There is absolutely no second thought that the coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we conduct business and the way we work together. Every business small or large was forced to work from home at least for a brief period and businesses have unveiled new ways to collaborate and work from home with the same efficiency and productivity. Several large companies have also decided to just work from home even after the pandemic. As businesses try to navigate to a new normal and plan their come back, our goal is to help businesses stay focused on diversity in the workplace. 

In my opinion, creating a diverse workplace with different cultures, ethnicities, genders, ages and numerous characteristics will create an environment that drives innovation and brings us closer to the society. As a business, this is very important for us as we work with people, and being able to connect with them is key to our success.

There are many ways the pandemic has changed the workplace. In a recent Forbes article which talks about permanent changes to the workplace due to COVID, it is evident that work from home will be the new normal, and offices will largely be made up of conference rooms, meeting rooms, and video studios. Workplaces will become a far more social environment and will be designed to foster and promote interaction and community engagement. Covid has made us appreciate those interactions more than ever. 

Business leaders should rethink their strategies and policies to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce and workplace, especially when all the teams are remote and working from home. 

After a detailed evaluation of all the scorecards from various MSP and In-Sourcing programs, we have identified and narrowed down on the below high-level categories for measurement.

• Compliance
• Efficiency
• Performance & Quality
• Cost Optimization
• Attrition and
• Feedback from Business

Compliance stands on the top of all the categories. A standalone Audit team was established to continuously audit every process across all programs for their compliance. Metadata and key points from every clause in the MSA or Flow Downs from the programs is extracted and captured in a well-defined template that helps us in auditing compliance to the MSA and flow downs. 

A very good example is if the use of Sub Contractors is allowed for a specific end-client or not. Another example can be the submission format or submission of PhotoID's while screening and submission processes. Certain policies can be post-confirmation with Background checks required or onboarding or offboarding process that are specific to the program. 

Efficiency comes second in the categories list. How efficient we perform in the program determines our success in the program. Be it our participation in the requirements or our TAT to submit qualified and screened candidates. We can only win the race and get returns on our investment only if we are highly efficient. 

Performance and Quality is another important measurement category that will help us identify gaps and implement strategies or processes to be successful. The quality of submissions, interviews, hires is a very important metric that we need to constantly measure. 

Cost Optimization and adherence to bill rates agreed upon are very critical for the program. Over the last year, we have invested in various technology and sourcing techniques to optimize our cost and source candidates within prescribed bill rates. In a competitive market, we must innovate to optimize costs and pass the savings to our customers. 

Attrition of consultants before projects start or during the project and Feedback from business are the two other categories we must measure in every program. 

Now that we talked about all our categories, let's look at the metrics and the expectations that have been standardized across all programs. The final result is a well defined standard scorecard that is independent of the program and will help us measure our performance before the program shares the metrics.