Managed Services is a concept that was implemented in temporary recruitment over 15 years ago, in the form of a Master Vendor model.

A Master Vendor model meant that one single recruitment agency was the provider of all temporary members of staff. Since then, Managed Services has adapted to the changes in the market and temporary solutions – a Neutral Vendor Managed Service model being one of its adaptations.

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So, what is a Neutral Vendor Managed Service?

A Neutral Vendor is just that – a neutral, unbiased provider of temporary staff.

Let me put this into the context of Cohesion’s Neutral Vendor model:

A client would come to us with their temporary roles. Utilising our own Preferred Suppliers List (PSL), and also integrating any local or trusted agencies you are keen to use, they are thoroughly audited to ensure they comply with all rules and regulations. Once we have spoken with the hiring manager and identified the requirements for the temporary position, we would notify all agencies on our PSL of the vacancies, and each would put their best candidates forward. We then screen the profile of each candidate, and ensure the most relevant candidates are passed to the manager.

When you work with a Neutral Vendor Managed Services Provider, you are also working with all of the best agencies with the highest quality candidates, without having to commit too much time.

Why is a Neutral Vendor Managed Service useful?

First and foremost, you will always receive the best candidates possible. As a Neutral Vendor model raises the vacancies with a number of agencies, they’re in indirect competition with one another to fill as many of the vacancies as possible with their candidates. This means that they will only send their strongest candidates available.

Secondly, we will ensure that all agencies and agency staff are fully compliant with all temporary worker legislation. As part of a Neutral Vendor Managed Service, audits of agency suppliers will be carried out regularly. All agencies who don’t pass the audit would be suspended until they become fully compliant. We also ensure that all candidates are compliant with Agency Worker Regulations (AWR).

The Neutral Vendor Managed Services team is a single point of contact for you. We will be in direct contact with the agencies on your behalf, freeing up the managers time to focus on their day to day job and not have to listen to agencies selling their candidates and services.

Once the role has been raised, the candidates will be screened and passed to the hiring manager. All they would need to do is confirm who they would like to see and when. Once the interviews have been completed, the team will then submit any feedback to the agencies, including any offers.

Finally, you would have access to a fully-integrated online system. This should record all temporary vacancies to allow full visibility of all temporary workers within the business, including the financial implications. You should never be kept in the dark, or unaware of your current situation.

Are there any other Managed Services models?

Besides the Neutral Vendor and Master models, there is also the Tiered model.

The Tiered model is used more often by agencies as opposed to by RPO’s. For example:

A client would raise all of their roles with one agency. This agency would then fill as many of the roles as they could with their own candidates, regardless of quality. If they are unable to fill the position themselves, they will then reach out to other agencies to fill the small amount of roles that are left.

This model is often used at the detriment of candidate quality and also can cause delays in filling urgent roles.

So, a NVMS Provider would speak to ALL agencies to source our candidates?

Given the fact that there are hundreds of agencies – we don’t speak to every single one. We decide, based upon your requirements, which ones will be able to provide you with the highest-quality temporary workers, or any agencies you may favour.

For example:

• Spectrum Housing, a niche housing group, require candidates with specific skills and capabilities. As a result, we use around 10 agencies to supply their candidates.
• Fremantle Trust, a much larger Social Care organisation, require a greater range of candidates. As a result, we use around 30 agencies to source and supply their temporary staff.

To conclude – a Neutral Vendor Managed Service is an unbiased, neutral provider of your temporary workforce. By using such a service, you will have access to the best candidates from each agency, without having to contact them yourselves. You can save yourself time and money, whilst being confident in your temporary staff.