However, HS2’s breach of the legislation lies with how the organization works with third party organizations acting as consultancies. These distinctions made by HMRC have important implications for agencies offering project-based products and SOW-based IR35 solutions.

What We Know

From HS2’s internal review and additional HMRC guidance, we can see that HS2 did not carry out employment status determinations on a number of contractors because they were supplied by a third-party provider.

HS2 took the view that it was the third parties’ responsibility for determining the IR35 status for each individual contractor. In principle, this is correct. Consultancies that provide genuine contracted out services to a client would be responsible for determining the IR35 status.

However, we are seeing an increasing number of cases where the service the consultancy or agency is providing is a provision of labor as part of or disguised as a consultancy agreement or SOW. This would leave the end client open to investigation, as the agreement between the consultancy and the end client does not reflect a genuine managed service and therefore changes the responsibility for IR35 determinations by moving it to the end client — in this case, HS2.

What Does Outsource Service Provision Mean?

When engaging with contractors through a third party, there are different things the end client must consider. Arrangements should be carefully analyzed to ensure that a contract has not simply been re-labelled as a managed service when what’s being provided is a source of labor. Agencies and other service providers should ensure that the right contracts and practices are in place to make the distinction.

This is not an issue that can be dealt with by an IR35 status tool such as CEST; an IR35 specialist should review the arrangement to ensure the person responsible can be correctly identified. If labor is supplied, the IR35 rules may still apply depending on what is being provided and who is providing it.

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How Does This Affect Contractors?

If the service is genuinely outsourced and the outsourced service provider is classed as a small company, contractors will still be responsible for their own IR35 determination. This should be advised by the consultancy, but it is important to get this in writing. If the job role changes or the consultancy grows in size, the IR35 position may change. This issue is becoming more common in sectors with long supply chains and where sub-contracting takes place, particularly in the oil and gas sector where there are often six or seven people in the supply chain.

What Should End Clients Be Doing?

If you think the contractor supplied to you is genuinely part of an outsourced service, ensure you have the appropriate documentation to evidence this in case of investigation by HMRC. You should be considering this for all contracts which involve the use of contractors, and it is recommended that you liaise with all service providers on this issue for peace of mind.

What Should Agencies Be Doing?

If you provide outsourced services in addition to your core recruitment business, you should ensure you have taken IR35 advice from a specialist, or you could inadvertently bring risk to your clients. This may lead to short-term gain in helping your clients alleviate their own IR35 responsibilities, but this could cause long term reputational damage if HMRC investigates and finds this not to be the case. If you are unsure who should be responsible for assessing the contractors, get legal advice to review the circumstances before the contracts are agreed upon.

Don’t Be Caught Out

Using a contracted-out service as an IR35 get-out was once viewed as a silver bullet to the IR35 changes, but HS2’s mistake highlights that it is vitally important to ensure full due diligence is carried out to minimize the risk of a hefty fine. Always seek expert advice if you are uncertain to protect yourself and your supply chain.

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Getting the right people in the right positions has never been more important, and it’s maybe never been more difficult.

I’m not saying I have all the solutions. I am a numbers person, though, and I happen to work in the staffing industry. I’ve looked at the costs from a lot of different angles, and I can confirm what most hiring managers already know: Hiring is expensive. Recruitment is costly with the rising cost of job boards and the time it takes a recruiter to identify a quality candidate. Getting a new employee up and running isn’t cheap, not just because of the time a company devotes to training, but because of the start-up costs associated with bringing a new employee on board with pay, payroll taxes and benefits.

Pre-pandemic, the kind of talent that fills call centers or handles customer service was largely seen as a commodity. Companies might use vendors to source candidates and then identify the cheapest possible candidate with the necessary skills or experience. But we don’t live in a pre-pandemic world, and businesses need to change the way they approach this business-critical need.

Hiring needs to be strategic, thoughtful and interactive. And even though I’m biased because my work is all about numbers, I think there’s no more cost-effective way to do that than to partner — like, really partner — with a trusted company that has the expertise and systems in place to identify the right candidates for the right jobs. Some companies, mine included, assume some or all of the costs in getting a new employee on board, from covering all hiring expenses to managing or providing the benefits and payroll that cover a new hire’s compensation package.

