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University Saved £150,000 in Staffing Agency Spend by Making Blue Arrow Sole Suppliers

Our client is a UK-based University with over 2,000 employees dedicated to supporting over 12,000 students. They were ranked in the top ten for Student Satisfaction in the Guardian League Table 2021, as well as top 20 in the English Higher Education Social Mobility Index in 2022.

University Saved £150,000 in Staffing Agency Spend by Making Blue Arrow Sole Suppliers

Client

University

Contact

Talent Acquisition Manager

Sector

Education

Staffing Type

Facilities Management
150k
Agency spend saved
32
Last-minute positions filled
5.5
Weeks of admin time saved

Recruitment Challenge

Our client came to us with a need to consolidate its staffing supply chain. The university had five staffing agencies that supplied various roles including cleaners, exam invigilators, administrators, maintenance, and general trades roles such as plumbers and groundskeepers.

This proved difficult for the university as invoicing, fulfilment updates, management issues, and supply performance varied per agency. Each agency had their own terms and conditions, as well as fee structures. The lack of standardisation across departmental recruitment was time consuming and offered poor visibility, especially on spending activity. By simplifying their agency activities, the university would be able to better control quality and agency spend across departments.

 

Recruitment Challenge

Recruitment Solution

As one of the agencies in the supply chain, our successful and long-term supply capability for the university made us a preferred partner. We established a sole supplier contract within a few days, enabling the client to move to a single set of terms and conditions, and fee structure, ensuring consistency and controlled spending across all recruitment activity.  

Having a single point of contact for all service queries and management needs meant a greater level of accountability could exist in our dedicated supply relationship. This helped our procurement team set service targets and objectives that would have previously been impossible to manage across multiple suppliers.

 

Recruitment Solution

Recruitment Journey

Visibility of agency staff demand, supply, and spend was provided through our Client Portal. This is our online platform that gives real-time visibility of fulfilment, invoice queries, and spend reporting.

The first request under the new sole supplier arrangement was for 20 temporary cleaning staff. Using a range of online job boards and our existing candidate talent pool, we were able to provide 100% fulfilment for the roles. 

 

Recruitment Journey

The Results

By taking over as sole suppliers of the university, and improving visibility through our online technology solutions, we were able to:

  • Reduce agency costs by £150,000 in year one
  • Save 5.5 weeks of admin time.
  • Fill 32 last-minute positions across cleaning, caretaking, catering, and administration in the first 3 months

 

The Results
Simplifying your recruitment supply chain isn’t only convenient, but it can also save your business money. That is what we were able to achieve for our client. By increasing visibility and becoming the sole supplier for the university, we were able to save them time and money across their departments.
Blue Arrow Manager
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