companies using independent contractors?
•       What were companies doing related to contract workforce management in 2012, and what should they do/not do in 2013?
•       What is a "talent deficit" and why should companies be concerned about it?
•       Is use of more contract employees the new norm, and if so what are some best practices for managing/engaging them going forward? (could be two separate questions, or two-parts to the same)
•       What are some of the most common (or perhaps uncommon) uses of a contract workforce?
•       Staffing Industry Analysts recently posted a blog stating RPO is the new VMS. Can you explain?
•       What are self-managed MSPs and why would companies choose to manage it themselves?

A wide range of business trends – from just-in-time manufacturing to offshore knowledge workers – means that contingent workforce management is a broader and more critical part of many organizations’ success than ever before. Establishing clear, enterprise-wide management programs for this segment of the workforce can ensure consistency, flexibility and responsiveness that drive results.

Successfully implementing a Contingent Workforce Management (CWM) program requires a foundation based on standardized efficient and effective processes related to the procurement and management of an organizations contingent and services workforce.

How do you ensure vendors, who are a critical component of the supply chain, effectively work with your organization to manage the temporary, consultative and professional services workforce? Part of it is working with a vendor whose contingent workforce management philosophy aligns with your organization’s goals. The other part is clearly communicating your business objectives, managing expectations for how you see the vendor interacting with your technology and operational processes and letting them know how they stack up against the competition.

This session will provide seven tips to help your organization be successful in managing your vendors. Attendees will learn about the following and more…
Drive competitive sourcing – Each opportunity should have multiple submittals so you can use business intelligence to analyze information and make the best sourcing decision. If analyzing data reveals a single source, end users or vendors are most likely going around the defined process. Requiring multiple sources per opportunity will drive competitive sourcing and pricing.

Use bidding and reverse auction – To get the lowest possible cost, implement a reverse bid process. Increasing transparency of rates will encourage vendors to lower their price and be more competitive.

Enforce compliance – Conduct pre-engagement audits and ensure vendor compliance with drug screens, background checks and other requirements prior to the commencement of an engagement. Make sure all vendors adhere to the requirements and that conditions are consistent and fair for all vendors.

Streamline end of engagement processes – Ensure vendors are working with end users to disengage temporary workers whose assignment has ended. This provides visibility into the workforce and mitigates risk.

Increase accountability – Hold vendors accountable for prompt time and expense processing and other program metrics. Through data analytics, organizations can measure vendor compliance and how they compare to their peer groups.

Measure invoice adjustment amounts – Ask vendors to make a rate commitment and hold them accountable for it. This will help support accurate forecasting and financial capabilities. Using analytics, organizations can identify vendors who are driving up adjustments or if they are out of compliance with their contract. Organizations that conduct quarterly reviews and look at historical data can leverage those insights to optimize their contingent workforce management program going forward.

Conduct Vendor Service Reviews – Help vendors understand how they are performing in their program. When conducting baseline and benchmark analysis, make sure vendors are compared to their peer groups. In other words, don’t look at an IT staffing vendor versus a finance and accounting provider. A peer evaluation can help vendors understand their strengths, the value they deliver to your business and areas they should improve.

Flatter, Leaner and Blended Global Workforce:
Prescription for Business Model Success in the 21st Century

Contingent workers are rapidly becoming a critical component of any workforce population. Since the beginning of 2012, temporary and contract employment has grown 24.2%! This explosive growth in the number of contingent workers is largely due to the rapid adoption of social media as well as economic downturns.

Today's contract workers turn to social media to find assignments, assess potential employers, access needed knowledge, improve skills, collaborate on tasks, and evaluate work experiences.

Many companies have also turned to social media, incorporating social networking sites such as Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook into their recruitment strategies. Each has created a recruitment section to their site, and volumes have been written on how to search for candidates on each social networking site. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

This webinar explores and explains the impact that each type of social media will continue to have on all aspects of contingent talent procurement and workforce management. Topics include:
• Tapping into social media to increase your labor market intelligence
• Selecting the right type of temporary worker or team for each assignment
• Matching the best sourcing methods to each type of temporary worker
• Going beyond social networking - Incorporating talent exchanges and crowdsourcing into your talent procurement strategies
• Avoiding classification and regulatory compliance risks when sourcing candidates online
• Nuances of onboarding and off-boarding a candidate sourced through social media
• Using ‘unified communications’ technologies to drive collaboration and productivity across all stakeholders
• Transitioning your vendor management system into a social enterprise talent management platform
• Practical plans for getting started

A new year always brings new company-wide goals. We hear this consistently from HR leaders; in 2013, all of us are asked to mitigate risks, increase margins, improve compliance, and access top talent. These goals can often seem distant and difficult to attain—what’s more, they don’t come with roadmaps. Because unmanaged contingent workers and independent contractors can result in decreased efficiencies and increased costs, a Managed Service Program (MSP) automated by a Vendor Management System (VMS) often leads us to success.

Implementing an MSP/VMS solution can seem like a daunting task, but market research shows that it is a worthwhile pursuit. Much has been written about the value of MSP and VMS solutions, and the clear measureable results they deliver. However, there are many steps that must be taken to effectively prime an organization for their implementation. Everything from gaining executive sponsorship and day-to-day stakeholder support to process mapping and change management must be thoughtfully and strategically considered. Investing the prerequisite time on the front end will make all the difference in the world; we will share the steps critical to assessing your current state, key areas to consider, and a vision of the possible future state.

Learn about laying the groundwork for making the business case that will rally internal support, asking the questions that will uncover opportunities for improvement, and defining the variables to consider when evaluating MSP/VMS providers.

Are you ready to take the first step toward attaining your organization’s new year’s resolution? Join us, and we will help light the path.

Change is constant and the staffing industry certainly holds no exception. How we manage the hiring process - from top to bottom - has shifted dramatically in recent years, but many of the fundamental rules still remain. It's all about finding the right talent at the right time, place and price. It seems simple, yet there is no elegant formula.

With many options available to hire workforce, how do you blend your workforce to run your department most efficient way. In order to use various platforms effectively it is very important to understand pros and cons of various resources available. Making informed decision in terms of hiring workers is the most important thing you can do to manage your department efficiently. Rules of the games have changed and now than ever you will work with a person whom you have not met and might never see again. You need to make ensure that, information what you’re using to pick your contingent worker is reliable.

The contingency workforce represents untold, untapped talent. Whether you are a staffing agency or your firm handles staffing internally, one of the keys to a successful project is getting the right people on the right job. The contingent workforce is incredibly mobile these days, and with the right systems and partner, it's incredibly easy to bring in specialized staff quickly.

The management of contingent workforce is rapidly changing. The advent of online-based services has made staffing sleek and simplified, but new tools are constantly surfacing. In order to be efficient you have to hire right workforce using right resources.