Nike’s Assist! program brings consistency, efficiency to the hiring of contract workers

By Michael Hartnett

Nike has created a breakthrough system for hiring thousands of contract workers while also delivering remarkable efficiencies, cost savings and consistent compliance with regional standards to the company’s own value system that recognizes the importance of “human capital.”

Since the program, called Assist!, was introduced last year, Nike has gained a type of one-stop-shopping capability for its hiring of temporary workers, a program that offers consistency, transparency, reliability, automatic monitoring of labor payments and duration of employment, as well as the ability to leverage Nike’s buying power in the marketplace. The program’s initial focus was domestic, but it is now being expanded into some pockets of Nike’s global operations.

The list of job descriptions that fall under Nike’s contract labor needs range from design, finance, clerical and administrative to manufacturing and distribution. Another testament to the program’s success is the frequency with which these contract workers become permanent Nike employees, based on their job performance in temporary assignments.

Assist! is viewed as a global platform from which Nike can launch hiring systems for its international operations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

In short, the Assist! program has been developed to deliver the best talent for ultimate success, says Dan Hanyzewski, Nike’s staffing director for global functions. He links Nike’s broad assortment of products – from athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories – to the need for talented people and underscores the importance of “people, partners and playmakers” to achieve victory.

Launched in August 2006, Assist! wasn’t a response to worker shortages, inappropriate hires or operational problems in manufacturing, distribution or store operations. “The issue was not disruption of the business; it was the quality of the managed approach,” Hanyzewski says.

“Assist! gave us the best quality for a market-driven price. It gave us visibility on what we were spending, where and why. The program’s strategic pillars were the drivers for the MSP (managed staffing program) that we know as Assist!”

Those “pillars” describe the program’s capabilities, as well as its goals: providing a global platform; increasing visibility; mitigating risks; and leveraging selling, general and administrative expenses.

Critical to the success of the program are the partnerships Nike has formed with IQNavigator and Kelly Services, partnerships that are unusual for their openness and the integral roles these organizations play within Nike’s contract labor functions.

Denver-based IQNavigator offers a web-enabled technology platform that meets the international communications and verification requirements of Assist! Its multiple functions include requisition entry and approval, order fulfillment, consolidated invoicing and assignment length.

Kelly Services, headquartered in Troy, Mich., manages traditional staffing needs from clerical and administrative to manufacturing, distribution and retail. In addition, Kelly Services uses a vendor-neutral, competitive bid model for IT contractors, consultants and additional professional services.

Competitive advantage

Assist! was developed to “gain a competitive advantage in supply chain talent acquisition,” Hanyzewski says. Within that stated goal were several components. For example, Nike spends more than $110 million annually on a global contract labor pool of 11,600 workers – and significantly more on workers in facilities it doesn’t own. Still, Nike’s buying power was not being leveraged, and the company risked being non-compliant with regional laws. In addition, Nike was not using an industry best practice – a global managed staffing program.

With the initial focus on U.S. operations, followed by a gradual expansion to global markets, Assist! replaced a system in which any manager could hire contract labor through any vendor or any individual. There were no clear definitions or processes to guide the selection and acquisition of temporary labor: Multiple technology platforms were being used to capture requests and report activity, adherence to compliance processes was inconsistent and there was a lack of formal demand management and competitive bidding.

The managed staffing program model uses a single global vendor for workforce requirements and clearly stated definitions and processes for the selection and acquisition of contract labor. Those processes also feature a global, integrated technology platform to guide the request process, report activity and measure performance, with a common compliance process and managed staffing services to oversee demand management and competitive bidding.

In practice, a Nike manager who needs contract workers simply accesses the IQNavigator system and provides detailed information about that need. IQNavigator contains an internal approval process that is applied to each manager’s request, and individual managers have clearly defined parameters on what they can and cannot approve.

Next, the manager is provided with a list of screened, viable candidates that meet the manager’s criteria, and the manager chooses those who are most qualified. Before those workers report to the manager, they complete an orientation program and training in areas that relate to their work responsibilities.

Kelly Services has created a dedicated team that is focused solely on Nike’s needs, regardless of geography, service offering or functional requirement, Hanyzewski says. In its reactive role, Kelly Services provides sourcing, screening and training of workers, while pro-actively developing a pipeline of talented candidates.

Anticipating needs

Perhaps even more significantly, Kelly Services is given access to Nike’s internal records so that it can anticipate the company’s needs for seasonal workers, or a planned expansion in a particular operation that will create the need for more staff.

“They attend [Nike] meetings; they are involved in human capital operations,” Hanyzewski says. “They are always defining and setting priorities. They think about the business requirements, then build a substantial approach to it and forecast those needs, both near term and long term.”

While the first phase of a three-year deployment was primarily focused on the United States, Assist! has supported the hiring of contingent workers in other world markets, as well. Over the next 24 months, Nike will measure the reach and impact of Assist! on a global basis.

“It’s my sense that Assist! is a competitive advantage for us,” Hanyzewski says. “I know of some corporations our size that have some of our program’s components, but they have yet to establish a system with this breadth and depth.”

With more people “aging out” of the workforce and many others becoming free agents who value greater flexibility, Hanyzewski predicts the “war for talent” will continue to escalate and he views Assist! as an invaluable tool that will allow Nike to compete effectively for talented labor