Solving external workforce challenges for growing businesses.

Most businesses reach a point where the people working for them don’t all work for them. Independent contractors, freelancers, temps and outsourced workers fill the gaps, managed by different teams, through different processes, with nobody owning the whole picture.

It works until it doesn’t. And when it stops working, it tends to surface quickly.

We work with businesses at that point. Not to start again from scratch, but to make what’s already in place work properly and hold up as the business grows.

 Discover RedWizard
  • Strategic Workforce Planning
  • Talent Acquisition & Supply
  • Governance & Orchestration
  • Cost Management & Compliance
  • Operations & Delivery

Workforce planning isn’t just for enterprise business.

You don’t need a dedicated function to get this right, but you do need a clear picture of who’s working for you, through which channels, at what cost, and whether that mix is delivering. For many organisations, that picture is harder to get than it should be.

We help you build it, and use it to make smarter decisions.

 Strategic Workforce Planning

Get the right people, through the right channels, at the right cost.

Many businesses accumulate recruitment suppliers over time without much structure around who does what or how well it’s working.

We help you map and then rationalise your supply chain, ensuring you invest in supplier relationships that will deliver value for the long term.

 Talent Acquisition & Supply

Someone needs to be accountable.

When no single team is clearly responsible for the external workforce, decisions get deferred, risks go unmanaged, and things fall through the cracks.

We help you put the right structure in place for today, ensuring it will flex with you as the business grows.

 Governance & Orchestration

You’re probably spending more than you think.

External workforce costs have a habit of creeping up quietly, and so do compliance risks, especially as legislation keeps changing. By the time it becomes visible, it’s often already a problem.

We help you get both under control before something catches you out.

 Cost Management & Compliance

Good strategy only works if the day-to-day does too.

It’s one thing to have a plan for your external workforce. It’s another to make it work on the ground.

We work to simplify how your managers engage and manage external workers, standardising processes and leveraging automation that keeps business ops moving.

 Operations & Delivery

Find out what you don’t know.

Not sure where to start? Concerto® is our AI-powered assessment tool — built to show you exactly where your gaps are and what to focus on first.

Each functional area has its own assessment. Browse the service pages, find the one that matches where the pain is biggest, and register your interest there. If you want the full picture across all five functions — register below.

    The RedWizard Mission

    • “We exist to change how organisations think about and manage their workforce, turning fragmented operations into coordinated ecosystems that drive real commercial advantage.”

      Jools Barrow-Read
      Founder & Director, RedWizard Consulting

    What good looks like in practice, client stories:

    •  

      External workforce visibility is more achievable than you think

      Three functions sat around the same table for five months, all with concerns about the external workforce, none of them able to agree on where to start. This is the story of what was actually getting in the way — and what it took to get things moving.

      Jools Barrow-Read

      Founder

    •  

      Your extended workforce is only as good as its governance

      For three years, competing suppliers collaborated openly inside a carefully built COE. Then a single procurement decision undid almost all of it. Here's what we built, what broke it, and what it means for your programme.

      Jools Barrow-Read

      Founder

    Go deeper on the topics that matter to you, start here:

    •  

      External workforce visibility is more achievable than you think

      Three functions sat around the same table for five months, all with concerns about the external workforce, none of them able to agree on where to start. This is the story of what was actually getting in the way — and what it took to get things moving.

      Jools Barrow-Read

      Founder

    •  

      The integration principles – connecting the dots across your extended workforce

      Your extended workforce doesn't operate in the silos your org chart creates. But most organisations manage it that way — fragmenting data by contract type, optimising budgets department by department, and handling supplier relationships in category silos. These three principles show you where the connections matter and why governance that spans organisational boundaries delivers better outcomes than perfect governance within silos.

      Jools Barrow-Read

      Founder

    •  

      Is your extended workforce missing a conductor?

      We built a strategic PMO for a global healthcare enterprise in 2015. Programme adoption went from 40% to 94% in 3 years. PMI shortlisted it for PMO of the Year in 2019. That was ten years ago. Most extended workforce programmes still don't have this infrastructure. And that's costing businesses real decision-making capability.

      Jools Barrow-Read

      Founder

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