Program Leadership: HR or Procurement?

Program Leadership: HR or Procurement?

There are many debates, discussion boards, blogs, etc., on who should own the contingent workforce management program. A recent article noted 53 percent of the responding organizations listed procurement ownership while 35 percent claimed that human resources were responsible. I continue to be amazed with the way organizations treat the category of contingent labor. Whether in procurement or HR, the integration of contingent workforce planning and utilization into the corporate strategy has become an important topic.

So given the identity crisis of contingent workforce management personnel, what makes an ideal team? What competencies should the program manager or director have? Here’s the answer: both procurement and HR knowledge and experience.

Having spent my professional career going back and forth between procurement, staffing and traditional human resources, it didn’t matter what group I reported into. I understood the HR and staffing side of things, including talent management, recruitment and labor law. On the procurement side, I got more than my share of exposure to cost savings and bundling initiatives, contract negotiations and vendor relationship management. I recruited personnel based on similar experiences and found success with this model.

If your MSP or contingent workforce partner team is built with talent possessing knowledge and experience from procurement and human resources (not necessarily meaning each person has both but the team has a mix), the placement on the organization chart will not matter.  What will matter is the expertise in all things associated to successful contingent workforce management. While procurement and human resources bat around what KPIs are most critical, the appropriately staffed MSP/contingent workforce team will have the ability to move with the volley.

Gary Campbell

Gary Campbell
Gary Campbell is the principal at Impact2Lead, a leadership development and contingent workforce consultancy, and CEO of Johnson Health Center.

Gary Campbell

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