PREMIUM CONTENT: September 2022 US Jobs Report

This approach can be risky for companies such as mine because we invest a lot up front, and if we don’t match the right candidate to the right opening, we lose that investment. We think of it as a funnel. The funnel starts with a job posting, which we pay to amplify and which reaches a wide range of job seekers. We train and employ professional recruiters who evaluate candidates’ skillsets on paper and then narrow that pool to those we want to screen by phone. Our recruiters then complete a behavioral interview with the most promising candidates. The most qualified candidates are passed on to our clients, working in partnership to conduct strong interviews, background checks, reference calls and credit checks before presenting an offer to a candidate. It’s a partnership, and it’s one that we value and spend a lot of time building.

Picking the right staffing partner company can be a challenge, but here are some tips: Find a partner organization that shares your company’s values. Look for a partner company that works to build trust. A good partner will seek to understand your company’s openings, timing of hires, pain points and the behavioral characteristics you want in an associate. A hiring manager and a good vendor won’t look at labor as a commodity, but rather as a chance to give a great candidate a great opportunity with a great enterprise — ideally with the goal of providing that associate a long-term position that brings growth for both the employee and the company.

Hiring has changed, and that could be a good thing. It isn’t a company’s best interest to think of its people as a commodity anymore. Treating employees like the important business-level priority they are will certainly aid in retention. But on a granular, process-based level, thinking intentionally about the mechanisms of how your company identifies and sources talent could not only bring you a better candidate pool, it will save you money.

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For staffing firms who want those contracts, working with a VMS or a Managed Service Provider (MSP) is an unavoidable reality. While some of the challenges are well known among most staffing professionals, VMS business doesn’t have to just be a “necessary evil” — working with these vendors and systems can also benefit staffing firms who put in the effort to do it right.

With that in mind, let’s dive deeper into the challenges, benefits and best practices of working with VMS/MSPs in staffing.

Top Challenges

VMS and MSPs often get a bad rap among professionals in the staffing industry. The negative connotation can stem from challenges like these:

Lower profit margins. To even be considered for a spot on a VMS vendor list, staffing agencies often have to lower their rates, which can eat into profit margins.

Lack of personal connection. Because the VMS model eliminates personal contact with hiring managers, recruiting professionals often are left with unanswered questions about key desired traits for a position, like personality fit.

Stiff competition. A typical VMS listing has 30-40 vendors competing. And since there’s no contact with a hiring manager, the selection largely comes down to price.

Hiring challenges. To compete for positions, staffing firms must have strong recruiters — but many strong recruiters don’t want to work in the high-pressure, low-margin VMS environment. This conundrum can cause hiring challenges.

PREMIUM CONTENT: Software Integration Best Practices for Staffing Companies

Top Benefits

While at times challenging, there are also benefits and opportunities when it comes to working within VMS/MSP systems.

Find new business. As more companies use VMS system to fill positions — and as other recruitment companies fail to jump on board — a steady supply of available business can help drive company growth.

Match candidates efficiently. In the traditional staffing process, understanding the client’s needs and matching them with candidates takes time. With VMS, everything you need to know is available immediately, and you can use analytics and sorting to respond to your clients rapidly and efficiently.

Avoid communication gaps. At a busy staffing firm, it isn’t always possible for the client to reach the exact right person, which can cause communication delays. But with VMS proxy or delegate features, a coworker can step in and fill the gap to prevent any hiccups.

Track the recruitment process and use data to improve. Using a VMS, staffing firms can track the entire candidate lifecycle down to a very granular level of data. These analytics, such as how many calls required, turnover rates, bottom line cost, etc., can help staffing firms improve their processes.

Best Practices

Finally, let’s talk about best practices for staffing firms who do use a VMS system. You can make your life easier by following these VMS tips:

Confirm time entry. Make time each week to ensure that what is in the system matches up with what you know to be true. If issues arise, contact your VMS or MSP billing issue help system immediately.

Check for rejected time cards. If you’re seeing rejected time in your system, it’s important to keep up on it and make sure that you’re following up to correct and resubmit.

Double-check your bill and pay rates. Small errors here can have consequences. Check that your bill and pay rates are correct in the system.

Upload all documentation. It’s imperative that new employees have correct paperwork in the system before they start on a job. If not, you might not get paid.

Measure your metrics. Make sure to track and report on metrics like gross margin, number of requisitions per month, submission-to-hire ratio, etc. This will allow you to know the true value of VMS business for your agency.

We hope this article was illuminating when it comes to doing VMS business. While challenging, VMS and MSP business can also provide significant opportunities for those staffing firms who do it right.

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Consider the meeting a first interview. If you know the right questions to ask, it’s easy to find a business partner that is more than a vendor checking boxes. Share your goals, ask questions and really listen to answers to find a team to support your staffing goals. Answers to key questions should paint a picture about how a company communicates, fills jobs and approaches the business partnership.

Here are suggestions for questions to ask.

What’s your communication process? This should be one of the first questions you ask because it will determine how a company interacts with you and any workers they send on assignment. You should learn who your dedicated company representative will be, what hours they work, how often they’ll be communicating with you about orders or other requests, and any other questions that paint a picture of the most important aspect of your relationship. Consider evaluating your own communication methods to ensure that the staffing partner receives orders in a timely manner and clearly understands your needs.

What’s your typical timeline to fill jobs? Will you often need workers last minute to fill gaps? If so, the ability to quickly accommodate requests is key in choosing a partner, so make sure you get that point across early.

What’s your capacity to accommodate my needs? Despite what you may think, the correct answer to this question isn’t “We can meet all your needs.” The staffing company you’re vetting should have questions about position, quantity, timeline, etc. before they can answer truthfully — which leads us to our next question.

Can I expect transparency? In the staffing industry, providing honesty and transparency to clients and workers is of utmost importance. Because staffing companies are providing people, it’s unlikely that every single request will be filled without a hitch, and your staffing partner should be upfront about that. Providing transparency surrounding your requests — especially whether they can be fulfilled or not — is necessary for a successful partnership.

PREMIUM CONTENT: Executive Forum North America — Making Staffing Platforms Work for Your Business

What kinds of jobs do you staff? Different staffing companies have different specialties and geographic reach. Ask the company you work with for their background or review their website. You might be surprised by the depth and breadth of services provided. While LGC started by partnering with hospitality companies, including restaurants and hoteliers, we’ve expanded to support staffing full-time management positions and support warehousing/distribution gig workers.

How do you find candidates for open jobs? In a traditional staffing model, internal employees are responsible for manually assigning workers to shifts. This means that workers will either call in to see what’s available, or employees will have to contact individual workers to see if they’re free for the shift. With the advent of technology and apps, some companies leverage staffing technology. We use a tool that automatically sends shift notifications to our gig workforce where they can then claim their own shifts based on eligibility. This means that shifts can fill in minutes or even hours.

What is your candidate vetting process? Before you ask this question, first consider if you have any requirements for screening and interviewing candidates. For example, do temporary workers need to have a specific background check or drug screening to work at your location? Are you looking for any certifications or special technical skills? Once you have the answers to those questions, you can see if their vetting process matches your own. Don’t be afraid to ask if they’re willing to accommodate your specific screening criteria.

What’s the billing structure? When you receive your invoice, there should be nothing that surprises you. Ask about things like overtime or time-and-a-half regardless if you think it will come into play during your relationship. It’s always good to err on the side of caution to ensure full transparency.

The right staffing partner should be just as invested in the success of you and the workers as they are with themselves. By finding someone who provides open communication and transparency and can address your needs, you’ll tap into a talented group of workers and take some of the pressure to hire off you and your team.

