Examine the Efficacy of MSP Vendors in Light of COVID Stressors

Staffing industry experts, like many other industry experts, are looking for the silver lining in the clouds of the pandemic. While there is nothing positive about the death and economic destruction wrought by the novel Coronavirus, there are some benefits that can be teased out of the destruction. For example, the stresses put upon existing business processes and practices are revealing the relative strength and weakness of many operations.

We blogged recently about one such revelation – how COVID-19 may lead to layoffs in white collar positions as work-from-home arrangements reveal where the productivity actually lies in a workforce with a large middle management function. Today’s post though, will focus on how the pandemic has pulled back the curtain on the overall efficacy of MSPs serving your organization.

The last few months have tested the mettle of MSP relationships for organizations relying on managed services to source and manage the contingent workforce. Coming into stark relief are critical considerations such as the efficacy of an MSP partner’s business continuity planning and their ability to adapt to remote on/offboarding and other functions newly relegated to remote execution. Another critical capability – scaling operations to address uncommon peaks and valleys in recruitment – is under increased scrutiny as well.

Now is a particularly crucial time to examine how well your MSP vendors are rising to the challenge (or failing to do so in adequate measure). Good questions to ask include, “How well has your MSP achieved automation and other technology goals?” and “How effective has the MSP vendor managed communications – both with you as a client, and with pools of talent needed to serve your program?” Getting to these answers can be helpful to validate the continuation of the partnership or to justify the decision to make a change.

The Staffing Industry Analysts produced a global survey of workforce managers in May of this year to poll their impressions of how well the MSP vendors were delivering on their service levels. The report revealed a wide range of responses from those who said their MSP was extremely reactive to those who reported the opposite. The report especially identified “flexibility and adaptability” as the qualities most frequently noted by those respondents satisfied with the service their MSPs were delivering.

We recommend reading the SIA’s in-depth survey (membership/registration required). The, if you’re ready to optimize your workforce management program and make a clear-eyed assessment of the overall quality of the MSPs serving your organization, contact nextSource for guidance on how to deploy such an evaluation. Our workforce management experts are standing by and ready to help.

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