I’ve had a version of this conversation more times than I can count. A business is growing. The permanent workforce is well understood. But the external workforce? That’s a different story. People are coming in through various routes, doing various types of work, and nobody has a clear picture of who they are, what they’re doing, or why they’re there.
The business knows something is off. And usually, more than one function knows it at the same time.
That’s where this story starts.
Three functions, three definitions of the same problem
A fast-growing life sciences business had Procurement, HR, and Finance all at the table. All of them had concerns about the lack of true visibility of their external workforce. However, none of them could agree on what needed to happen first. They were each looking at it through a completely different lens.
Procurement could see the risk management opportunity. If they could get visibility of the external population, they could move beyond cost management and position themselves as a genuine governance capability within the business.
HR were, by their own admission, caught in the headlights a little. Total talent management was on the horizon, they knew it was coming, but they had no framework for engaging with the external workforce and weren’t sure it was their problem to solve yet.
Finance were looking at it practically. How do we budget for this population properly? How do we stop making decisions based on incomplete information?
Three functions. Three definitions of visibility. And a project that had been going round in circles.
By the time we got the call, they’d lost nearly five months and the visibility objectives set by their leadership for year end were starting to look impossible to achieve.
The data was already there.
One of the first things we found was that the business had more than they realised. Everyone coming into the business went through a single access system, which meant there was a trail. But there were no worker definitions in place, no consistent way of understanding what type of work these people were doing, why they’d been engaged, how long they’d been there, or whether any of them were approaching tenure limits.
The data existed but the process to make sense of it didn’t.
A specialist data partner were already engaged with the business and had the capability to build the reporting solution. But they couldn’t move, because the programme itself was stuck. Nobody could agree on scope, nobody had the authority of make a decision on priorities, and the operational teams were wading into conversations that weren’t theirs to have.
More data expertise wasn’t what was needed. The room needed sorting first. Clear roles & responsibilities so everyone knew how they could best contribute to the outcomes.
Getting the room sorted
We spent the first few weeks talking to all three functions separately to find the common ground that none of them could see from where they were sitting. What did each of them actually need from this? Where did those needs overlap? What were they all willing to agree on as a starting point?
From that, we put together a light governance model. A sprint team doing the operational work and an advisory layer giving direction.
We also put a project manager in place to help the team work together more effectively and stay in their lanes. The conversations in the room got better. The data partner could finally do their job.
What visibility looked like
Working directly with the client’s internal team across three four-week sprints, the data partner built the reporting dashboard — surfacing insight from systems that were already there.
Worker definitions went in first. Once those were established, the existing data could be mapped back to the departments these workers were supporting, and a real picture started to emerge. Classification tightens over time, but the process is now in place and new hires are classified correctly from day one.
The outcome
From five months of circular conversations to live workforce reporting by the end of 2025 (which was actually delivered over 3 sprints across 12 weeks eventually) . Procurement has the visibility infrastructure to operate as a genuine risk management function. Finance have a clearer picture. HR have a governance framework ready for them when they’re ready to step into it.
That last point is worth highlighting as many HR teams reflect on what they need to truly step into workforce orchestration across both perm and external workforce. In most organisations I speak to, HR are still building their confidence in this space. The work here didn’t solve that, and it wasn’t supposed to. What it did was make sure the structure is there to receive them when they are.
The broader total workforce management ambitions are still a way off. But they started 2026 knowing what they’re actually working with.
Securing visibility is so often the first step on the journey to better workforce management, and it is probably more achieveable than you think.
What can we learn from this story?
The pattern here is extremely common, so it is important to know that you’re not dealing with these challenges alone. With a bit of digging online, you’ll likely find many different approaches to resolving the visibility challenge.
Getting visibility of your external workforce isn’t complicated once you know what you’re looking at. Getting to that point takes someone who can stand in the middle of three functions, hear what each of them actually needs, and find the version of this that works for all of them.
That’s the bit that was missing in this case.
If this sounds familiar, let’s talk – https://calendly.com/connect-redwizard/30min
RedWizard – Operating at the heart of the workforce ecosystem.
Written by:
Founder
I’m an art school graduate who ended up running a record label in Lisbon before finding my way into PMO. Not the most obvious path — but looking back, the thread is obvious. I’ve always been drawn to complex, moving-parts problems, and I’ve always wanted to work differently.
That second part matters. Extended workforce is about people choosing how they work. I found my way to this space because I wanted that freedom myself — and now I’m here to help make it work better for everyone in the ecosystem.
I founded RedWizard in 2014 when I realised how fragmented extended workforce management actually is — and the impact that has on both individual and collective effectiveness. Coming from a PMO background, I saw that fragmentation differently to most. Where others accepted it, I saw a missed opportunity. My early work focused on proving that — building a cross-functional Centre of Excellence on a global programme that brought client teams and strategic partners together around the same table. When people with different perspectives start sharing stories and challenges openly, the opportunity becomes obvious.
I’m at my best working with mid-sized organisations where I can genuinely feel the difference we make.