How City of Cardiff Council saved £5.7m in recruitment costs with Matrix

Share this article:

Transparency, cost control and fulfilling short notice staffing requirements in as little as 1-2 hours are just three of the main benefits City of Cardiff Council has accomplished since it started working with recruitment technology business Matrix in 2016. 

Matrix, which specialises in the procurement of temporary, interim and permanent staffing solutions, provides a neutral vendor managed service and end-to-end process in one complete platform, allowing clients to take control of their recruitment with full visibility. 

“Matrix delivers a neutral vendor managed service provision which supports the Council with transparency, cost control, short notice requirements and many other benefits,” says Shauket Ali, category manager, City of Cardiff Council. “Since going live with Matrix, they have delivered savings and efficiencies while managing £26m annually for the authority.”

Prior to awarding the contract to Matrix, the City of Cardiff Council felt a lack of support from the previous incumbent – there was no guidance through the ordering process, no support with cost control and an inability to meet short notice requirements. This resulted in a lack of faith from Hiring Managers, which resulted in poor attendance of training sessions. 

To overcome these challenges, Matrix ensured that the Council received the best support available during implementation of the new solution and has consistently been working to improve processes, which included the systemisation of placement extensions. It also provides real-time reports with a detailed cost breakdown. 

Working in partnership with Cardiff Council meant that Matrix was able to achieve full buy-in from the Hiring Managers, providing extensive training to Hiring Managers as well as an onsite Account Manager to assist them with any requests or issues they faced. Through this service, it has been able to introduce savings to the council and provide them with high quality workers – meeting any short notice requirements through its cr.net platform.

In the previous 12 months, Matrix has transacted over 21,000 hours within the hospitality/operations category at Cardiff Council, delivering a 99% fulfilment rate – sometimes in as little as 1-2 hours. It also delivers a number of shift workers with over 40% of Cardiff Council’s annual spend within more low skilled workers and operational shift cover – which are often required within a 24 to 48 hour time period. 

Since partnering with Matrix, the City of Cardiff Council has been able to achieve a 99.3% fulfilment rate and £5.7m (4.1%) in cost savings. The number of placements created have consistently outperformed the number of orders raised over the past six years. 

“Working in partnership with the City of Cardiff Council, we were able to overcome the initial hurdles and restore faith among key stakeholders with the implementation of our system,” says Ian Middleton, National Business Director, “By streamlining the process through our software we are able to provide transparency, real-time reporting, cost savings and a fast fulfilment rate.”

Share this article: