Tired of Overpaying? How expressHR's VMS Delivers Controlled Rates and Cost Savings

In today's economic climate, every pound counts. For many businesses in the UK, the seemingly flexible solution of engaging agency workers often comes with an unforeseen challenge: spiralling costs and a persistent feeling of overpaying. Without robust mechanisms in place, "rates controlled" becomes an aspiration, not a reality, leading to significant budget drain and a lack of true cost visibility.

If you've ever grimaced at an agency invoice that seemed higher than expected, or felt frustrated by the opaque nature of your contingent workforce spend, you're experiencing a common pain point. The traditional methods of managing agency rates, often manual negotiations, scattered agreements, or a reliance on agency declarations, are simply not designed for optimal cost management. This inevitably leads to:

• Lack of Visibility on Spend: Without a centralised system, it's incredibly difficult to track real-time expenditure on agency workers. By the time reports are generated, the money is already spent, leaving little room for proactive cost-cutting.
  
  
• Uncontrolled Ordering and Overspending: When there's no systematic control over who can order agency workers, for what duration, and at what rate, the door is wide open for inefficiencies and excessive spending.
  
  
• Inconsistent Rates and Terms: Different hiring managers might secure different rates for the same role from the same agency, leading to internal inequities and lost savings opportunities.
  
  
• High Operational Costs: The administrative burden of processing numerous invoices, reconciling discrepancies, and manually tracking rates adds significant operational costs, further eroding potential savings.

The expressHR Solution: Bringing Rates Under Your Control

expressHR's integrated Vendor Management System (VMS) is specifically engineered to put an end to these overpayment woes. It transforms the way you manage agency rates and overall contingent workforce spend, ensuring that you pay precisely what you should, every time.

Here's how expressHR delivers real, tangible cost savings and brings rates under your complete control:

• Controlled Rates: This is a cornerstone of our system. expressHR allows you to define, store, and enforce pre-negotiated rates for specific roles, skills, and agencies. When an order is placed, the system automatically applies the correct, approved rate. Any deviation is immediately flagged, preventing overcharging before it happens. This single source of truth for rates eliminates inconsistencies and ensures fair pricing across your entire organisation.
  
  
• Full Authorisation Controls: Overspending often starts with uncontrolled ordering. expressHR implements robust authorisation workflows, ensuring that every request for an agency worker, and the associated cost, passes through the necessary approval channels. Budgets can be set and monitored in real-time, halting expenditure if limits are approached or exceeded. This proactive control stops spending before it becomes a problem.
  
  
• Real-Time Management Information: You can't control what you can't see. expressHR provides immediate, real-time dashboards and reports detailing every aspect of your agency spend. See exactly who is working, their hours, their rates, and the cumulative cost, all as it happens. This unparalleled visibility empowers you to identify cost anomalies, negotiate more effectively, and make data-driven decisions to optimise your spend.
  
  
• Automated & Consolidated Self-Billing: Manual invoice processing is a notorious time and money sink. expressHR automates the self-billing process, generating accurate invoices based on approved timesheets and agreed rates. This not only dramatically reduces administrative costs and errors but also provides a consolidated view of all agency expenditures, simplifying financial reconciliation and ensuring complete transparency.
  
  
• Performance Monitoring and Management: Beyond just rates, expressHR helps you ensure you're getting value for money. By tracking worker performance, you can identify high-performing individuals and agencies, informing future engagement decisions and ensuring that your investment in contingent talent yields the best possible results.

Stop Overpaying – Start Controlling with expressHR

With expressHR, the days of agency spend surprises are over. Our VMS empowers you to move from reactive cost management to proactive cost optimisation, securing better rates, enforcing spending limits, and gaining complete visibility over your contingent workforce budget. It’s about more than just saving money; it’s about strategic financial control that contributes directly to your bottom line.

Ready to gain absolute control over your agency rates and unlock significant cost savings? expressHR can help. Let us show you how our integrated VMS system can transform your contingent workforce management, delivering financial discipline and peace of mind for your UK business.