Our customer, one of the world’s largest custodian banks, consistently used the same high-cost suppliers for easy-to-fill roles in the UK. With costs and time to fill steadily increasing, we showcased the benefits of a direct sourcing solution, earning our customer’s business and trust by increasing fill rates and decreasing staffing margins.
Our customer’s business was highly segmented. Convincing key stakeholders to align on a talent strategy was the first challenge. Also, supplier performance was good, and relationships had matured over several years – but at a high cost. Optimising the existing supply base to meet cost savings goals meant challenging the status quo.
We needed to prove that a direct sourcing solution curated and managed by Pontoon would perform better than their existing model, plus a cost savings benefit.
After much consultation with key stakeholders across the various segments, we rolled out our direct sourcing solution – a private employer branded talent community of vetted candidates, as a cost and time-saving solution.
At first, our direct team of four onsite FTEs, six sourcers, two background screeners and dedicated customer care specialists targeted easy-to-fill type roles and collaborated with hiring managers to gain trust. The team focused on quick turnaround of quality candidates by leveraging the direct sourcing channel on roles we knew we could quickly fill. To the delight of hiring managers, they had plenty of qualified and shortlisted candidates ready to start.
Adding our direct sourcing arm to the existing MSP had many additional benefits for the customer, including:
Ultimately, trust was gained based on the success of delivery and our “added value” model. The model empowered our direct sourcing recruiters to fill roles quickly with the added option of passing requisitions onto supplier partners.
We minimised the need for many third-party suppliers and used our branded talent community to identify and onboard contingent resources much quicker than traditional staffing suppliers.
The customer was thrilled with the cost savings and quicker fill rates through direct contingent relationships. Also, the flexible model allowed them to retain their critical talent suppliers but also have the option to source directly, which saved on supplier mark-up costs.
Over time, customer confidence continued to increase as more requisitions were being filled through the direct sourcing arm, increasing our talent pipeline with more challenging to fill senior/niche type roles.
Initially, we filled 40% of all roles that would have been released to supplier partners. This saved our customer nearly $200,000 in agency mark-up costs in the first year of direct sourcing.
In high volumes areas of the business, on average, the release to offer was three to four days quicker, with 40% fewer CVs submitted per offer, three compared to five previously. Five years into the enhanced programme, we consistently save the bank over $500,000 yearly in agency fees.
Regarding non-finance-related benefits, we filled specific roles quicker and with better-matched candidates by working closely with the managers. This enabled us to pipeline talent for future demand.
