Datum RPO Blog

How A Neutral Vendor Managed Service Benefit Your Supply Chain?

Written by Datum RPO | 31 Aug 2022

Vendor Neutral Managed Service is an alternative to more traditional methods of managing agency labour providers such as Preferred Supplier Lists and Master Vendor Agreements. A Preferred Supplier List is exactly what it sounds like: it's a list of preferred agencies that businesses employ for their agency labour needs, whereas a Master Vendor Agreement has one main supplier manage all vacancies in exchange for having first opportunity to fill them. While each of these methods have advantages and disadvantages, Vendor Neutral Management allows organisations to select from a variety of providers while maintaining the convenience of a single point of contact.

How does it work?

A Vendor Neutral Solution is responsible for managing a temporary or contract workforce, and it, like a PSL, sources people through a list of approved recruiting firms. The difference is that with Vendor Neutral Management, all jobs are issued to the selected agencies at the same time, creating a level playing field and fostering competition to guarantee that each provider is constantly working hard for you. You can benefit from a number of suppliers working hard to fill your roles, yet you only have to deal with one single point of contact, making your life much easier.

Key benefits:

There are numerous advantages to implementing a Vendor Neutral recruitment methodology, ranging from time savings and greater regulatory compliance to large cost reductions - often up to 12% of spend. Here are five of the most important reasons that Vendor Neutral Management can help your business:

Management Information

.Visibility & Control is provided by managing the recruitment process from point of order through to invoice.

All hours will be tracked through on-line recruitment software, vacancies can be authorised and approved and invoices are generated and sent electronically.

Management information is generated in real-time and details spend break down by site, agency, category of worker and tracks tenure for the Agency Workers Regulations, demographic information, time to fill and rights to work in the UK.

Overtime and excessive hours can be managed easily.

Maintain existing supply chains without requiring administration

One of the best aspects of PSLs is the ability to select from a number of vendors; nevertheless, these lists may soon spin out of hand and become a full-time job to monitor. That's all taken care of by Vendor Neutral Management, so you can enjoy the benefits of your supply chain without the hassle.

It results in significant cost savings 

Managing agency spend can result in direct cost savings in the region of 6% to 12% will be delivered by standardising pay rates and margins and driving out overcharging on Employers National Insurance and Holiday Pay which agencies often miss-calculate.  

Take advantage of consolidated billing

When it comes to invoicing, you can save a lot of time, money, and frustration because you're just dealing with one provider. Instead of dealing with an assault of weekly or monthly invoices from each supplier, you'll simply have to deal with one consolidated invoice each week or month.

A single point of contact 

As previously said, one of the most significant advantages of Vendor Neutral Management is that they will maintain track of your supplier lists and handle all administrative tasks for you. This means that when you need to fill a position, you can still benefit from all of the options available through a PSL, but you'll only have to deal with one point of contact, giving you the best of both worlds. 

Legal Compliance

On-line recruitment software stores information such as Rights to Work in the UK, Driving Licenses, Health and Safety Training and also tracks tenure in line with requirements for the Agency Workers Regulations. Agencies are independently audited to ensure legal compliance.

A standardised hiring process

Vendor Neutral Management entails a standardised recruitment approach for all of your vendors. This includes not only uniform terms and conditions and SLAs, but also the ability to maintain control over your brand and how it is portrayed to prospects.

If your company has a significant contingent or flexible workforce, recruitment process outsourcing may be the solution.

Download our eGuide- Neutral Vendor vs Master Vendor