Boosting Service Excellence: Harrison Strategic Recruitment Investment for Catering Staff

Harrison is partnering with Blue Arrow recruitment agency to streamline the supply of temporary catering staff across their business, using a Managed Service Provision (MSP) approach to recruitment of temporary agency staff. The programme, supported by current agency partners will supply 100% of temporary staff nationwide and will deliver enhanced visibility and management over Harrison agency supply chain into their sites.

Harrison supplies exceptional catering services to over 300 locations, feeding more than 100,000 customers a day.

Providing temporary staff across various locations requires a contingent staffing solution built around dedicated technology and trusted advisor support. Blue Arrow’s VMS Essential solution offers a fast and effective means of streamlining the compliance, cost and demand management of high volumes of contingent staff, with flexible user interface options. While sourcing quality candidates, Blue Arrow’s MSP manages time-to-fill critical vacancies and draws on a talent community of over 8,000 pre-Enhanced DBS cleared candidates.

Paul Biddle, HR Director, says, “Blue Arrow are a partner we can trust, with a history of supplying Harrison with quality staff, we can rely on their staffing compliance standards to ensure we continue to provide the exceptional service we require. Having worked with them for some time, our teams already understand the technology that makes this transition easier for all parties, allowing us to focus our efforts on supporting our people around the country and aligning the social value impact.”

Graeme White, Purchasing Manager, says, “The increased visibility and control that Blue Arrow’s MSP offers us ensures that we can better manage our agency workforce usage and provide our business with the best support available. They also demonstrated close alignment with our EDI strategy, allowing our teams to continue to produce and serve delicious fresh seasonal food every day to our customers.”

“Karen Sims, Director of National Accounts at Blue Arrow, says “Our MSP solution isn’t about how little we can speak to our clients. Instead, our use of technology gives our clients the most efficient and effective recruitment service, achieving cost-savings without sacrificing the value of dedicated advisory support necessary for catering in the education sector.”

Andy Hart, Managing Director, says “We have been supplying Harrison for the last 18 years and we are proud to continue our work through our MSP offering. We’ve always balanced technology and innovation with the human touch needed to ensure quality recruitment that supports our client’s needs. In a time when the economy is more complicated, especially around contingent staffing, we aim to provide our clients with the cost-saving measures that provide the quality we can all be proud of.”

Blue Arrow is the UK’s best-known staffing agency, working across 13 sectors and providing high quality recruitment solutions to businesses across the UK. We have been working to match candidates and companies since 1959, bridging staffing gaps and working towards greater diversity within temporary and permanent workforces. We are Crown Commercial Service framework certified with a history of supporting MSPs and wide-scale geographical recruitment across all regions.

Harrison have provided fresh seasonal quality catering services to customers since 1994. Their bespoke services are delivered across all of their locations, focused on providing each client and customer a freshly prepared meal on a daily basis.