Why businesses are flying blind on contractors

For most organisations, contingent labour isn’t a rounding error – it’s strategic muscle, writes Cameron Robinson.

Contractors, consultants, temps, and SOW engagements are delivering transformation programs, plugging capability gaps, and keeping the lights on when hiring freezes slow permanent headcount. Yet they’re often managed with a fraction of the discipline applied to permanent employees.

To put it bluntly: Nowhere near enough rigour goes into monitoring and managing the contingent workforce compared to the permanent workforce. Yet it could represent 40 per cent of your total people-related costs. It’s unacceptable for it to be largely invisible.

You can’t manage what you can’t see

When contingent worker data lives in inboxes, PDFs, finance codes, and supplier portals that don’t talk to each other, leaders fly blind on four fronts:

1. Cost control – Un-benchmarked day rates, duplicate roles across suppliers, unapproved extensions, and SOW leakage add up fast.
2. Risk and compliance – Visa status, background checks, worker classification exposure, co-employment risk … if you can’t evidence it, you can’t defend it.
3. Workforce planning – Demand spikes get met with expensive last-minute labour because you can’t see what’s already in flight.
4. Supplier performance – Without comparable data, you can’t reward top performers or coach underperformers.

Your contingent workforce is right in front of you

Your contingent workforce is literally right in front of you. They’re probably working in project teams you’re a part of or providing critical expertise on transformative projects you’re aware of.

The irony? While the workers aren’t hidden, your data is. Fix that and value flows.

Start capturing real-time data today

Start capturing real-time contingent workforce data today and let it unlock huge cost savings and avoidance opportunities.

At minimum, capture:

• Who the worker is (individual + legal entity)
• What they’re doing (project / role / deliverables)
• Which channel / supplier they came through
• Contract dates, extensions and rate type (daily, milestone, fixed)
• Total cost to date + forecast to completion

Centralise it. Make it searchable. Dashboard it by business unit, project, cost centre, supplier, and tenure.

Enforce visibility at the door: Access as a control point

One of the simplest levers? Physical and digital access.

One of the best ways to drive visibility and process compliance of your contingent workforce? Don’t let them in the building … unless the right checks, balances and process steps have been completed.

Align security, IT, and procurement

• No building pass unless the engagement exists in the approved system.
• No laptop / network credentials without a validated contract + background checks.
• Auto-expiry on access linked to the contract end date; renewals trigger re-approval.

It is much easier to send someone back through the proper steps than to untangle an audit finding, legal dispute, or reputational mess because you didn’t know who was onsite.

Quick-start 30/60/90 action plan

• First 30 days – Inventory: pull what data exists (finance, security pass logs, supplier invoices). Identify the top 10 cost centres and the top 10 suppliers.
• Day 60 – Normalise: standardise fields (worker ID, supplier type, rate, dates). Flag unapproved open engagements and expiring access.
• Day 90 – Govern: implement access gating; launch dashboard to finance, HR, and procurement; agree escalation rules for noncompliance.

Ongoing metrics to track

• Percentage of contingent workers captured centrally.
• Percentage of contingent spend visible within five business days.
• Rate variance versus market benchmarks.
• Number of workers past planned end date.
• Access compliance rate (passes tied to valid contracts).

Cameron Robinson is the head of enterprise solutions at Solve by Talent.