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In 2005, I got a job managing the contingent workforce for a large healthcare benefits company.  Managed services was a new concept to me, and vendor management systems were not commonly available. The staffing company that previously led the program handed us a stack of papers as they walked out the door and mumbled, “Here’s the history of the program.” Scrambling to understand what we’d just walked into, we immediately began to establish ourselves as key advisors to our client sponsor, implement operational processes and create a supplier program based on vendor neutrality. We wanted to maintain a fair and level playing field for the program, the client and the suppliers. This meant having one unalterable contract with terms that did not favor one supplier over another. And this worked for a long time.

In 2012, we implemented a VMS tool for the program and added protocols to ensure vendor neutrality,  such as establishing distribution lists, managing supplier performance, limiting contact with hiring managers and sending out requisitions to suppliers at the exact same time. It was a well-oiled machine  that elevated our MSP reputation in the marketplace. Suppliers liked working with us to a large degree. Of course, there were those that wanted exclusive opportunities and manager relationships, but our thinking at the time was that it was the MSP’s responsibility to have a fair and equitable program while also removing operational tasks from the hiring manager’s plate. We were in charge of ensuring jobs got filled on time with qualified candidates at the lowest cost. Many MSPs operated this way.

PREMIUM CONTENT: Largest Staffing Firms in the United States: 2022 Update

Eventually, as MSPs matured and client program models evolved, MSPs began creating groups dedicated to evaluating suppliers. Who were the best partners? How many programs were they in? Diversity players were identified, but processes around manager contact, distribution fairness, contract terms and so on remained the same. And for the most part, they still remain today.

But given the lay of the staffing industry, is vendor-neutrality an unavoidable requirement?

The US staffing industry alone has over 28,000 suppliers in its ecosystem. Are they all created equally? Should niche providers have direct access to managers? Should diverse companies get a head start on orders? Is it wrong to value your top performers over lower-performing ones? With technologies changing at a rapid pace, do IT partners need to have live discussions with key stakeholders to find the right candidate?

Consider this: If the spirit of the program is to fill jobs on time with the most qualified candidate at the lowest cost, then the supplier you use needs to be the one who will do just that. You want the best supplier working on your orders, and the only way to get the best is to open your program and allow for the superstars to shine. The old saying, “Life isn’t fair,” may be the answer to whether vendor neutrality is still necessary.

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In staffing (and all industries), we discussed the importance of analyzing turnover metrics and customer feedback as well as becoming a specialist and communicating with clients regularly. How do we expand on those tactics and create a comprehensive strategy that keeps them engaged and coming back to us?

Find their pain and eliminate it. If you’ve developed a niche for your staffing business that solves a customer pain point, you’re on the right track to retaining your clients. People ultimately buy what holds value to them. Ask questions and listen. Find their challenges and address them — don’t assume you know their problem and jump too quickly to a solution. Let them tell you in their own words the issues with the organization, department or team.  Offer a product or service that solves a critical business problem and become something more than a generic vendor or supplier.

Client expansion and relevance. Often in staffing, we make a handful of placements and think we are doing great. We then learn our competition has 100 people on assignment and makes multitudes of direct hire placements annually. Who do you think is more relevant and pivotal to the client’s business?  Learn all departments, teams, business units and divisions. We want to gain client share and provide them our full suite of services. If we can service them in multiple departments and address challenges in different areas of their business, we are a vital business partner — and that solidifies retention and long-term loyalty. Further, when we become significant and relevant to them, we are less expendable.

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Add value and educate. Clients have more options available to them than ever before, so go the extra mile and offer them something invaluable. Be consultative and provide products/services outside of regular staffing. Know how they define value added services, and be sure you know what offerings are important to them.  Value-add services will differ from client to client — for example, you might provide industry, marketing, salary, skill set or geographical data. Additionally, we can walk them through the process of hiring and show that we are “easy to do business with.” We can also make peer introductions to others in the same industry so clients can share information in a forum. Do you keep clients educated on current trends in the workforce? Further, do you truly understand their business so you can have meaningful content to discuss with them? Embrace the practice of offering customers unique services that they can’t get from the competition.

