University Staffing Whitepaper FINAL 27729 TA 191224 - Flipbook - Page 10
Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)
How does this apply to universities?
When it comes to outsourcing all or part of their staf昀椀ng
processes, universities can pick from a wide variety of
potential services to a third-party service provider –
including plugging a speci昀椀c gap in their current capabilities,
such as onboarding or payroll. This is what is known as
recruitment process outsourcing (RPO).
By outsourcing speci昀椀c recruitment and HR processes,
universities can tap into specialised expertise, access
advanced technology, and manage costs more effectively.
Like retainer-based supply arrangements, master vendor
arrangements or managed service arrangements, RPO
allows universities to consolidate their supply chains,
improve consistency and enhance overall ef昀椀ciency. Even
at a lower cost, RPO can be more ef昀椀cient as the university
can bene昀椀t from the use of specialist tools and software to
streamline payroll, onboarding, and other staf昀椀ng activity.
The service provider is then solely responsible for the
management and execution of these processes, often
using their own resources and technology.
Bene昀椀ts:
Access expertise and specialisation for speci昀椀c
business processes.
Cost savings through controlling the scale and ef昀椀ciency
of the outsourcing.
Access to supplier’s own technology and systems.
Focus on core business functions frees up valuable
internal resources for the head-of昀椀ce team.
Potential disadvantages:
Loss of direct control over the outsourced processes
with potential dif昀椀culties in monitoring ongoing
performance.
It can also be a much more targeted solution to the speci昀椀c
needs of an individual university. For example, some
universities may 昀椀nd recruitment compliance checks are
slowing down their ability to respond in an agile way to their
staf昀椀ng shortages.
By engaging a specialist agency to handle all its Right
to Work, DBS and credit checks, a university can be more
con昀椀dent that it is getting the right quality of candidates
at a reduced time-to-hire. Similarly, payroll for a large
and constantly changing contingent workforce can be
intensive in terms of time and resources. Outsourcing the
entire payroll function to a specialist provider can provide
the university with the speed and scale it needs to pay
their workforce.
Dependency on the performance and capabilities of the
service provider.
10
