Master vendor programs, one supplier managing the rest.
Full visibility into spend, performance, and compliance, across every supplier in your program.
How Kelly gets to work.
Managing your temporary workforce across multiple vendors can lead to fragmented data, misaligned coverage, and hard-to-trace costs.
A master vendor program (MVP) from Kelly is tailored to your needs, standardizing how talent is sourced, managed, and measured across your organization. We cut through the complexity and bring the expertise, technology, and quality network to fill your roles faster, reduce costs, and give you the visibility you need to make smarter decisions to stay ahead.
On-site partnership helped a manufacturing workforce achieve a 94.7% fill rate.
When demand surged, a high-tech manufacturer needed hundreds of critical roles filled fast. The success of the partnership earned Kelly master vendor status, and the team went on to support a workforce ramp of nearly 600 employees to meet future production needs.
Challenge: Establish an on-site team to anticipate and meet high-volume hiring demands.
Solution: Kelly deployed an embedded staffing strategy to work close with operations leaders to anticipate workforce needs, improve response, and scale hiring effectively.
Result: Kelly delivered 585 new hires, fulfilling nearly 95% of workforce demand helping minimize production disruption.
Read moreWhen you need to optimize your workforce program.
Master vendor programs from Kelly are built for these situations:
You need help coordinating coverage across your temporary workforce.
You need people across one or more physical locations.
You want to consolidate vendors.
You need better visibility intro your program spend and performance.
How the master vendor partnership process works.
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1. Define the need
A program specialist closest to your industry evaluates your current program, timelines, and industry context to determine the scope—from an enterprise-wide program (i.e., all jobs, all locations) or limited to specific customer divisions, plants, geographies, or job categories. -
2. Program customization and implementation.
Kelly creates a custom master vendor staffing program to standardize how your temporary workforce operates to align with your needs. -
3. The work begins.
Kelly serves as your primary temporary workforce supplier from day one, coordinating with secondary suppliers and providing on-site workforce management as needed. We'll connect you with the right people at the right price by leveraging our vast supply chain (140+ countries) and global reach. Typically, secondary suppliers are engaged as subcontractors to provide supplemental recruiting support to meet peak volume demand or other specified needs. -
4. Scale on your terms.
Your master vendor program is built to evolve with you as workforce demands change.
Four ways your team will feel the difference.
Deep industry expertise attracts quality talent faster.
You'll get more done with less downtime because you'll have the best-fit talent right when you need them.
Tailored solutions that make a real impact.
See a measurable impact and exceed your goals through custom workforce programs and processes.
One partner to manage your workforce.
You'll have one reliable partner with 10 specialties to give you access to a wider range of quality candidates faster with less vendors to manage. You'll also have less on your plate to manage because Kelly has the resources and teams to do it all for you.
Future-forward planning ensures you're never stagnant.
Get real-time visibility into your workforce to move your business forward. Kelly leverages patented technology to deliver clearer data and analytics to make better decisions.
Frequently asked questions.
What is a master vendor program (MVP)?
A master vendor program is a workforce management model where one supplier acts as the main point of contact to oversee, recruit, and coordinate temporary staffing and secondary staffing agencies. Instead of managing relationships with multiple staffing vendors yourself, you have one accountable partner to coordinate recruiting, sourcing, fulfillment, compliance, and reporting across your entire temporary workforce.
What types of roles and industries does Kelly support as a master vendor?
Kelly implements master vendor programs across a wide range of industries and specializations — including life sciences, engineering, technology, professional and industrial, and education. Whether you have highly specialized or high-volume needs, or both, our vast talent networks are built to deliver specialized talent consistently at scale, from one hire to hundreds.
Is a master vendor program the right solution for my organization?
A master vendor program works best for organizations with consistent, ongoing temporary talent needs across multiple locations who want to simplify vendor management, improve fill rates, and gain better visibility into spend and performance. Kelly master vendor programs can be designed to meet needs across a wide range of industries and sizes, from very large enterprise-level customers involving multi-national scope down to local or regional customers of modest size.
Many opportunities can be found in small-to-mid sized enterprises, upgrading from preferred supplier lists. If your needs are more sporadic or project-based, Kelly can help you evaluate whether a master vendor, managed service provider (MSP), or direct staffing model is the best fit.
What makes Kelly a stronger master vendor partner than a typical staffing firm?
Kelly brings 80 years of specialty workforce expertise, a talent network of over one million engaged workers that reach candidates beyond active jobseekers, and recruiters who specialize in the disciplines they hire for. Our unmatched scale, scope, and a suite of solutions solve our client's biggest workforce challenges with the institutional knowledge and embedded partnership model to back it up.
How is a master vendor program different from a managed service provider?
A master vendor program is the right fit for your organization when you want a single, high-performing supplier relationship at the center of your talent program. A managed service provider is a broader program where Kelly manages your entire vendor supply chain but may not be the primary supplier itself. A master vendor program can be embedded under the umbrella of MSP programs as a component of talent supply for a defined scope in hybrid models.
How long does it take to implement a master vendor program with Kelly?
Implementation timelines vary based on program complexity, volume, and the number of locations involved. Your Kelly team will provide a realistic timeline during the scoping process and work with your stakeholders to build a transition plan to minimize disruption and get the program performing quickly.
What visibility and reporting does Kelly provide within a master vendor program?
How does Kelly ensure compliance across a master vendor program?
Kelly owns compliance management from start to finish — from worker classification and onboarding requirements to regulatory adherence and risk mitigation. This removes the administrative and legal burden from your organization's internal team and ensures consistent standards across every placement.