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8 Actions To Take Before Reviewing Your Preferred Supplier List (PSL)

8 Actions To Take Before Reviewing Your Preferred Supplier List (PSL)

Are you due to review your Preferred Supplier List (PSL) and if so, what criteria are most important to your company?

What are your main reasons for doing so? Are you looking to lower costs, or has your MD asked for tighter control over your processes and who you work with?

A great reason to review your PSL is to evaluate your current providers and check that the standards your business requires are being met. Are your providers financially stable and working ethically?

It is also an opportunity to re-evaluate the standards, to improve service-level agreements and to regulate the terms and conditions across the business.

Is this a yearly exercise or is there a specific driver? Is this ‘your’ project and what other employees need to be included?

It is helpful to know which partners are performing well, who is under-performing and why one company is successful where others aren’t.

If certain organisations are performing well, you can use this exercise to understand why and share the knowledge across your suppliers to improve standards universally.

Reviewing your PSL provides insight into which requirements are hard to fill and you will be able to evaluate whether margins should be increased or decreased, or if you need more partners for specific requirements.

Ultimately, relationships work both ways so the more you invest and share with your workforce and with your suppliers, the clearer your company’s expectations are, which will contribute to effective and efficient recruitment throughout your company.

Use this as an exercise to get feedback from your suppliers as there will be agencies who have both positive and negative experiences, from which you can learn.

Certain agencies, who previously performed well, may have become disenchanted. There are other companies who will be motivated and inspired by being given the opportunity to potentially work with your company again and will thrive in a competitive environment. It will also ensure that your current high performers don’t become complacent.

PSL Review Checklist

Checklist of considerations and actions to take:

  1. Have Clear Objectives
  2. Involve Key Management
  3. Review Current Processes
  4. Realign Standards
  5. Consider New Suppliers
  6. Research New Technologies, Job Board Services, and Recruitment Services
  7. Conduct Interviews
  8. Share Information & Feedback

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