As more businesses embrace flexibility in 2025, managing contingent workforces has become a key strategy in staying competitive, agile and compliant. Whether it’s to support seasonal demand, fill talent gaps or bring in specialized expertise, contingent workers have become a critical part of how modern companies scale. But simply hiring contractors or temporary staff isn’t enough, success hinges on how you manage them.
At Suna Solutions, we partner with organizations to ensure their contingent workforce strategies are not only compliant but optimized for results. Here are the best practices for managing contingent workforces effectively.
1. Start with a Clear Contingent Workforce Strategy
Contingent labor shouldn’t be managed ad hoc. A defined strategy ensures that temporary talent is aligned with business objectives. This includes identifying which roles are best suited for contingent workers, understanding the total cost of ownership and outlining how contractors will integrate into teams and projects. When you have a strategy in place, you avoid costly missteps like misclassification or over-reliance on vendors without oversight, both of which can hurt your bottom line and brand.
2. Use a Centralized Vendor Management System (VMS)
Visibility is key. A VMS provides centralized control over your extended workforce, helping you manage job requisitions, track time and expenses and ensure standardized onboarding. It also enables better decision-making through real-time analytics. According to Staffing Industry Analysts, companies that implement a VMS reduce time-to-fill rates by up to 30% and achieve better rate card compliance.
3. Prioritize Compliance at Every Stage
When managing contingent workforces, compliance isn’t optional, it’s foundational. From onboarding documentation to tax classification and co-employment risks, you need to ensure you’re following labor laws and regulations for each location and employment type. Partnering with an experienced Managed Service Provider (MSP) like Suna Solutions can alleviate that burden. We keep clients informed of regulation changes, vet suppliers for compliance and provide audit-ready documentation.
4. Standardize Onboarding and Offboarding
Contingent workers need to feel empowered and included to be productive, even if they’re only on your team for a short time. Having a standardized onboarding and offboarding process ensures that temporary workers are trained, equipped and prepared to hit the ground running. It also protects company assets and mitigates risk when their engagement ends. Create checklists, assign points of contact and include contingent staff in relevant meetings or communications. These small steps help improve engagement and retention.
5. Monitor Performance and Feedback
Contingent workers may not be full-time employees, but their contributions are just as valuable. Regular performance reviews, feedback loops and post-assignment evaluations help you assess quality and supplier effectiveness. These insights can also help you refine your strategy over time. At Suna, we conduct bi-annual surveys and maintain direct communication with both clients and contingent talent to ensure alignment, accountability and satisfaction on both ends.
6. Diversify and Manage Your Supplier Base
Another best practice for managing contingent workforces is optimizing your supplier network. Too few suppliers can limit access to talent. Too many can lead to inefficiencies and diluted relationships. Suna helps companies streamline and diversify their supplier base with a focus on certified diversity vendors and performance-driven metrics. In fact, our supplier network includes 29 certified NMSDC partners — helping clients meet their diversity goals while accessing top talent.
7. Leverage Data for Continuous Improvement
It’s not enough to manage — you need to evolve. Regular reporting, KPIs and predictive analytics give you the insight to make smarter workforce decisions. From cost savings and talent quality to risk and engagement levels, data provides the roadmap. We equip our clients with reporting tools and dashboards that simplify decision-making and demonstrate ROI across every level of contingent labor management.
In today’s dynamic work environment, managing contingent workforces isn’t just about filling roles — it’s about building an ecosystem that’s agile, compliant and strategically aligned with your business goals. By implementing these best practices, your organization can improve workforce scalability, minimize risk and elevate overall talent performance. At Suna Solutions, we help companies like yours navigate every step of the contingent workforce lifecycle — from vendor management to compliance, onboarding to offboarding and everything in between.
Ready to optimize your contingent workforce strategy? Connect with Suna Solutions today to discover how we can streamline your processes, improve compliance, and deliver top-tier talent at scale.