For many care and support providers, a key priority has centred around reducing temporary worker agency spend. In many organisations this has been achieved – but after prioritising a well-managed bank of workers on flexible contracts, there will be instances when temp use is appropriately required. That’s where an active recruitment agency supply chain comes in.
Effective supply chain management is crucial for timely supply, reducing spend, and ensuring compliance needs are met. In this blog series, we introduce six top tips to help you achieve the best results from your agency supply chain.
We caught up with Cohesion’s Client Relationship Manager of our Managed Services division, Clare Berridge. Let’s start with Clare’s first three top tips:
Prioritise Communication
Effective communication is the backbone of any successful Preferred Supplier List. Establish frequent, two-way communication channels with your suppliers. This involves more than just transactional exchanges; it’s about building relationships. Make sure suppliers fully understand your homes, services and requirements. Work together on identifying preferred workers to allow for better continuity of bookings.
“We can always get in touch with Cohesion when we need to – the team have been very supportive and helpful. Unlike other vendors where shifts aren’t always released, Cohesion help us as an agency and we’re now on two of their Preferred Supplier Lists” – Kindfort.
Provide your agencies with positive feedback when things go well and constructive feedback when improvements are needed. Regular updates and open dialogues help in anticipating potential issues and addressing them proactively, ensuring a smooth and efficient supply chain process.
Set Clear Expectations
Setting clear expectations and SLAs within a well-defined contract is essential. These documents should outline measures of success, including KPIs and specific deliverables. Keep terms consistent across the supply chain, and ensure you have standard rates and terms agreed such as free temp-to-perm transfers after twelve weeks of service.
Cohesion’s suppliers work to key deliverable requirements which allow for a 97%+ fill rate, with shifts filled in a matter of hours.
When expectations are clear, both parties understand their responsibilities, reducing the likelihood of misunderstandings and poor performance. Regular auditing against your agreed benchmarks helps in maintaining high standards. Leading us nicely onto our next top tip…
Audit Regularly
In the first half of 2024 for one provider alone, Cohesion identified duplicated timesheets to the value of almost £2,000, and 24 temporary workers whose compliance was due to be expiring imminently – allowing for appropriate action to be taken.
Regular audits are indispensable for maintaining the integrity of your supply chain. Monitor fill rates, compliance with regulations, and track instances of name swaps and no-shows.
Access our Agency Checklist to support with auditing here.
Auditing ensures suppliers are meeting their obligations and adhering to agreed standards. It also helps in identifying areas where improvements are needed and maintaining a high level of service quality.
“The communication from the operational team at Cohesion are great – we have a much better relationship than with others. We find that alternative vendors tend to be pure technology based; with Cohesion they always pick up the phone” – Care Supply.
Cohesion have delivered a truly Neutral Vendor Managed Service solution for social care and housing providers for decades, supported by hundreds of trusted and vetted agencies.
Our work is focused on reducing agency spend and amplifying your permanent and bank workforce pools. We support you to meet compliance needs where agency use is unavoidable.
Quotes throughout this blog series have been provided by agencies supplying Cohesion clients.
Look out for our next blog, which will share more tips from Clare…
