Some of our clients and colleagues question how a recruitment business, such as Rullion, can provide a change delivery service.
Does this not compete ‘against’ contingent labour, the very essence of what Rullion has been supplying organisations in the Retail, Financial Services, Utilities and Energy industries for over 40 years, they ask us?
Are we saying that outcome based, on-demand teams are better than using contingent labour?
The answer to both those questions is no.
We’re not saying outcome based, on-demand teams are better than contingent labour and nor are we “selling against” contingent labour.
They’re both just different services. And the best solution for you, all depends on your unique needs.
Ask yourself, how much time do you spend recruiting contractors? How many hours do you feel you’re wasting reviewing CVs and interviewing people that you’re never going to hire? How long does it take for you to identify the right person?
If you were to put a cost on that, ask yourself: How much does that really cost me? How much time and money do I really spend just to find the right person?
Then, once that individual has been hired, think about what it costs you in terms of managing their performance. Ask yourself how much it costs you if you need to change that person or to swap that person for someone else? How much does it cost you to manage their performance if they’re not performing well? How much time and effort do you spend on giving that contingent worker pastoral care, direction, and support? How much cost is involved in giving them feedback?
These are the hidden costs for one individual contingent worker. Then, imagine if you were to multiply that number by 10 or 20 contingent workers to form an entire team. Suddenly those hidden costs grow very, very quickly.
When using on-demand teams you only have one point of contact which is your delivery manager. That person is an experienced change leader and, with the support of our resource planning team, responsible for selecting the right resource on your behalf, from one individual person to an entire team. This saves you time in the recruitment process because all of that is then our responsibility.
During in-flight projects, that Delivery Manager becomes an extension of your team. They lead, oversee, and support our delivery team. They provide you with actionable insight, at the right time and ensure that you feel in control without having to direct lots of individuals.
If something goes wrong, the Delivery Manager resolves it. If we lose a member of the team, they replace them. If there is a change in scope or direction, they communicate and manage it. Eventually, they attune themselves so well that they make decisions with the same care and attention that your own internal team would.
For this model to work optimally, you should be in a position where you have a defined outcome of what you’re looking for in place. When you have that level of clarity, including what you want done, the timescales you want it done in, and what the process to get it done looks like, then you can use this type of model effectively.
However, if you cannot define an actual outcome and if you don’t have clarity on what it is you want or need, then it is probably better to hire a contingent worker.
And if you feel you need/want to supervise, control, and manage your workers day-to-day and are not yet ready to relinquish that control to a third party, again it is probably better to go the contingent labour route.
Another consideration is the fact that on-demand teams can be more expensive than contingent labour, so unless it’s used optimally, it might not be worth the additional expense.
In a nutshell: If you don’t want to interview people. If you don’t want to review CVs. If you just want people to plug into your change project and you don’t want to manage them. If you just want to tell someone what you need done, by which day, and that you’ll pay them when it’s all done. If you want to use your time and effort elsewhere, instead of doing all that, but you still want to feel like you’re in control, then maybe outcome-based, on-demand teams are the right solution for you.