This summer, HireTalent is pleased to offer our partners and colleagues a summer series of interviews with leadership working within the contingent workforce management (CWM) space. This series will highlight their perspectives on where the industry has come from and where it is moving.
Brandon Moreno began his career as a contingent employee in human resources and became fascinated with the relationship between the contingent worker, vendor, and client. His career evolved into the management of contingent programs and he was awarded the 2012 HR Professional of the Year award in San Diego. During his tenure at Herbalife, Brandon implemented a Vendor Management System (VMS) and decided to keep an Internally Managed Program (IMP) in which he oversaw the contingent workforce population with an internal team vs through a third party provider relationship (MSP).
During our discussion, Brandon shared he often receives questions around his organization’s use of an IMP vs MSP. So, which model does he believe is most effective? He is diplomatic in his response and shares that each model has their place. However, Brandon does view the IMP model as being able to offer a more strategic approach to cost and talent management that ultimately influences the organization holistically. With around 30% of today’s workforce blend being defined as contingent and growth of the labor category expected in years to come, business leaders are looking at cost control and the effectiveness of contingent spend. He believes that the MSP model, positioned as an external partner, has some big challenges to overcome in terms of strategic program execution.
Brandon confirms recent findings that organizations are shifting to a more strategic use of their contingent workforce vs the traditional tactical utilization. Why is this shift happening? He believes that chaos is driving the need for this change – procurement’s responsibility to control cost and evolving workforce demographics. Brandon states telecommuting policies, project based roles offering continuous learning, and culture fit are factors that should be utilized to attract contingent as well as FTE talent. Employment experience is critical and organizations should not overlook recognition of contingent contributions; creation of a contingent on boarding process, lunch with the team on the first day, and welcome letters are examples he gives for ensuring retention, reducing turnover cost, and creating strong brand ambassadors for the organization. Not to be forgotten is naming of the CWM program – branding establishes an identity for the program within the organization.
Finally, we discussed where Brandon sees the industry in 5 years. He expects an increased desire and need for collaboration among players in the CWM space as the contingent labor category grows and it’s in this spirit of collaboration that he began his organization, Everhive.
Everhive is a management consulting firm working with procurement and talent acquisition stakeholders to identify strategic solutions for their CWM needs. Everhive helps develop a long term road map and obtain buy in within the organization. http://everhive.com/