The Challenge

Just before their busiest season, Readers’ Digest was faced with a problem. Their Prime Supplier wanted to withdraw from their contract with Mailing Services.

With over 120 long-term temporaries in assignment through the agency and an urgent requirement for 30 additional temporaries (across a range of shifts), decisive action was needed. As a supplier with experience of temporary management for Readers’ Digest and an excellent reputation in the town, Wise Employment was asked to step into the breach.

The Wise Solution

The retention of existing temporary staff was high priority and Wise Employment worked closely with Readers’ Digest and the outgoing supplier to ensure that the transition would be smooth. We made on-site presentations to the temporaries to reassure them that they could remain in their assignments by transferring to our payroll. We addressed any concerns that they had regarding the transfer and introduced a loyalty bonus as a further incentive to stay. We also placed an experienced Wise Consultant on-site to handle any welfare issues during the critical transition period.

It was important that Wise quickly understood the individual requirements of each and every Department within Mailing Services. The support of the Supervisors within those Departments would also be essential to the success of our new Agreement. We put together a Service Review Document and met with each Supervisor to build a comprehensive and accurate picture of job descriptions, working environment, skills profiles, use patterns and briefing requirements. This enabled us to establish best practice for team briefing, staff selection and contract management.

Readers’ Digest arranged a conducted tour of the site for all Wise Personnel involved in the delivery of the service, so that we all gained first hand knowledge of what the job involved.

We used this knowledge to put together a Briefing Pack for new temporary staff, to ensure that they have a clear understanding of the culture, policies and expectations of both Wise Employment and Readers’ Digest.

We also took on board the difficulties involved in monitoring attendance and ensuring accurate payment of temporary staff for the hours worked and introduced a combined register / multiple time sheet to address this problem.

To promote clear communication and accountability for delivery of the service, we appointed a dedicated Contract Manager, supported by a Contract Coordinator and Administrator. A member of this team attends weekly planning meetings and regular review meetings with site management to promote continuity of supply and satisfaction with service delivery. This team member also confirms attendance with the Supervisors following the start of each shift and conducts a weekly “floor visit to check performance, deliver pay slips and answer any queries from temporaries.

The Outcome

Despite the immediacy of the requirement and the complexity of temporary migration Wise Employment quickly established themselves as an effective supplier at Readers’ Digest.

By improving communications and tightening control, Wise Employment is able to respond quickly to fluctuation staff requirements and provide speedy replacements for planned and unplanned absences.

By working with Reader’s Digest and the outgoing agency to communicate supply changes effectively and honestly to the existing temporary staff, Wise was able to retain valuable experience for Reader’s Digest and provide continuity of work for those on long term assignments.

Subsequently Readers’ Digest has sold their mailing operation to Cobalt Customer Solutions, which ha re-branded to form Vertis Fulfillment Services. Vertis are pleased with the service that Wise Employment provides and our approach to continuous quality improvement. Our agreement has been renewed and we now provide a full Master Vendor Managed Service.