As the senior category lead at Crown Commercial Service, Andrew Mumby is responsible for permanent recruitment and contingent labor. In 2018, he played a pivotal role in the Crown Commercial Service’s creation of its Public Sector Resourcing marketplace, the preferred contingent labor program across central and local government. The program, which manages approximately 13,000 workers and has an annual spend of about £550m, serves 79 different and diverse public sector bodies.

For Mumby, one of the most difficult aspects of working in this space is the independence of the various different governing departments. The obstacle, he states, is bringing together organizations for strategic workforce planning and creating an environment of collaboration rather than competition. Moving forward, Mumby hopes to create an alliance between commercial and HR colleagues, with the ultimate goal of increased strategic resource planning that will increase the efficiency of an organization.

When it comes to the CW space as a whole, Mumby believes there needs to be a push to simply get everyone on board. “I feel, certainly where I am, and from speaking to other people in the industry, that HR, commercial and other business leaders are still not valuing the importance of contingent workers within their organization,” Mumby says. The future, he explains, will be highlighting the increased productivity that results from the right blend of contingent and traditional workers.