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Over the past few years, we’ve seen a renewed call for equality across all parts of American life, including at work. The spotlight on diversity and inclusion has never been brighter. People want to live in a world that’s equitable – including at their jobs.  

The data shows that maintaining diversity in the workforce isn’t just a good thing for equality and fairness. It’s a good thing for business goals. Companies that invest in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEI&B) initiatives tend to enjoy better profits, increased innovation, and more engagement and productivity from their employees.  

Unfortunately, diversity efforts often focus on the traditional workforce and leave out another important sector: the contingent workforce. And that’s a mistake. According to a report by Staffing Industry Analysts, 52 million people performed contingent work in the U.S. in 2020 – that’s close to 40% of the entire workforce. So, why would we leave this massive chunk of the labor pool out of diversity efforts? 

Your staffing service plays a key role in sourcing and hiring contingent workers for your company. When you choose a diverse supplier program for contingent workforce solutions, you’re ensuring that your contingent workforce is as diverse as your traditional labor force. And that’s a good thing across the board.  

Let’s take a closer look at suppliers’ diversity programs and how they benefit your business. 

What is a Diverse Supplier?

A diverse supplier is defined as a staffing supplier that is at least 51 percent owned and operated by an individual or individuals who are part of an underrepresented or underserved group. In short, it’s any minority-, women-, disabled-, veteran-, or LGBTQ+-owned staffing supplier. Note that businesses in Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) zones are also considered diverse suppliers. 

Why is a Supplier Diversity Program Important in Staffing?

Maintaining a diverse contingent workforce through your supplier’s diversity program means you’re doing what’s good for minority groups and the communities they represent. It also means you’re doing what’s good for your business. 

Here’s why a supplier diversity program is so important when it comes to your workforce: 

Achieve Diverse Recruitment Goals 

The first reason why a diversity-focused supplier program is important is obvious: You’ll be able to achieve your diverse recruitment goals. Diversifying your contingent labor workforce starts with diversifying your staffing supplier. Working with a woman-owned staffing supplier, for example, will help you bring more women onto your team. Partnering with an LGBTQ+-owned supplier will allow you to add LGBTQ+ individuals to your workforce.  

Gain a Competitive Advantage by Improving Procurement Quality  

Utilizing a diverse supplier program fosters innovation and creativity – the more diverse your workforce, the more unique and innovative it tends to be. It’s one of the important ways that diverse suppliers are set apart from large, non-minority suppliers. Plus, your talent pool is widened when you rely on a supplier program that’s diverse. Including everyone in the talent management pipeline simply means there are more people to choose from. And that makes your workforce more resilient at the end of the day. 

Support Minority-Owned Staffing Agencies

Did you know that minority-owned businesses earn only 48 percent of the revenue of their non-minority counterparts? This is due to a variety of factors, including longstanding inequalities in access to capital, systemic biases, and much more. But when you work with a diverse supplier program, you’re doing your part to support minority-owned staffing agencies. You’re creating economic opportunities for not only the supplier, but the talent they supply you. 

Enhance Brand Reputation

Last but not least, a good reason to utilize a diverse supplier program is because it benefits your company’s reputation and brand. Employing a diverse workforce shows the public – and potential candidates – that you value diversity and are committed to inclusion. And the data backs this up. According to research from Monster.com, 86 percent of candidates around the world say that diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace is important to them. It’s even more important to the younger generations, including Millennials and Gen Z. 

Partner with a Staffing MSP to Develop a Supplier Diversity Program

Let’s face it: It’s not easy to build and maintain a diverse contingent workforce. That’s where a staffing Managed Services Provider (MSP) comes in. If you’re looking to develop a supplier diversity program and aren’t sure where to start, you’ve come to the right place.  

Here’s how partnering with an MSP can help: 

Meet Tier 1 & Tier 2 Diversity Spend Goals 

One great advantage of relying on an MSP program is that it allows your business to meet Tier 1 and Tier 2 diversity spend goals.  

  • Tier 1: MSP 

The Managed Services Provider that manages your contingent workforce meets the qualifications of being a diverse company. Meet your tier 1 diversity spend goals by partnering with an MSP. 

  • Tier 2: Suppliers 

Your supplier’s suppliers are the second-tier members of the talent supply pipeline. They aren’t tied directly to your business, which is why they’re considered second-tier. But they still play an essential role in maximizing your diversity spend and meet the criteria necessary to be assigned a diversity classification.  

Improve Business Performance

When you utilize MSP solutions for your contingent workforce, you’re getting a capable partner that helps you create a diverse supplier program that improves your business. An MSP takes care of all regular supplier onboarding and management as it relates to your contingent workforce, and finds diverse suppliers, verifies certifications, tracks diversity spend and generates reports to review diversity spend objectives, and more. Ultimately, partnering with an MSP helps to streamline and bolster your business performance.  

Promote Diversity Initiative Visibility

Above, we covered how engaging in DEI&B efforts through your contingent workforce solutions helps to improve your employer brand and company reputation. An MSP solution is another great way to make sure that visibility happens. An MSP can help promote your company’s diversity initiatives, attracting talent that wants – and demands – to see diversity and inclusion as a part of the workforce. This is especially important if your company wants to attract younger members of the workforce, particularly Millennials and Gen Z hires.  

Contact Anserteam to Diversify Your Talent Supply Chain

Working with a diverse supplier program helps you diversify your talent supply chain, meet tier 1 and tier 2 diversity spend goals, and improve your business’s performance and reputation, all while supporting minority-owned staffing agencies and providing opportunities for the underrepresented and underserved.  

Looking for a Managed Services Provider to help diversify your supply chain while streamlining talent pipeline management? Anserteam Workforce Solutions offers end-to-end talent solutions that are fully customizable using our MSP model and Vendor Management Solutions (VMS) technology. Additionally, we’re a certified diversity partner through the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).  

Contact Anserteam, your WBENC-certified diversity partner, to diversify your talent supply chain and reach your diversity goals.