Staffing for roles in the public sector comes with a number of challenges. Not only is it important to find individuals with the right skill sets to carry out sometimes complex tasks, but budgets must be balanced and compliance achieved at all times.

As the battle for talent continues throughout the UK’s workforce, temporary workers are often turned to in an effort to keep vital services running. When +Us spoke to those on the front line of staffing in the public sector, we found 69 per cent were engaging with temporary workers.

So, what issues do they come up against when trying to access talent?

Lengthy recruitment process

Recruitment is a lengthy process, which often has time constraints attached. Finding staff despite skills shortages, vetting them and bringing them on board can be complex, which is why turning to agencies is a common practice.

Despite this reliance on agencies, we found 40 per cent of organisations didn’t have a framework in place to manage and maintain their workforce. This leaves many of the decisions on how things are run in the hands of agencies, not the organisation.

Transparency and compliance

Without comprehensive frameworks in place, it’s not always clear how an agency is selecting candidates for roles. This can lead to temporary staff without the right skill sets filling gaps and issues with compliance in the long term.

Organisations should be aware of the difference between using a master vendor and a neutral vendor to obtain contractors. Some master vendors are also recruitment agencies, meaning they restrict how workers are supplied, and can control rates and when roles are posted out. A neutral vendor offers an objective approach to provide the best individuals to fill roles.

Not utilising technology

Much of the operational side of securing temporary workers is about being organised and standardising processes. Managed service providers should be utilising technology to create efficiencies and ensure key actions are automated. Twenty two per cent of those +Us spoke to wanted better systems to handle their day-to-day processes, and several specified one system that can do it all.

When a comprehensive technology platform is implemented successfully it can have myriad benefits. These include allocating and confirming shifts for workers, and improving retention, as it ensures staff are paid correctly.

Balancing budgets

All of this is against a backdrop of financial cuts in the public sector. In fact, 23 per cent of the people we spoke to said their organisation’s monetary resources had been cut. Departments are expected to do more with less money, which means it’s vital temporary staffing budgets don’t spiral out of control.

One of the outcomes can be an inability to fill roles that require highly-qualified personnel on a temporary basis. Not only do they command an elevated salary, but the cost of acquiring them can put their skills beyond the reach of many local authorities and other public sector bodies.

If you would like to discuss master vendors or neutral vendors in more detail or have any concerns regarding your workforce, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.