We all know the traditional silos of HR and procurement impede total talent management. While a stark and stubborn delineation exists between the two, most companies still feel safer keeping the functionality and management separate: It’s easier to compartmentalize and there’s less compliance risk.
In Europe, the market lacks maturity when it comes to technology for contingent labor. With 27 countries, Europe is fragmented and operates at its own pace and rhythm. And for companies with workers spread across multiple European countries, the idea of total talent managements has been unattainable.
Meanwhile, the strategic value of the contingent workforce has grown tremendously — particularly over the last couple of years — and these workers can no longer remain tucked away in the procurement box. The siloed management approach limits progress, productivity and profitability for the entire organization. Today’s workforce comprises about half employee and half nonemployee, posing an urgent demand on both procurement and HR managers with cross-country labor programs.
Shockingly, most companies around the world don’t have a view into their worker classification makeup. Technology solutions have been lacking for companies needing to manage workforces in multiple countries and multiple labor categories. In Europe, management of the contingent workforce looks different in each country, and compliance risk skyrockets when trying to standardize this under one management tool. Technology solutions have fallen short, and until now companies have had to rely on multiple systems to piece together a broken total talent view.
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Four elements of a total talent strategy are needed to move the European market closer to total talent management:
Visibility. While there’s a need to manage and process different types of workers in different ways, a singular view of data across all permanent, contingent and independent workers is the only way to make better decisions.
Simplicity. Companies like Beeline can extract the complexity of a separate VMS and HR system and instead offer a streamlined, simplified user experience with access to the entire workforce at once. The ideal — and now attainable — scenario is when hiring managers, procurement managers and HR managers go to one place — the same place — to get what they need.
Flexibility. Program managers need to be able to localize the contingent labor program for each country, and they need to be able to scale up or down. Traditionally, a VMS has been tailored to the enterprise. But when companies don’t need to deploy a full VMS, there are solutions to accommodate for smaller business footprints. Companies with a small presence in some countries but a larger presence in others need consistency in how their data is managed, analyzed, and presented. They need an agile solution.
Reduction of risk. The misuse of contingent labor data carries serious legal consequences, making it intimidating for managers to want to integrate employee and nonemployee information. Businesses need a solution that can give program managers visibility without co-mingling data.
Technology is bringing HR and procurement together, making it easier for the two to work alongside one another. Beeline’s recent acquisition of Utmost has made this a reality. With the right technology, the European market can start moving closer to the once-elusive total talent dream.