Master Vendor Overview
What is a master vendor?
A master vendor agreement is a subcontracting arrangement where a recruitment agency acts as the ‘sole provider’ (single point of contact), for a company’s recruitment and staffing requirements. This is usually for temporary workers and provides a contingent workforce to the client.
Single Point of Contact
In the master vendor model, the master vendor acts as the single point of contact for the client and their organisation. They handle all communication, coordination, and administration related to hiring temporary workers in order to simplify the process for the client and reduce the administrative burden.
Candidate Sourcing & Screening
In addition to handling all communication, the master vendor’s responsibility includes sourcing, screening, and presenting candidates to their client for consideration. The master vendor also takes full responsibility for advertising any roles, conducting interviews, verifying any qualifications, and providing compliance with right to work documentation and GDPR.
Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
Within a master vendor solution for temporary workers or a contingent workforce, the agreement will include service level agreements, also calls SLAs, that define the level of service, including response times, candidate quality, how quickly they can fill vacancies (fill rate), and other key performance metrics. SLAs ensure that a master vendor meets the client’s expectations and is actually a solution to the hiring managers, rather than a burden.
Flexibility and Scalability
Master vendor solutions allow businesses the ability to adapt to their needs and fluctuations in staffing requirements. Master vendors can adjust their sourcing, how they allocate resources and how they scale their operations in order to meet the demands of their clients.
Cost Savings and Efficiency
By using a master vendor solution instead of multiple staffing agencies, a business can streamline their staffing needs and reduce their administrative overhead, making it easier to improve how they use their resources. All of this means that they can have significant cost savings as a master vendor service can leverage economies of scale and efficiencies to deliver what their client needs
Vendor Management System (VMS)
Some companies may choose to use a vendor management system in order to keep track of their relationship with the master vendor. Not only does a VMS provide visibility into the staffing agency’s activities, it can track key performance metrics, generate reports on those metrics, and facilitate communication between staffing agencies and the hiring managers or company.
On the whole, a company engaging with a master vendor solution allows them to streamline their agency workers and temporary staff processes, whilst improving the efficiency and maintaining control of the recruitment process.