The challenge:
Towards of the end of 2021, Prenetics - a leading genetics and diagnostic health testing company - was struggling with utilising multiple recruitment agencies to attract and deploy hundreds of workers across the UK for Covid-19 testing within the travel and entertainment industries.
As such, they were seeking the services of a single recruitment partner, with the key challenge of ensuring a robust talent pool of ready-to-deploy workers was available to fulfil their obligations to their end users. This was amidst the country transitioning to a candidate-led labour market and the relaxing pandemic restrictions and guidelines.
The roles were semi-competitive hourly rates, covering a range of projects, including 12-hour shifts at movie studios starting at 3am, onboard cruise ships (for 30 days travelling the world), as well as Christmas and Boxing Day roles at Premier League football grounds.
Roles covered a national breadth of locations, including London, Southampton, Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, and Halifax.
With tight deadlines and no streamlined set measures of success across the portfolio of work, the client needed a provider that could deliver the full remit of services, from attraction and selection to screening, vetting and onboarding - a partner who was able to attract the best talent across multiple locations and deploy them quickly.
The solution:
The Reed Talent Solutions’ contingent workforce solution (CWS) that was uniquely put together for Prenetics comprised four key elements:
Establishing key deliverables: Working in partnership with the client, we proposed specific service-level agreements to outline and standardise expectations across the portfolio, providing stakeholders with a benchmark of quality, regardless of requirement, or location.
Fostering collaboration: We scheduled weekly calls with each key business function to ensure a tailored and collaborative approach to fulfilment, underpinned by senior management project transparency.
Developing a talent pool: Leveraging our existing talent pools for similar clients, we built, nurtured, and replenished a community of experienced staff that could be deployed and redeployed across different projects, providing Prenetics with an immediate pool of available workers UK-wide.
Implementing proven technology: We deployed market-leading technology to enhance our attraction and shift fulfilment. This included chatbots to engage talent, interview scheduling tools to facilitate a quality candidate experience and reduce client time to hire, and a shift management system to underpin the delivery of over 350 shifts per week across both cruises and studios.
The results:
From a standing start, we recruited 300 workers across Southampton, 40 in Newcastle and 40 in Tilbury within the first three weeks of contract commencement.
Since the initial brief was given, the contract has grown to include support for more projects across the UK and globally.
We have grown and developed an initial requirement for immediate staff fulfilment into a full managed service partnership, where the client has full visibility of management information, costs, and invoicing, and can be safe in the knowledge we can find them the right talent.
Reed Talent Solutions’ experts provide specialist sector knowledge on both current projects and future plans, ensuring Prenetics can meet their clients’ upcoming needs.
What originally started as a project for more than 300 staff, delivered in three weeks, has grown significantly to encompass multiple projects and sites.
In the first three months alone, we filled over 4,000 shifts across eight different film productions and 3,000 shifts for a wide range of cruises.
Alongside the fulfilment, we have built a fantastic working partnership with stakeholders across the organisation, who trust us to support the needs of their clients and projects.
The client has now transitioned away from seven of their eight incumbent suppliers as they can see the benefits of engaging Reed Talent Solutions as their overarching managed service provider.
Julie Hinchcliffe, Managing Director, Contingent Workforce Solutions, Reed Talent Solutions, said: “With demanding requirements from the outset it was important to work in partnership with Prenetics and go above and beyond a standard recruitment service.
“We deployed our out-of-hours team to manage 24/7 requirements, the right technology to enable rapid deployment and full visibility, and a team of experienced volume recruiters to manage and grow the talent pool.
“We embraced the ‘improving lives through work’ ethos ensuring that families could still enjoy travel around the world and that the entertainment and sports industry could continue to thrive in the midst of the pandemic.”
Dan Small, VP Operations, Prenetics, added: “I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Reed Talent Solutions for such a fantastic partnership and service. You have all been a real pleasure to work with and I wish you all the very best of luck for the future.”
Find out more about our contingent workforce solutions, or get in touch with one of our experts to talk through your needs.
