Since the job of the procurement department is all about acquiring the various things a company needs to operate effectively and ultimately succeed, one of its fundamental priorities is to make these acquisitions with maximum cost-effectiveness.
As far as the labor force is concerned, you'll be in a much better position to control your spend and gain maximum advantage from your workforce if you have a strong understanding of where you currently stand, how to optimize costs and where you have opportunities to drive productivity.
Randstad Inhouse Services is a bespoke solution that helps businesses in a range of segments - from automotive and engineering to manufacturing and logistics - meet their high-volume hiring needs. This service can support your procurement team's contingent talent strategy, using methods that can drive cost savings across the labor force as a whole.
So what are those methods, and how can Randstad Inhouse Services help your business reduce your total workforce spend?
In-depth understanding
To identify the areas where you have the greatest opportunity to optimize costs and be more financially efficient, first you need to have a strong understanding of the position your business is currently in.
Randstad Inhouse Services helps clients achieve these insights by conducting an in-depth business scan. This involves dedicated Randstad process managers, also known as workforce analysts, working closely with stakeholders from various areas of your company - including management, training, operations, HR and procurement - to build a picture of where you stand right now, where you want to be in the future, and the steps you can take to reach your goals.
Your process manager - an experienced professional from Randstad who will be assigned specifically to your business - will help you gain a better understanding of your workforce operations by asking vital questions like:
- What are your key business objectives? Do you want to increase revenue, reduce costs, or both?
- How do these goals connect to your workforce?
- How do you approach recruitment? What steps are involved in finding and selecting candidates, and how much does this cost?
- What are you spending on vital new-hire activities like induction, onboarding and training?
- How do you decide how many people you need?
- What costs do you face as a result of absenteeism and staff turnover?
Based on this fundamental understanding of the current status of your business - known as your 'zero measurement' - we can identify the most effective actions to drive efficiency and optimize your costs.
Cutting costs without losing productivity
One of the most common ways Randstad Inhouse Services reduces costs for clients is by improving the onboarding process.
Effective onboarding is vital, so you can ensure that new staff are comfortable in the workplace and prepared to reach a good level of productivity as quickly as possible. For larger businesses that frequently rely on contingent staff, regular onboarding can also be very expensive, especially if you're not going about it in the most cost-effective way.
Randstad's experience and knowledge in this area means our Inhouse Services division can take over your onboarding process and make it much more efficient. One of the ways this is achieved is through the deployment of the latest technologies and innovations like automation, which can help you save time and make the best possible use of your resources.
Going a step further than onboarding, training is another area where many large businesses have opportunities to improve. Overtraining is a particularly common issue. Are you wasting time and money on equipping people with skills that aren't essential for their roles and they might not even use? Randstad Inhouse Services can help you identify these inefficiencies and offer advice on how you can optimize your training.
Another common goal is controlling staff turnover, which can be particularly relevant for the procurement department. After all, if you can retain your valuable staff for as long as possible, the amount you spend on recruiting, onboarding and training new staff will be reduced.
It's vital to keep these costs under control, particularly in industries like automotive manufacturing or the pharmaceutical sector, where a lot of training and preparation is often required before new recruits reach an acceptable level of productivity.
One of the most effective ways to limit turnover is by ensuring, from the very beginning, that you're hiring people who not only have the right skills and experience, but are well-suited to your company culture and unlikely to leave shortly after joining.
Randstad Inhouse Services can help you make the right hires by offering advantages including automated candidate screening, innovative interview techniques and access to a vetted pool of trusted, experienced talent.
Efficient workforce scheduling is another key process that can help you ensure you're making the best use of the resources available to you. Crucially, methods like these make it possible for you to save time and reduce costs, without sacrificing productivity.
Proven results
The Randstad Inhouse Services approach to understanding the workforce and identifying opportunities to minimize costs without losing productivity has delivered results for businesses in a range of industries around the world.
We are currently working on cost savings programs with more than 800 clients, helping them achieve reductions of at least 2% to 3% in their total workforce spend.
If you're interested in learning how much you could save by working with us, you can take a look at our cost savings calculator.
You can also take a look at a case study to see a real-world example of how this service helps businesses reduce their workforce costs.