success story
Solving today’s contingent workforce challenges in the changing world of work
The world of work has been transformed
The Economic uncertainty has exacerbated several existing workforce challenges, such as chronic talent scarcity and the slow and fragmentary digitalization of many business processes. The urgent need to comply with evolving legal and regulatory requirements, and the drive for greater workforce diversity and inclusion, are also creating new challenges for HR and procurement professionals around the world.
Objectives for managing non-employee labor once focused primarily on cost control and compliance.
Today, workforce agility and resilience have become the driving forces of contingent workforce programs.
Against such a testing external backdrop, it’s no surprise that procurement teams – already stretched to their limits by arduous workloads – are often unsure where to start with their transformational aims.
Workforce flexibility, speed, and resilience are top priorities
An expert managed service provider (MSP) using a cutting-edge vendor management system (VMS) meets these unprecedented challenges through the skillful use of specialist suppliers and talent channels, and data-driven strategy. An MSP sources, selects, and manages contingent workers and external suppliers to build skilled workforces that give organizations the ability to move more quickly, with greater resilience, and in a way that ensures quality.
Within this scenario, the VMS acts not just as the central online portal for managing projects, suppliers, workers, and payments, but also as the source of the data and analytics essential to making better, faster, and more informed workforce decisions.
The partnership between Guidant Global and Beeline is a perfect example of this in action. We work with busy HR and procurement teams all over the world, empowering them with the expertise, support, and technology they need to make their businesses better.
A Beeline-Guidant Global client success story
The challenge
One shared client, the world’s largest direct selling company, has achieved dramatic success with its contingent workforce because of Guidant Global’s managed services and Beeline technology.
As a manufacturer and distributor of nutrition, beauty, personal care, and home products sold in 100 countries, our client relies on a contingent workforce to respond quickly to fluctuations in demand.
A challenging assignment in the best of times, this was heightened in 2020 by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Suddenly, it was necessary not only to keep manufacturing and distribution operations up and running in the face of absenteeism and illness, but to shift activities among different locations, based on local health and safety requirements. It also meant that most managerial, administrative, and professional services activities had to be performed remotely, by a combination of full-time and contingent staff.
The solution
The client quickly exercised contingency plans to move some production to other locations when required by local lockdowns. They worked closely with Beeline, Guidant Global, and their staffing supply chain to ensure that their most critical labor needs could be met.
Adding complexity to the process was the need to adopt remote working procedures wherever possible. Operating remotely, the professional services and temporary labor program team established new dashboards and created new reports to keep stakeholders informed. At the same time, they worked with contractors to manage costs for services, such as custodial and cafeteria work, that had been either eliminated or substantially reduced.
Through its response to the emergency, the client proved that remote work can be performed and managed with a high level of effectiveness. The dispersed workforce provides access to talent pools that the client had not considered previously, both for full-time and contingent work.
As a result, the client is studying how, from a systems and policy standpoint, to maximize its ability to use freelance talent or contractors located in areas where it had not sourced talent before.
The reality is that we are supporting our business in a way that we wouldn’t be able to do otherwise with the staff level we have. That is a real benefit.
The results
Due to the strength of the client’s e-commerce platform and the systems that support it, the client has weathered the global crisis successfully. With health and safety measures in place to protect essential workers and despite the difficulty of replacing workers on short notice in some locations, the client continued to meet production levels required to support their distributors worldwide.
The client’s digital transformation investments are accelerating. This ramp-up will require more talent, both full-time and contingent, to bring the transformation to fruition. With these lessons in mind, the client is working with Guidant Global and Beeline to implement contingent workforce sourcing and management strategies for greater workforce agility and resilience, not only to respond to current needs but to deliver a consistent, long-term competitive advantage.