Partnering with Sky to enhance their MSP and RPO solutions – part two

In part two of our interview with Patrick Flannighan, HR Operations Director at Sky, we discuss how the solutions delivered to Sky have developed to also encompass ManpowerGroup Solutions. To read part one of the interview, click here.

ManpowerGroup Solutions has delivered a fully outsourced RPO service to Sky Ireland since 2012. After focusing on retail sales advisors, they underwent a competitive tender process, winning the UK contact centre advisor and engineer volume recruitment in 2014.

Following a detailed review of the delivery solution in 2015, a new RPO contract went live on 1st May 2016. Over 55 individuals are dedicated to delivering the Sky RPO, the largest RPO for ManpowerGroup Solutions across Europe. The team is responsible for 50% of Sky hires, handling over 100,000 candidates and managing the placement of 4,000 hires per year across the UK and Ireland.

What were Sky’s primary objectives in relation to enhancing your RPO solution?

We make over 3,000 contact centre, engineer and retail hires a year. These are spread across the length and breadth of the UK and Ireland. We needed a ‘best in class’ for RPO – an experienced partner that could work with us, manage high volumes, and who would be an expert in these markets across all our locations. We also wanted to make Sky a destination of choice for skilled candidates and to enhance our candidate engagement experience.

Please could you talk us through some of the key initial enhancements made to the service since 2015 and what impact this has had?

We’ve moved full accountability for the end-to-end recruitment process into the RPO – this includes everything from talent attraction right up to offer. We have implemented a new, streamlined candidate-centric interview and assessment process (including the Sky experience day). We’ve also improved metrics and reporting, giving us better visibility of the candidate journey – this helps to inform our thinking about the end-to-end process and the candidate experience we’re delivering.

How successful has the new RPO model been?

We are attracting more candidates than ever, our fulfilment rates are higher than they’ve ever been and our candidate experience is improving. We’ve worked together on this model and we’re all reaping the benefits of this, including our candidates.

How have we partnered with Sky to help redesign your entire RPO solution and what advantages will this deliver?

The ManpowerGroup Solutions and Sky teams have worked very closely together to review and redesign the RPO solution. As a result, we have more detailed local market insights in all the locations where Sky is based. Our processes have become more streamlined and this has increased the number of applications, improved our conversion rates, reduced our costs and significantly reduced our time to hire. We’re also strengthening Sky’s employer brand both locally and nationally.

Importantly, we’ve got flexibility in the model which enables us to adjust our recruitment models up or down to meet business priorities.

How does the white-labelled RPO team operate as an extension to Sky’s recruitment team and what’s next?

Like the MSP team, the RPO team are embedded as part of the Sky recruitment team, working in partnership with both Sky hiring and recruitment managers. The team are seen as a crucial part of our organisation, are fully accountable and are delivering. It’s not a ‘them and us’ scenario but a fully integrated function.

Moving forward, we are continually reviewing how we work together in partnership. We are looking at the integration of our services, at embedding the subject-matter expertise in the team and at developing the relationship further to better meet the challenges together.

Visit the ManpowerGroup Solutions website for more information about our Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) offering.