Build trust. Trust typically takes time to build, and we shouldn’t assume clients trust us because they buy our services. Creating and fostering trust isn’t a generic approach because every person and business has different expectations. However, dependability and reliability are critical elements of building this confidence. You and your company must be consistent in delivering value to customers and following through on your promises with action — do what you say. Moreover, if you fall short or make mistakes, own it and rectify the problem. Implement process improvements to ensure the issue doesn’t repeat, and follow up to ensure the client is satisfied with the correction.

Show gratitude and think long-term. Gratitude is a lost art in business. It will set you apart from your competition, but it needs to be genuine and sincere. You have to care about the success of your clients and not just go through the motions. In addition, adopt a mindset that you are in it for the long term with your customers. Support their business and industry while understanding that it won’t always be easy and that it will take time to build their loyalty. It is unknown what the economy will or won’t do, but strive to be an indispensable, trusted advisor providing unique services to retain clients well into the future.

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Internal Look

Appreciating the business you currently have is a great way to grow! One of our suppliers had a 50% response rate to the requisitions they were receiving and wanted to know how they could get more business. Imagine how much their business would grow if they were to respond to 80%. Before you can ask for more business, you must be successful with the business you have.

Take a look at each of your accounts, broken out by MSP customer, and review your internal metrics. Are you doing your best? Can you do more? Where are you excelling? Once you have your statistics, evaluate where the issues lie. If you aren’t working the requisitions, then the issue lies within your recruiting team. If you are working the requisitions but not getting placements, then it may be a quality issue.

One of our successful suppliers would schedule quarterly business reviews to discuss all of their accounts. This sales executive knew to come to the meeting prepared with a review of how they did and where they thought they could improve. They were honest with the challenges they were having and asked for advice. And then they listened. They asked for more business in those areas where they were doing well. Where they were failing, they asked for more time to improve with the suggestions I had provided. If you can build a better engine, then ask for time to do so. If you can’t, then respectfully decline the business. It’s vital to focus on the areas where you can contribute and talk about how you can help.

PREMIUM CONTENT: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Trends in Staffing 2022

External Look

Knowing your business is important, but knowing your MSP’s business is critical. If there are industries where you excel, bring this to the attention of your MSP partner and request more clients in those areas. If you have done well in a particular geography, suggest you grow with their clients in those locations.

We had several suppliers who had customers in the San Francisco area, so fitting them to our clients in SF was an easy win because they already had a candidate pool we could tap into. Maybe there is a skill category where you have a large group of resources already sourced and ready to work, or perhaps you have a program set up to train on specific skillsets; suggest these as opportunities for expansion. Again, listening to your MSP’s needs gives you the opportunity to pivot on your approach and find solutions. Many times on client spotlight calls, program teams will share where they are struggling to fill requisitions, so if you are listening closely and know how to ease the stress coming from a client, you will be first of mind to help and top of mind for other clients needing similar support.

Listen, Build, Grow, Repeat

So what’s the secret to growing with MSPs? It starts with listening to their needs.  Once you know their needs and you know if your business can help, you can grow or you have the opportunity to rebuild the areas that need improvement. Grow internally in the programs you have first, then look to grow externally to new programs — and repeat for each MSP where you have a partnership.

The other secret is to be specific in your requests. When suppliers came with their hands out asking for business but didn’t know where they wanted it, our team was so busy putting out fires, we didn’t have time to figure it out for them. In those situations, the supplier was placed on a general waitlist. But when suppliers did their homework and came with a plan on where they wanted to grow, it took all the guesswork out of where we could use their support, and we were able to place them at the front of the right customers’ line — which is where you want to be too.

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As organizations re-imagine the future of work, it’s important to remember how interconnected the world is. The new bottom line is simple: Leveraging this interconnectedness improves profitability, talent pools and thought leadership. Building a strong partner ecosystem is strategic and, quite frankly, vital to the health of the agency.

Some partnerships are apparent — for example, the partnership that you have with your candidates. Keeping them engaged requires careful relationship management, ensuring the long-term success of your client partners and your job seekers. It’s as plain as the nose on your face. You might think, “We’ve checked that box — we have this partnership thing 100% covered.”

