Fri, 30 May 2014The experience of its existing customers – which include local authorities and police forces – will be a key feature of the redesigned customer workshops run by public sector purchasing organisation Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO).

Ahead of its new version of the MSTAR framework for supplying staff to the public sector – due to begin in April 2015 – the organisation is holding a series of workshops for its customers, to understand how the previous framework has been used, and how it can be improved for today’s market.

A spokesperson tells Recruiter that ESPO has identified three key trends within the temporary staffing market:

• a growing need for temporary staff in the health and social care sectors – traditionally, there have been difficulties in the past in consistently sourcing qualified workers;

• more demand for professional positions – shifting away somewhat from the traditional lower-level skills focus in temporary staffing;

• a greater variety of service levels are being demanded from staffing managed services providers.

 
David Maylin, category manager of professional services at ESPO, says: “We are keen to engage with hiring managers and procurement officers from our customers’ organisations, to understand how their needs in the temporary staffing marketplace have changed since we launched the first framework in 2011.”

As well as discussions on its customers’ experiences, the revamped workshops will cover the wider additional value/benefits that can be derived through the framework, rather than just concentrating efforts on cost savings.

The customer engagement workshops are due to take place on 2 and 3 June in Leicester. MSTAR customers who would like to take part should contact David Maylin at [email protected]