Manage your Contingent Workforce better with these technologies

Are you looking to improve the way you manage your Contingent Workforce?

The recently concluded Contingent Workforce Workshop 2019 in Melbourne saw some interesting solutions and technologies featured. If you missed out on attending, here’s a quick summary.

Check ’em out!


Richard BarnettRichard Barnett
Client Solutions Director, Hays Talent Solutions

How would you best describe your service and technologies?

As the largest provider of MSP services in Australia, we use lots of different technology solutions to support our many clients.

In the Contingent area, the main technology used is a Vendor Management System or VMS and three main VMS products we utilise are SAP Fieldglass, Hays 3SS and Beeline.

We run Australian MSPs with each of them, they are all great products that manage the end-to-end process for engagement of the various types of Contingent labour; contractors, temps, SoW and workers from professional services companies.

What frustrations and problems do you solve?

A properly implemented and managed VMS used as part of an MSP is a key component to getting maximum value from spend on Contingent labour.

These technologies facilitate the management of the entire Contingent recruitment process, including requisition approval, distribution of vacancies to suppliers, selection, on-boarding, time capture, expenses, performance management and off-boarding.

They also help with other important issues such as tracking that workers are on-boarded correctly to reduce the risk of worker injury and helping to identify potentially inappropriate spend patterns by shining a light on who is being paid, how much and what for. 

All these ensure that you have real-time visibility of all your Contingent labour and allows you to manage efficiently.

How does it differentiate from other like-minded products or services in the market?

The three VMS products mentioned above are all specifically designed for the management of Contingent recruitment.

Staffing Industry Analysts’ latest APAC workforce solutions buyers survey showed that 82 percent of larger organisations were currently already using a VMS and a further 16 percent were planning to explore use of a VMS in the next two years.

With 98 percent coverage, this shows VMS clearly as the preferred technology in this Contingent labour management area.

Some organisations might choose to use other technologies, but I thought this is often like using a screwdriver to bang in nails. If you want to bang in nails, best to use a hammer.

Who are some of your biggest clients?

We provide integrated MSP and VMS solutions to some of Australia’s largest financial institutions, insurance companies, city councils, technology organisations, resources, waste management and professional services groups, among others.


Zubin FitterZubin Fitter
Head of Sales & Partnerships, Curious Thing

How would you best describe your technology?

Our digital phone interviews that are delivered via a simple phone call, utilises a combination of natural language processing, deep learning and knowledge graph to provide a dynamic candidate and hiring experience.

Interviews are created and auto-scheduled for all candidates who speak with the AI interviewer when they are ready to dial in. The phone interview conversation with the AI typically lasts for around 10 to 15 minutes.

The conversation is then analysed and delivered to the hiring manager through a data-rich dashboard with fact-based benchmarks of the candidate performance against the attributes of the role.

Our solution is scalable, bias-free and data-driven.

What frustrations and problems do you solve?

Scalability of interviewing everyone and the ability to be able to have most recent information on contractors on file.

Since our solution is an on-demand service, the economy of saving time and effort for mundane jobs in the screening process are automated with dependable results.

How does it differentiate from other like-minded products or services in the market?

Curious Thing analyses what the candidate says in the interview. There is currently no voice-based bias-free solution that is scalable with high-volume recruitment.

Who are some of your biggest clients?

AWS, Australian Government, Stellar BPO.


Paul Bridgewater
Head of Partnerships & Alliances, LiveHire

How would you best describe your technology?

LiveHire is a total Talent Acquisition and engagement platform that dramatically enhances the recruitment process and revolutionises the candidate experience.

What frustrations and problems do you solve?

A LiveHire Talent Community provides visibility of, and access to, Talent who are interested to work for an organisation regardless of the employment mechanism.

How does it differentiate from other like-minded products or services in the market?

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are typically systems of record that provide little, to no, engagement and simply create a sense of rejection for 99 percent of Talent that apply for roles.

Vendor Management Systems provide a similar system of record, perfectly suited to minimise risk and increase compliance, but with no engagement and limited visibility on the available Talent Pool.

Gig Economy Marketplaces provide visibility of limited Talent Pools that are only looking for Gig opportunities aligned to a skill set or role type and not aligned to the organisations values and EVP.

A LiveHire Talent Community provides a holistic view of interested, available and qualified Talent, powered by AI to suggest and match Talent to requisitions and supported by 2-way SMS to drive engagement and ensure clients can direct source at least 40 percent of Contingent hires within three months.

Who are some of your biggest clients?

Alfred Health, ASICS, General Pants, iSelect, Korn Ferry, ManpowerGroup, Vodafone.


Rebecca GardnerRebecca Gardner
Sales & Account Manager, Xref

How would you best describe your technology?

Xref provides a fully automated candidate reference checking solution that delivers robust and reliable feedback in as little as 24 hours.

Our platform gives you full visibility over all of your reference data to help you to achieve compliance targets across your Contingent workforce and we deliver this whilst also ensuring great customer journeys for your candidates, referees and Talent Acquisition individuals alike.

What frustrations and problems do you solve?

We are all time-poor, especially within the Contingent space where we are often working to swifter turnaround and onboarding timeframes.

Xref allows you to streamline and speed up your reference checking process – think 30 seconds rather than hours to conduct references for a candidate, then apply that thinking to your Contingent workforce scale.

Everyone is striving to achieve full visibility across their Contingent Workforce. Xref is your candidate reference repository, you achieve full visibility of all references at a click of a button, easily managed and with a full digital audit trail.

Whilst everyone is seeking compliance and time efficiencies, let’s not forget that the purpose of conducting candidate reference checks is to safeguard our communities and to reduce the risk of onboarding a bad hire. We apply a fraud algorithm in the background of every check to detect suspicious or fraudulent activity. 

Xref also integrates with many ATS and HRIS platforms with a view to giving you a single source of truth.

How does it differentiate from other like-minded products or services in the market?

We offer best-of-breed reference checking customer experience and tech. 

Compliance is King for us, as we know it is for any Contingent Workforce. As an ASX listed business, we need to make sure that all of our compliance, security and privacy elements are watertight.

We are GDPR & APP compliant and hold the ISO 27001 certification, which represents the highest global security standards. 

As a proud Aussie tech business, all of our development is led out of Sydney, while all customer data is stored securely in local region data centres.

When managing a busy contingent workforce you want local support at the ready. Our teams offer state-based, expert Account Management which is backed up by our Global 24/7 Customer Success team who are always on hand to help. 

Who are some of your biggest clients?

Westpac, Origin Energy, Sodexo, Qantas, YMCA, Crown, Deakin University & Regis Aged Care.


If you would like to know more about these solutions, reach out to Richard, Zubin, Paul and Rebecca directly.

Special thanks to Hays Talent Solutions for supporting the Contingent Workforce Workshop 2019 and Australia Post for hosting us at their marvellous office.

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Get ready for one of the most highly anticipated sessions of every ATC Conference - the Innovation Lab lets the Australian Talent Community see and explore the emerging and game-changing Talent Technology set to impact how you hire. Co-hosted by ATC and Hays, this year’s finalists will pitch live on stage at ATC2024 at Fed Square where the audience will determine the winner.