Multiservice Models: Pitfalls and Wake-up Calls

Have you ever encountered a situation where you called upon the old philosophy of ‘more is better’? Sure, we all have. Some of my personal favorites involve answers to questions about eating more ice cream, chocolate, and cookies. Now these examples, although unhealthy, generally have short term ramifications; usually ending in an upset stomach and the burning need for Alka-Seltzer.

However, moving from one’s personal life choices to the business world, following this philosophy can be detrimental and produce disastrous results. Imagine using this adage when ordering materials/parts for the production line, cutting your workforce in a down turn, or booking your holidays (maybe not so horrible).

A lesser acknowledged example, that we commonly see in our industry, occurs when clients utilize multiple employment services to provide the same solution. This decision may initially seem harmless, but if not setup correctly could considerably impact work flow, creates duplication, and robs efficiency.

Organizations that employ this service system are most likely responding to the inability of one service to provide them with the volumes, quality, or quantity of staff required. Rather than analyze the situation for progressive solutions, they take the easy route and simply add another service to the pool, which then leads to another. This is a reaction rather than a planned approach, which inevitably compounds the problem further.

At this point, you may be asking yourself “So, what’s the big deal? I use multiple services now and it’s fine”. Yes, on the surface this strategy will be appealing. Ultimately it takes minimal investment from an organization to quickly pursue this option. However, here are a few things to consider if you currently utilize this model:

You probably aren’t saving any time
In fact, you are probably spending more time coordinating all your points of contact for each employment service, reading and answering separate update emails, reporting absences to multiple sources and then coordinating replacements along the way. Sadly, the time you were looking to save by outsourcing has just been re-invested into the management of the multiple services that should really be doing the work for you. Indeed, the opposite has occurred.

Results are often mild to mediocre
Truth: Local services all pull from the same pool of unemployed applicants. False: You thought by doubling the services you work with would actually double the resource pool. Chances are that the majority of unemployed applicants in one area will apply to more than one employment service, which means you could see the same applicant submissions from multiple services for the same position. Unfortunately, the very reason you chose to contract with multiple services in the first place is being negated by this simple truth.

Quality is fleeting
The one factor that your workforce development strategy should invest into is the quality of the candidates you receive. After all, quality equates to a motivated, punctual, driven workforce that means higher retention, lower training costs, and an overall stable employee group. You will unfortunately see some of these attributes more difficult to produce and maintain when you work with multiple services. The reason lies in the multiple recruitment processes each service employs when screening applicants. They will most likely all have different internal standards and various interpretations of what your organization is looking for and values. Ultimately these variables all boil down to one of two things: reduced quality in general or more investment of your time to, again, manage this system and maintain what quality remains.

Yes, when you consider all of these reality checks you start to wonder “why even utilize a service at all?” Fear not, there are a number of benefits to working with the right service and, when setup correctly, organizations can maximize on a multiservice model. Here are some considerations to think about when engaging this option:

This should not be a quick fix
Multiservice models should not be a reaction to a failing situation. It is always recommended to use one service at a time, and if that service is not meeting objectives then you need to problem solve before employing different strategies. Often the faults of one system can quickly infect the start of a new one if not resolved prior.

One service to rule them all
If you have actively decided to pursue a multiservice model, we advise that you elect one service (usually the most tenured) to be the primary or coordinating service through which all communications will flow. The primary service will be charged with the responsibility of filling the orders – if they need to engage the secondary and tertiary services to do so then so be it. Quality maintenance will also be governed by the primary service. They are to ensure that all candidates sourced have been screened similarly and received the same training/orientations.

Service reviews for the win
Regular communication is vital in a primary supplier model; ensure you set up a schedule with your service as to when you need to be informed and what updates are to be given. Above all, ensure that you conduct scheduled service reviews with your provider. If you aren’t already – why not? Service reviews provide a forum where you critique the service, as it has been provided, to offer feedback (good and bad). Things such as retention, turnover reasons  and fill ratio are but a few areas that should be given special attention.

Select a Process, Not a Service
Yes, it is true that all local services pull from the same pool of applicants. However, what differentiates one service from another is primarily the recruitment and selection process by which applicants are screened and eventually enter your worksite. When deciding on a primary service, ensure one of your deciding factors examines their screening process. Ideally choose a service which has a screening model that mimics your own and emulates the values of your organization. In this way they can easily govern the quality of all the other services they would coordinate as a primary supplier.

In summation, if your organization is utilizing a multiservice model currently, ask yourself what the results have been. Has the model provided value to your organization? What was the reason for the engagement of more than one provider – did it solve the problem? If the answers to these questions are “no” or “unclear”, then perhaps you need to review for next steps. Remember, this is not a quick fix. It takes time to dial in this type of service model, but once implemented correctly the automation is well worth the planning and execution it requires.