PREMIUM CONTENT: Staffing Company Interim Planning Package 2022

Partnerships aren’t that one-dimensional. The ability to find and match talent is the primary business service. But what about how you find and match the talent? Doesn’t that involve your technology vendor partners? What if you win a new piece of business in a region where you don’t have ready talent pools? Having a partnership there would ensure rapid time-to-productivity. What about learning providers that host annual conferences for your recruiters? And even your text messaging provider?

Keep it simple. Just like there’s no need to sign up for every new social media platform out there, there’s no need to sign up for every potential partnership or tool. Audit what you and your team need and select the best-in-class from there. It’ll save you time and money and allow you to prioritize partnerships to your business goals.

Appoint a leader. Depending on the partnership, it is valuable to appoint a single person who is responsible for meetings and coordinating tasks. Having a single source for the partnership ensures that those who are most impacted by the partnership are in charge and you avoid the “too many cooks in the kitchen” problem.

Have goals and track your results. As anyone in staffing will tell you, not much matters if you don’t get results. Moreover, you won’t know if your results are the right ones if you don’t have goals. Opening your partnership with goals in mind will make sure that everyone is on the same path towards success.

Staffing firms cannot miss opportunities, making it a competitive business that is heavily reliant on technology. Additionally, building a staffing firm brand that reflects a commitment to being a strategic partner can be a critical differentiator. And, to fully capitalize on every opportunity, isn’t it better to have a cooperative model that fosters collaboration with other agencies? Being the respected brand that pops up in every conversation can make your firm the winning vendor — and partner — of choice, every time.

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The Difference Between Cost Savings and Cost-Effectiveness

The terms cost savings and cost-effectiveness may seem synonymous, but they’re very different. When it comes to developing a hiring strategy, it’s important to understand those differences so you can know what to expect, especially when it comes to driving value through a staffing partnership.

Cost savings simply means saving money. In terms of staffing, it usually refers to a reduction in what an organization would typically pay a staffing provider for its services, or a price that’s less than other vendors’ bill or markup rates. However, narrowly focusing on shaving bill or markup rates can have unintended consequences. Organizations should keep in mind:

• Lower bill rates often mean lower candidate pay rates

• Lower pay rates impact the quality of interested candidates
• Lower-quality candidates usually results in extended training time, higher attrition rates and even poor performance
• Lower bill/markup rates impact a vendor’s ability to dedicate resources and services to their clients, including contractor support, retention initiatives and technology solutions

Companies that overly focus on cost savings risk quality and the long-term benefits of well-trained, well-paid workers. Meanwhile, savvy organizations focus less on cost savings and more on cost-effectiveness as a solution for driving long-term value. This involves working with your staffing partner to hold them accountable to high-performance expectations that are in line with reasonable bill/markup rates.

PREMIUM CONTENT: Workforce Solutions Buyer Survey: 2021 Americas Results

Knowing Whether Your Staffing Partner Is Cost-Effective

Organizations that work with a cost-effective partner often reap benefits from the first hire. With a cost-effective staffing partner, your organization should experience the following:

• Time savings. Staffing providers often handle applications, candidate vetting, interviews, background checks, drug testing, etc., which frees up your internal teams to handle other important objectives. While time savings is highly valuable, it should be balanced with quality-focused goals.
• Engagement. Your staffing partner should engage with managers and contractors to host regular employee touchpoints, collect and provide performance feedback, and troubleshoot any issues that may arise.
• Employee value proposition. Evaluate the employee benefits your staffing partner can provide, including affinity programs and retention incentives (e.g., performance-based pay raises, retention bonuses, employee appreciation events).
• Knowledge. A strong partner will consult on market trends, offer recommendations on how to attract candidates, provide competitor intel and consult on your talent strategy to maximize results.
• Quality candidates. Find out if your recruiters and account managers are specialized in hiring professionals within your specific industry and target labor categories. A knowledgeable partner will understand your business and provide qualified talent who require less training, often resulting in improved performance and cost efficiencies.
• Improved retention. When your staffing provider is effective in vetting candidates and taking care of their contractors, improved retention often follows. Reducing employee turnover is crucial in establishing a cost-effective staffing program, especially when considering the high cost of potential backlogs while you hire and train new employees.
• Workforce management options. As your business evolves, your partner should be able to scale up support. A partner that offers a range of flexible services, including managed solutions, can provide experienced teams to execute deadline-sensitive projects, while taking on the logistics of onboarding, training and managing employees.

