RPO Top 10 Potential Risks

Recruitment Process Outsourcing or RPO can be tricky and risk prone—i.e. looks good on paper, but when you peel it back, it may be best to keep it in-house.  As you first start with the exploratory internal discussions of RPO and will it solve our problems, below is a framework to consider about the inherent risks involved with RPO.  As an advisor, I like to start with a couple of very basic questions:

1) Is there enough pain or is it worth the risk?  

2) If it’s really worth it, how to best mitigate risk to insure a successful RPO implementation and most important the steady state.  

Below is a flexible discussion framework for addressing some of the most common RPO risks and at what stage.  This tool enables the buyer to establish a proactive stance in addressing your future, unknown risks.  This is especially helpful to use if you are the Head of Talent Acquisition (who will have to live with the decision) or a project manager running the process.  Begin by asking the committee to think about the following and talk about their point of view about the risk.

Top 10 RPO Risks

Risk	Description	Implementation Stage	Severity of Risk	Mitigation Strategy
Vision	Lack of clear definition of the end state	All Stages	High	Clearly define the degree of change and what isn’t changing
Implementation Plan	Slow and disrupted implementation	Pre-Transition	Medium	Robust, detailed, and integrated implementation plan
Leadership and Sponsorship	Lack of sufficient support to ensure successful implementation and adoption of the change	All Stages	High	Leadership-driven change campaign that includes case for change and continuous communication
Productive employees	Workforce capability and confusion	Transformation	Medium	Comprehensive training and education for all levels (skills, processes, and behaviors)
Customer and Performance Expectations	Performance and quality problems	All Stages	High	Metrics and monitoring to mitigate risk
Engaged stakeholders	Disconnected employees and customers	All Stages	High	Audience-appropriate communication strategies and tactics timed in successive stages to meet evolving needs
Competing Initiatives	Lack of sufficient resources to implement on time and within budget	Pre-Transition, Transition	Low	Prioritize and commit to the initiative—not flavor of the month
Employment Practices	Employee resistance to use new hiring practices and procedures	Steady State	Low	Deliver and Communicate new recruiting playbook to fields customized to various audience
Data Management	Disconnect and inaccurate applicant data	Transformation and Steady State	Low	Effectively integrate the data of all 3rd vendors with ATS and other key systems
Regulatory	Workforce actions to right to unionize (e.g., Lilly Ledbetter)	Steady State	Low	Seek HR or employment law on the potential impact of new hiring process and changing employment laws