External workforce management is messy. Contractors, temps, consultants, suppliers – and usually nobody’s quite sure who owns the whole picture. We take on that complexity and design simple ways to navigate it. No jargon, no unnecessary layers. Just clarity that gives you space to breathe, think, and make good decisions
You can’t plan what you can’t see. Most organisations have limited visibility over their external workforce – who’s working where, through which suppliers, at what cost. We help you get that picture clear, so you can make smarter decisions about your workforce mix.
Your recruitment suppliers should be partners, not just vendors to manage. We help you design KPIs linked to business outcomes, understand who’s performing and why, and give suppliers what they need to succeed. When your priorities shift, how you work with suppliers should shift too.
Who’s responsible for your external workforce? In most organisations, the answer is unclear. Different teams assume someone else is handling it. We help you fix that – setting up cross-functional governance, so decisions get made, risks get managed, and nothing falls through the cracks.
External workforce costs can quietly run away from you. Compliance risks can build up without anyone noticing. We help you get both under control – clear sight of what you’re spending, smarter ways to reduce it, and practical compliance processes so you’re not caught out when legislation changes.
Strategy means nothing if the day-to-day doesn’t work. We help improve how things actually run – smoother onboarding, better communication, processes that make sense. This includes training managers to work confidently with external workers, and listening to what’s frustrating your people so we can fix it.
of client programmes delivered on time and within agreed scope.
of non-permanent workforce spend optimised for clients.
average reduction in unmanaged workforce costs
combined leadership experience in workforce transformation
Most organisations don’t know what good looks like when it comes to managing temporary workers, contractors and freelancers — not because they lack ambition, but because no accessible benchmark has ever existed. Concerto® changes that. It’s an AI-powered capability assessment that evaluates how your organisation manages its extended workforce across 40 specific areas, delivering a clear, personalised picture of where you’re strong, where you’re exposed, and where to focus first.
Jools Barrow-Read
Founder & Director, RedWizard Consulting
When managers can't find your programme, they don't use it. Here's what happened when a mid-market tech business lost visibility of their extended workforce programme — and what it took to get it back.
Jools Barrow-Read
Founder
Most organisations using an MSP assume the basics are covered. Documentation exists. Compliance is tracked. This is the story of what happens when you look properly — and what you find.
Jools Barrow-Read
Founder
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
These 10 principles are the non-negotiables for effective workforce governance. They matter as much for extended workforce management as they do for permanent workforce management. They apply regardless of your delivery model or programme maturity. You don't implement all 10 on day one. Start with the building blocks that address your current challenges, then evolve as you learn. Over-engineered governance fails as often as no governance. The goal is lean frameworks that grow with your programme.
Jools Barrow-Read
Founder
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
