RPOlosophy

If you’re a member of Costco, the nation’s largest wholesale club, you probably know that Coca-Cola’s products are no longer on the shelves. Costco yanked the soft drinks to make a point. The two companies are haggling publicly over the price consumers pay for the beverages.

This unusual open squabble intensified when Costco posted signs in its soft drink aisle that read: “At present we are not carrying Coke products because we cannot provide the value our customers deserve.”

Quarrels between companies and suppliers could become more common. In this economy, organizations are looking for value and might, as a final resort, look to a public forum to get what they want.

So far Recruitment Process Outsourcing has been spared from public feuds. There are whispers about situations where companies and their RPO service provider have strained relationships but none of this has ever surfaced in the form of an article, case study, or press release.

The closest event that might be considered public may occur this December at the RPO Summit. There is a session on December 10th 2009 titled: “Changing the Recruitment Model—How Itron Improved Performance with its ‘Second Generation’ RPO.”

Depending how this case study is handled, it has the potential of publicly sharing the failures of an RPO relationship. A lot of dirty laundry might be aired. If the session goes in this direction, it would be somewhat unfair since only one of the estranged parties is represented.

It could also be that the overview focuses more on the opportunities with the new service provider; however, I see little chance of avoiding the topic of the previous relationship and the shortcomings. Itron obviously did not make a change for change’s sake only.

With more and more Recruitment Process Outsourcing contracts coming up for renewal, we will see companies switching service providers and perhaps sharing their experiences in a public setting.

Pinstripe is neither the 1st or 2nd Generation RPO Provider in the RPO Summit scenario. We are watching from the sidelines to see how this plays out at the Summit.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 29th, 2009 at 9:49 am and is filed under RPOlosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.