Matthew Rodger Chief Growth & Commercial Officer , AMS
Matthew Rodger , AMS Chief Growth & Commercial Officer , looks at the changes he ’ s seen during 20 years at the company – and how an investment in innovation will help clients meet the talent challenges they face .
A week , they say , is a long time in politics . Imagine , then , the changes I ’ ve seen and experienced in my 20 years at AMS . It ’ s almost beyond cliché to talk about workplaces altered beyond recognition , technological transformation , and a radically different marketplace for talent , in terms of how people are sourced , deployed and managed . It ’ s clear that , these days , there ’ s no longer any single definition of ‘ workforce ’ or ‘ employee ’ for HR leaders .
However , as we enter a new year with a new vision , this would seem like a good time to reflect on how two decades of expansive change , capped by a single year of accelerated change , is driving our organisation to meet evolving client needs in innovative ways .
Navagating uncertainty with RPO
I joined AMS just as the famous dot . com bubble was bursting in 2001 , causing a violent correction in certain economies ( in some cases , recession ) and a knock-on effect in the recruitment market . Since then , we ’ ve also lived through a global financial crisis and we are currently in the midst of a global pandemic . All the while , the pace and extent of technological change has only accelerated .
In those early days , the concept of recruitment process outsourcing ( RPO ) was pretty new and we had our work cut out to explain it – let alone sell it – to clients . But the world has turned in RPO ’ s favour . As Gary Bragar , HRO Research Director at NelsonHall , suggests on p23 , RPO now plays an integral role in helping organisations to navigate uncertainty .
At its heart , RPO is about managing fluctuating demand for talent , enabling organisations to scale up or down as business needs flex and change . In times of volatility , the business case for replacing fixed costs with external variable costs are obvious , but RPO goes beyond a simple cost-benefit analysis . It ’ s also about transferring the complexities of scaling to partners skilled in managing that fluctuating demand ; it ’ s about working in partnership to give clients the visibility they need to know their talent needs are being met .
At its heart , RPO is about managing fluctuating demand for talent , enabling organisations to scale up or down as business needs flex and change
An holistic approach
And , as people are increasingly deployed in a range of flexible ways , it ’ s also about helping clients to take a more holistic approach to building a productive workforce . We need to think about skills and perspectives , not headcount ; permanent talent alongside contractors , and technology functioning alongside people . In some areas of our clients ’ businesses ( technology , for example ) the only way to gain the right know-how will be to utilise contractors or non-employees of some description .
Just as workplaces are changing , so does the role RPO can play . It ’ s no longer simply a matter of ‘ outsource vs don ’ t outsource ’. We ’ re increasingly partnering with organisations to provide temporary RPO solutions for a particular project or challenge . This project-based hiring is a scaling model that organisations can adopt in times of extreme demand or to gain short-term expertise in talent acquisition , perhaps reflecting the project economy with which we ’ re all becoming familiar . RPO can be elegant and strategic , without being complex .
RPO is also being seen as a form of resource augmentation : clients retain control of recruitment processes and outcomes , but these are boosted with additional capacity provided by AMS . The role our colleagues have played in helping Amazon US to keep up with its talent requirements over the past year is a great example of how this kind of ‘ call-off ’ arrangement offers a flexible new model for collaboration .
If those 20 years have taught me anything , it ’ s that we need to continue to find innovative ways to define and redesign workforces built to withstand continued change in the years ahead . I look forward to helping our clients do just that .