Tabi Savage

Workforce Planning and Extended Talent Program Management Team Leader, Red Hat

Supernova Award Category: 
Future of Work: Human Capital Management
The Organization: 

Red Hat is a leader in open source solutions, delivering Linux, cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies to customers around the world. The company helps businesses standardize across environments, develop cloud-native applications, and integrate, automate, secure, and manage complex environments. Red Hat embraces a community-powered approach that puts innovation in the hands of everyone. The contingent workforce plays a key role, as they rely on outside technology experts to develop solutions for clients and contracts with software engineers to deliver in-house innovations, including customer products. Contingent workers fulfill a variety of roles, from program and project managers that lead enterprise projects, to marketing specialists with specific campaign experience.

The Problem: 

Red Hat was facing inconsistent processes for engaging contingent workers across functions and locations, use of a wide pool of vendors, leading to different billing rates for similar roles, disparate rules for conversions and no central tracking of labor data and costs, and a lack of visibility into contingent workforce spending such as supplier and contractor pricing. It also needed to increase visibility on headcount and trends while also standardizing practices across its North American operations.

The Solution: 

Red Hat simplified processes for engaging external workers in North America with SAP Fieldglass solutions and working with their managed service provider, Monument Consulting. Red Hat integrated and standardized requisitioning, managing, and invoicing, which empowered managers and supported intelligent operations internally and for its customers. Monument and Red Hat rolled out the SAP Fieldglass Contingent Workforce Management solution in 90 days – the fastest net-new program implementation that Monument and Red Hat had ever achieved. Using SAP Fieldglass solutions has centralized and streamlined HR and procurement, consolidating supplier management and payment and speeding contractor interviewing, onboarding, and offboarding. Now, Red Hat can hire contingent workers in North America more quickly, gain access to top talent, and reduce costs while driving innovation.

The Results: 
  • Speed and efficiency integrating and assimilating contingent workers. The solution allows for faster hires and better access to top talent with streamlined interviews, onboarding and offboarding. This results in improved workforce planning processes and hiring-manager satisfaction.
  • Increased visibility of contingent labor spend. Red Hat consolidated and streamlined its disparate contingent workforce management processes, including supplier management and payments.
  • Global expansion through increased capabilities. The data and workflow integration provide highly configurable solution to support maximum efficiency with a wide range of functionality and features. This includes the consistent implementation of local tax and employment regulations across locations.
  • Comprehensive data and reporting tools. Red Hat makes contingent workforce planning a strategic priority and to realize potential savings from its supplier network.

The solution resulted in millions in cost savings thanks to centralized contingent workforce processes, robust supplier and worker performance metrics, tight adherence to market rate card, faster hires and better access to top talent with streamlined interviews and onboarding, improved contingent workforce planning processes and hiring-manager satisfaction, consistent implementation of local tax and employment regulations across locations.

Metrics: 

After this project, Red Hat saw 7% workforce program savings, 7% savings using market rate-card functionality, and 92% of Red Hat’s hiring managers reported being very satisfied with their workforce management program.

The Technology: 

SAP Fieldglass Contingent Workforce Management was chosen because it was a technology leader among the solutions reviewed, providing data and workflow integration capabilities and configuration to support efficiency. The application offers Red Hat opportunities to leverage more capabilities as it continues its global expansion and comprehensive data and reporting tools to make contingent workforce planning a priority and to realize potential savings from its supplier network.

Disruptive Factor: 

In an innovation-driven industry, talent must be sourced and leverage from anywhere. Contingent workers are fundamental to Red Hat’s culture of innovation, and their unique use of this workforce has allowed them to become the de facto leader in their field.

Shining Moment: 

Red Hat gained insight and control of contingent hiring with SAP Fieldglass Contingent Workforce Management. Metrics reporting on program use, hiring trends, spend, and more provided the insight needed to expand hiring going forward. While it is currently being used in Red Hat’s North American operations, the application’s success is getting noticed by hiring managers from other regions who are looking to streamline external workforce management using the application.

About Red Hat

Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of enterprise open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to deliver reliable and high-performing Linux, hybrid cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies. Red Hat is a trusted adviser to the Fortune 500 and helps organizations prepare for the digital future.