Contingent workforce programs tend to take shape one request at a time. A manager needs extra help for a project or a busy season and calls an agency they already know. Other departments do the same, and before long the organization relies on temporary workers, contractors, and consultants who are all being tracked in different places.
The costs of that approach surface later as rate differences between business units, uneven screening, and classification risk. Contingent workforce management brings those costs under control, and most programs get there in four recognizable stages, from unmanaged to fully orchestrated. Each stage below includes the signs it's time to act and a practical next move, followed by the compliance risks and best practices that apply wherever your program stands today.
Contingent workforce management is the way an organization oversees workers who aren't on its payroll. It covers each engagement from the initial request for talent to the final approved invoice.
Estimates of the contingent workforce vary widely, depending on who's counting. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts it at 4.3% of U.S. workers in 2023, counting only jobs workers don't expect to last, while analyst research that includes independent contractors, freelancers, and services providers puts it at 49.7% of the average company's workforce.
Many contingent workforce programs track only temporary workers and staff augmentation, which leaves independent contractors, consultants, and other workers out of the picture. A complete view usually spans these channels:
Each channel comes with its own cost structure, compliance obligations, and data trail. A program that sees only one or two of them is managing a fraction of its actual exposure. A vendor management system (VMS), the core software behind contingent workforce management, can bring every channel into a single view, provided the program defines its full scope before configuring the technology.
Most contingent workforce programs move through four stages, and each stage solves the problems the one before it created.
|
Stage |
What it looks like |
Signs it's time to act |
Next move |
|
1. Unmanaged |
Each department hires through its own agencies and contacts |
No one can say how many contingent workers are on assignment or what they cost |
Inventory every channel, starting with accounts payable |
|
2. Centralized |
One function owns the policy, contracts, and supplier list |
Volume outpaces the team, and data lives in spreadsheets |
Track program metrics to inform a VMS or MSP decision |
|
3. Managed |
A managed service provider (MSP) runs the program on a VMS |
Savings plateau, and SOW and independent contractor spend remain outside the program |
Bring every channel into one strategy |
|
4. Orchestrated |
Contingent, permanent, and services decisions draw on shared data |
The contingent and permanent mix falls behind changes in demand |
Revisit the mix whenever the business plan changes |
In the first stage, contingent labor runs across the organization without anyone having decided how it should be managed. Each department hires through its own agencies and contacts. Some engagements start through personal networks or a statement of work signed without legal review.
Over time, the costs build up across the enterprise. Two business units can pay different rates for the same role in the same market without anyone noticing. Background checks and nondisclosure agreements get applied unevenly. Without centralized vendor management, supplier relationships stay narrow, because each manager naturally returns to the vendor they already know and trust.
Your next move. Build your first inventory of contingent workers from accounts payable. Payments to agencies, consultants, and individual contractors show the program's real footprint, including channels no one thought to report. That inventory becomes the starting point for whoever owns the program next.
The second stage begins when one function takes responsibility for every contingent engagement in the organization. A few decisions determine how well that works.
Pick an owner. The program can belong to procurement, HR, or operations. Procurement brings discipline on cost and contracts, while HR brings a sharper focus on talent quality and the worker experience. Any of them can succeed, as long as one function owns the program and runs it the same way across every business unit.
Write the rules down. Your written policy should define when departments can bring in contingent workers and who approves each request, so hiring managers have a clear path to follow whenever they need extra help.
Standardize the terms. Universal contract terms hold every supplier to the same screening and classification requirements. Many organizations at this stage also consolidate suppliers under a master vendor program, where one primary partner fills most roles and manages the rest.
Your next move. Begin tracking program-level metrics, such as the share of contingent spend running through the program and time to fill, alongside core supplier metrics. Those numbers will shape any VMS or MSP decision.
The third stage hands day-to-day program management to a managed service provider (MSP) running on a vendor management system (VMS). The MSP handles supplier oversight and compliance reporting, which frees the internal owner to focus on strategy.
The quality of the MSP determines how much value the program delivers. At a minimum, an MSP processes invoices and enforces policy between the client and its suppliers. A stronger partner also advises on which program terms improve supplier performance and which ones push good suppliers away. Conversations with a provider's current clients are one of the clearest ways to judge it before signing.
The move to a managed program can pay off at scale. One global financial services company replaced its self-managed program with a KellyOCG external workforce program and brought more than $300 million in external spend under one governed system. The switch delivered 12% hard-dollar cost savings and 100% onboarding compliance.
Your next move. Ask your MSP to report the spend that still falls outside the program, especially SOW and independent contractor engagements, and set a date to bring it in.
The fourth stage folds contingent labor into the organization's overall workforce strategy, so decisions about contingent and permanent talent draw on the same data. Coordinating every source of talent around business goals is a challenge most organizations haven't solved. Only 7% of leaders say they're making great progress on orchestrating people, skills, and resources to get work done, even though 88% call it extremely or very important.
Many organizations arrive here after outgrowing an earlier MSP that delivered the basics and then stalled. What they need next is visibility into every channel and a way to steer hiring managers toward the right one before a request goes out. Getting there usually takes a workforce platform that brings data on every worker type, from agency temps to SOW consultants and independent contractors, into one place. When program owners can compare cost, time to fill, and compliance across channels, they can decide how a role should be filled before it opens rather than after.
Your next move. Revisit the balance of contingent and permanent hiring whenever the business plan changes, not only during annual planning. A change in demand, skills needs, or regulation is the signal to look again.
Compliance obligations exist at every stage of maturity, and they multiply as a program adds channels and locations. Two risks deserve the most attention.
Worker classification. Misclassification is more common than many employers assume. In 2025, Michigan's unemployment insurance auditors found nearly five misclassified workers per employer audit, on average. The federal standard is also in motion. The Department of Labor proposed a new independent contractor test in February 2026, and a final rule was still pending as of October. In the meantime, DOL has said it won't apply its 2024 rule in enforcement actions. State standards such as the ABC test still apply either way, so each engagement needs a documented classification review before work begins.
Joint employment. When a staffing partner employs a worker and your managers direct the work, both companies can share legal responsibility for that worker. This co-employment relationship is normal and manageable. A proposed DOL rule would judge joint employment by who hires and fires the worker, supervises their schedule, sets their pay, and keeps their records. Courts already examine those four factors. Employers can act on them now by assigning each responsibility explicitly in supplier contracts and making sure managers know where their role ends. If DOL finalizes the rule, a quick review of supplier contracts and manager guidance against the final version will show whether anything needs to change.
A staffing partner can take much of this work off your plate. For the workers Kelly places, Kelly serves as the employer of record, handling payroll taxes and workers' compensation and tracking requirements that vary by state, such as pay range disclosures on job postings. For independent contractors, KellyOCG evaluates whether each worker qualifies under classification rules and manages the engagement from start to finish.
A handful of contingent workforce management best practices apply at every stage of maturity, from a program's first inventory to full orchestration.
Kelly has supported employers for 80 years, and its services now span every stage of contingent workforce maturity, from master vendor programs that centralize suppliers to MSP programs and workforce technology for organizations orchestrating every channel. If you're ready to map your program's next step, talk with our team.