when retaining project talent and IP is critical, MSPs offer solutions

November 26, 2015 Richard Cogswell
consider an MSP within a project landscape to manage an increasingly complex contingent workforce

part 2 of 2

In the first part of this blog series, I explained how organizations that generate revenue from project work can win more deals by demonstrating effective talent management. In the second part, let’s examine how an MSP can help you better win and retain talent through employer branding.

controlling and retaining project IP 
The obvious point here is that it is expensive to recruit replacements. These cost drivers are significant but avoidable. Recent case studies focusing on the costs of employee turnover demonstrate that it costs businesses about a fifth of a worker’s salary to replace him or her. It is also time consuming and introduces a factor of risk to the project, risk in the form of potential late delivery or in the form of errors. 

Controlling and retaining your IP is about elevating your ability to deliver meaningful outcomes at the next project or client. The graph below, shows the impact you can hope to leverage. As your rehire ratio decreases, so does your need to on-board and train. Your readiness state is therefore elevated as these resources are experienced and ready to go. They also have the benefit of precious project experience embedded in their consciousness, hence errors and inefficiencies will likely decrease. 

How is this achieved? Your MSP provider will be able to identify your repeatable job families through consistent approaches and technology. These are the ones for which you want to retain talent so that they can seamlessly go from one project to the next, leaving the search for niche skills to your streamlined and managed supply chain. 

make your brand work for you 
Engagement, engagement, engagement. An organization’s contingent talent brand matters because it can deliver advantages in terms of quality, speed, and cost in today’s competitive market. Let’s be honest: you need every advantage to pull those identified candidates towards your organization. Does your employer value proposition (EVP) help or hinder those efforts?

An MSP provider can help you create, define, and roll out your EVP. When operational, an MSP can help you to reinforce your messaging and ensure that the whole supply chain is consistent in selling your brand and EVP.

However, there is an element many miss when considering the project hiring landscape: “project EVP”. Don’t underestimate how powerful a project EVP can be. Every project will have its own unique qualities; it can be the prestige of the project, the client, the learning opportunity, the complexity, or location. When a candidate is sizing you up, surely you want him or her to also consider the practical experiences and career growth available at your company. If you now know your repeatable job families then you can now use your EVP to begin selling your next project to the contractors you want and need to retain. 

Then go digital! Segment your candidate market, and engage them on appropriate channels with tailored messages. Proactively let them know about the next project and why they need to consider staying on. Similarly, engage those in the market that you would like to hire. 

Having the right people in the right place at the right time is critical in a people-focused business. With contingent talent playing a bigger role in fulfilling business goals, organizations can no longer depend on ad hoc approaches if they want to have a chance of dominating a market or industry. 

 

about the author

Richard Cogswell

Richard, regional client solutions director, APAC and is responsible for leading Global Client Solutions working with our global and regional clients. Richard has more than 18 years of sales and business development experience spanning a number of senior roles in MNCs and startups ranging from IT to logistics to outsourcing.

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