Opportunities for HR in the ‘Strategic Plan for External Labor’

Knowledge
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4 min.

Traditionally, HR is there for permanent employees. Flexible workers fall under the line organization or Purchasing. That approach is now outdated, because in times of talent scarcity, it becomes difficult to achieve organizational goals if permanent staff is the only tool available. External labor is a means of increasing capacity, retaining scarce skills within the organization, improving recruitment, and enabling flexibility. In addition to optimizing permanent talent, external labor is therefore an important domain for the organization and for HR to achieve its goals.

Nevertheless, HR often finds it difficult to really take charge of this issue, and the approach quickly gets stuck at the operational level: necessary onboarding and, at most, integrated recruitment (via recruitment colleagues).

So the question is: what steps can you take to tackle the major HR issues? The answer: develop a 'Strategic Plan for External Labor: Skills & Talent Management'. This gives HR the opportunity to take control of this category of labor by focusing on talent data, skills insight, and quality management.

Why does external labor for HR remain stuck at the operational level?

External professionals often fall outside the HR radar
Many organizations do not have a complete picture of their external workforce: who works there, in what roles, with what skills, for how long, and under what conditions. That information is scattered across hiring systems, contract files, and managers. This makes it difficult for HR to focus on strategic themes such as skills development, succession planning, sustainable employability, or culture. External labor then becomes a "black box" alongside the permanent workforce.

Strategic personnel planning focuses primarily on permanent staffing levels
Workforce planning often focuses on FTEs in salaried employment: which positions are critical, where are gaps emerging, which skills need to be developed? However, a growing proportion of these critical roles are being filled on a structural basis by external personnel. Without a comprehensive view of both permanent and external staff, it remains difficult to develop scenarios, secure scarce skills, and prepare the organization for future changes.

There is little control over quality, continuity, and cultural impact
. As soon as an external professional is brought in, the focus shifts to "the work must continue." Data on performance, retention, knowledge retention, and team fit are rarely recorded systematically or linked to HR data. As a result, HR cannot focus on quality, the advancement of high-performing talent, or the impact of external professionals on team dynamics and culture.

What you can achieve as HR with a 'Strategic External Labor Plan'

HR becomes the director of the overall talent mix
With a single integrated view of the workforce, HR can steer towards the optimal talent mix for each role or department: what do we do internally, what do we hire strategically? HR is thus shifting from being an executor to a strategic discussion partner for senior management, line management, and Procurement.

Skills and scarcity insights as a basis for choices
By linking skills data from external professionals to HR information (competency profiles, strategic personnel planning, learning programs), a clear picture emerges of where scarcity lies, which roles are structurally filled externally, and which knowledge the organization wants to secure internally or externally. This enables HR to make targeted choices: training, reorganizing, or targeted sourcing through specific channels.

A supplier and channel strategy that matches talent demand
In collaboration with Procurement, HR can help determine which suppliers and channels best match the desired skills and target groups: MSPs, brokers, niche agencies, talent platforms, freelancer networks, or direct sourcing. This ensures that the supplier mix is not only financially driven, but above all talent and quality driven.

Clear frameworks for quality and culture
By formulating KPIs for performance, turnaround times, retention, and team fit, a mature quality framework for external labor is created. HR can make clear agreements about onboarding, access to systems, conduct, guidance, feedback, and offboarding—so that external employees can work safely, productively, and in line with the organizational culture.

Better total cost of ownership (TCO) by focusing on value instead of hourly rates
When you focus on skills, quality, and productivity, the discussion shifts from "What does it cost per hour?" to "What does this person bring to the organization?" Lower failure costs, faster training time, and more reuse of high-performing talent reduce total costs while improving service quality.

Steps toward a Strategic External Labor Plan for HR

Step 1. Analyze the current external workforce.
Work with Procurement and Finance to map out:

  • Which external staff members work where in the organization?
  • In which roles, with which skills, and through which channels/suppliers?
  • What do we already know about lead times, contract durations, and costs?

Step 2. Link external labor to strategic workforce planning.
Involve HR Business Partners and line management in the future question:

  • Which roles are critical to the strategy and are currently (partly) filled externally?
  • Which skills are becoming scarce and which knowledge do you want to secure internally or externally as an organization?
  • Which roles are structurally external, is that desirable, or should that be changed?
  • Which roles are currently filled permanently, but would flex be a better alternative?

Step 3. Develop a joint sourcing and talent strategy.
Together with Procurement, formulate:

  • Through which channels and suppliers can we acquire which types of skills?
  • How do hiring, internal mobility, training, and automation relate to each other?

Step 4. Make clear agreements about roles and ownership.
Example:

  • HR: owner of the overall talent strategy, quality, onboarding, social safety, and culture.
  • Procurement: responsible for contracting, rate agreements, and supplier management.
  • Business: owner of the substantive assignment, day-to-day management, and assessment of results.

Step 5. Set up the data and reporting structure.
Ensure a single shared view of external labor:

  • Link between HR systems, hiring systems, and Finance.
  • Overviews of skills, rates, performance, turnaround times, and spend per department.
  • Dashboards that help HR and Procurement work together to manage quality, risk, and costs.

HR can take a much more strategic approach to external labor by developing a Strategic External Labor Plan, in close collaboration with Procurement and the business. This creates room for real value: control over the total workforce and better strategic management of talent.

Would you like to discuss what such a plan might look like for your organization? Please contact our team. We are happy to help you develop an approach and show you how you can embed the information and agreements you have gathered in your processes and systems in a sustainable manner.

👉 Contact our colleague Edwin Welner via LinkedIn or call 088 999 3 999.