The Challenge

Following our success with the weekend recruitment campaigns, Wise Employment established (through networking within BCA) that there was a potential temporary staffing requirement for up to 320 call centre agents.

Wise contacted the Purchasing Department to promote the use of a managed service to consolidate existing supply of temporary staff (13 different suppliers being used) and facilitate effective provision of new agents. This approach was positively received and, during February 2002, Wise Employment prepared a discussion document for BCA outlining the key operational and cost benefits of a managed service.

BCA responded with an Invitation to Tender, with the aim of appointing to appoint a Master Vendor agent to be operational from 1st August 2002. Wise Employment was awarded the contract for a full onsite managed service contract.

The Wise Solution

Wise Employment appointed an on-site coordinator, with administrative support, to run the applicant attraction and recruitment campaign.
We consulted with BCA to understand their key skill set requirements.
We worked with BCA to create a proactive marketing campaign aimed at quality applicant attraction.
We invested in local radio advertising to compliment the applicant flow and to generate a larger applicant response.
We devised a tailor made telephone interview and pre-selection assessment to test the candidate’s telephone communication and negotiation skills.
We implemented BCA Open Days at the Wise Employment branch to provide prospective temporary staff with an overview of BCA as a company and the types of work on offer.
We assessed temporary staff’s PC skills, use of grammar and geographical knowledge.
We worked with BCA to understand their staff retention targets and find ways of reducing turnover.
We devised a specific absence reporting system, by means of a dedicated telephone line and statistical data analysis.
We invested in an automated time and attendance access system to streamline site access and eradicate security issues.
We produced comprehensive weekly, monthly and quarterly management reports for the BCA Management team.

The Outcome

BCA witnessed immediate cost savings, in terms of streamlined administration and actual fees, of over £50,000 in the first year due to the consolidation of agency suppliers.

The required number of, suitably skilled, temporary call centre staff was recruited to a very tight deadline.

To further enhance retention of trained staff in long term assignments, Wise Employment is working with BCA to implement a new deal for BCA temporary workers. This package will offer them more security and enhanced development opportunities.