Ultimately, working with a cost-effective staffing partner often results in greater profit margins through soft cost savings that are generated by better candidates, improved performance and enhanced productivity.

Many organizations are tempted to cut staffing costs upfront, especially when employees need to be hired rapidly. In the short term, it could seem like a good idea, but settling for less-than-qualified hires now at a lower cost upfront will not set them up for success in the long run. Organizations should therefore consider a long-term strategy for saving time and money by taking a cost-effective approach to partnering with a staffing provider.

MORE: Retaining talent in a tight labor market

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Technology owned by a competitor won’t get your nurses placed the fastest. Only vendor-neutral solutions will.

In today’s world of healthcare nurse staffing, success is all about speed. Hospitals can’t serve patients and staffing agencies can’t generate revenue until the nurse or other clinician has been placed at the bedside. Making that placement quickly and easily, however, hinges on the tools and vendor management technology used. Here, vendor-neutral options significantly outperform those owned by a Managed Staffing Provider (MSP) or competing agency.

The pandemic has made success in staffing placement all the more urgent: Nursing vacancy rates have doubled or more in some places, even as more beds are occupied than during the previous height of the pandemic. Hospitalizations increased 500% just this past summer alone, according to The New York Times.

MSPs claim to solve this problem, of course. They say they can connect agency supply to hospital demand in the fastest and most efficient way possible. However, any agency forced to work through an MSP-owned Vendor Management System (VMS) knows that’s not true. In fact, according to a survey of staffing agencies conducted by Hallmark Health Care Solutions, nearly three-quarters (70.37%) of agencies see less success when an MSP manages recruiting and placements with hospitals.

So, it’s no surprise that an overwhelming 82.14% of agencies said they prefer not to work with VMS technology that is “owned by another staffing company.”

In Part I of this article series on why vendor-neutral technology is the business-friendly solution for staffing agencies, we focus on strengthening the client relationship and technology consideration. And in Part II, we’ll delve into conflict of interest and operational efficiencies when it comes to selecting a VMS solution.

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You can focus your efforts better and strengthen client relationships.

MSP-owned VMS technology withholds (or simply doesn’t collect) key information because it’s not in the best interest of the MSP to highlight or disseminate that data. A vendor-neutral solution, by contrast, will shine a light into all the dark corners of the staffing process, which enables agencies to make better decisions. For example, you can see if candidates have already applied for a given role or not, so you can identify orders where there’s little to no competition. Or you can pull out orders with the least number of documents required for easier placements.

That kind of information isn’t just good for agencies; it’s good for their hospital clients too. Being able to run informative reports for clients – “You got 40 submissions today, with 23 interviews and eight offers” – strengthens relationships because the client can see firsthand how the agency is working hard for them.

Get best-in-class technology delivered by teams whose sole focus is tech.

 Staffing agencies work on margins that force them to focus on volume and on recruiting, not on hiring tech companies or in-house staff to work on technology. So, groups that develop their own VMS tools will always treat the technology as a secondary priority, even if it’s their own. By contrast, a pureplay tech company will continuously reinvest in ensuring their technology is the best it can be, because the technology is their product.

In turn, that translates into improved user experience, better functionality and ultimately a more effective staffing resource. For instance, if the agency using the VMS wants to build an API between its applicant tracking system, job boards and the VMS to reduce manual labor inputting data, a vendor-neutral company is going to be willing to invest in that effort. In the end, the agency and the tech company share the same agenda: helping the agency successfully place candidates.

Don’t miss out on Part II of this article coming out next week!

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The post How Staffing Agencies Can Place More Nurses in Hospitals Faster By Using Vendor-Neutral Technology: Part I appeared first on Paragon Strategic Staffing.