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A shifting workforce strategy
Financial services institutions are rewriting their talent strategies. With economic uncertainty, tighter regulations, and the race toward digital innovation, institutions are under pressure to build a workforce that’s more agile, data-driven, and ready to flex with change.
To stay agile and competitive, many financial services organizations are turning to contingent labor— skilled contractors, consultants, and service providers who can deliver specialized capabilities when and where they’re needed. According to a recent Workday blog, today contingent workers make up roughly 30% of the total workforce in financial services, and that share is projected to rise to 50% within the next few years.
This shift mirrors broader market momentum: According to the SIA VMS Global Landscape & Differentiators 2024 Report, finance and Insurance now account for 27% of global vendor management system (VMS) spend, the highest of any sector. The VMS market also reached $270B in 2023, reflecting rapid adoption even within highly regulated industries. The growing reliance on contingent labor also brings new opportunities for scalability and cost optimization — but also new challenges in visibility, compliance, and control. Workday VNDLY, a modern vendor management system (VMS), helps financial institutions address these challenges by transforming how they manage their extended workforce.
The strategic role of contingent labor
What began as a tactical way to reduce costs has become a strategic enabler of growth and innovation. Contingent labor can give financial institutions the flexibility to respond quickly to market changes, fill imperative skill gaps, and accelerate transformation initiatives.
Several forces are driving this shift:
- Digital acceleration: As financial institutions expand digital and mobile capabilities, they increasingly need specialized talent to build and support advanced technologies.
- IT skills gap: Rising demand for expertise in areas such as AI, machine learning, cloud computing, and cybersecurity continues to outpace supply.
- Regulatory complexity: Compliance with evolving liquidity, solvency, and sustainability regulations requires adaptable workforce structures and data transparency.
- Operational effectiveness: Many organizations are rebalancing administrative workloads through outsourcing and offshoring, driving the need for better oversight and coordination across labor categories.
In short, the challenge is no longer simply finding the proper contingent talent—it’s managing that workforce effectively, securely, and in compliance with industry standards.
The risks of fragmented workforce data
Many financial services institutions continue to manage contingent labor through disconnected systems that separate HR, finance, and procurement. This fragmentation creates limited visibility into workforce composition and spend, which can be a significant risk in a regulated environment.
The consequences of this are multifaceted. Without unified data, organizations may experience budget overruns, compliance gaps, or security vulnerabilities resulting from inconsistent access provisioning and offboarding. Plus, the lack of audit-ready workforce data can complicate regulatory reporting and heighten reputational risk.
To effectively manage contingent labor, financial institutions require a connected, transparent, and scalable platform that bridges the gap between talent, finance, and compliance functions.
How Workday VNDLY helps solves the challenge
Workday VNDLY addresses the complexity of contingent workforce management through a cloud-native, API-driven platform that integrates seamlessly with Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) and Workday Financials. This integration enables a single source of truth across full-time, contract, and service-based labor.
The platform provides workforce visibility, giving leaders a holistic view of their workforce composition and costs. By connecting contingent and employee data in one system, organizations can make faster, more informed decisions while helping reduce the risk of misclassification or overspending.
Automation and integration are at the core of VNDLY’s value. Pre-built APIs synchronize data across systems without the need for complex, custom integrations, reducing IT maintenance costs, and accelerating deployment.
Through automated onboarding and offboarding, institutions can manage provisioning and compliance workflows more effectively, confirming that contingent workers gain access only to the systems they need — and that access is promptly removed when contracts end.
VNDLY also supports local compliance management, capturing workforce data across multiple jurisdictions to help institutions enforce tenure limits, maintain pay parity, and meet local labor laws.
Finally, its supplier and spend enhancement capabilities help financial institutions better manage contracts, rate cards, and SLAs, providing stronger control over vendor performance, budget management, and risk mitigation.
Together, these capabilities deliver measurable impact across productivity, visibility, and cost improvements. Organizations using Workday VNDLY report stronger workforce transparency, faster onboarding cycles, and greater control over contingent labor spend. By consolidating systems and automating manual processes, institutions can reduce IT maintenance and integration burdens—often achieving significant savings such as an estimated $250K in cost avoidance related to global expansion.
Continuous innovation and industry alignment
As part of the broader Workday ecosystem, VNDLY benefits from the same continuous innovation model that underpins Workday’s cloud applications. The platform is regularly enhanced in collaboration with clients to help address emerging needs in services procurement, statement of work (SOW) management, and reporting depth—areas of particular importance in the financial services sector.
This commitment to client-led innovation helps make sure that VNDLY evolves in parallel with the complex regulatory and operational demands of the industry. For financial institutions, it means future-ready functionality that scales as workforce strategies mature.
From cost control to competitive advantage
Financial institutions leading in contingent workforce management are those that treat it as a strategic pillar that enhances agility, strengthens compliance, and unlocks new operational efficiencies.
Workday VNDLY helps empower that transformation by delivering a unified, intelligent system for managing the total workforce. By breaking down silos between finance, HR, and procurement, institutions can gain the insight and control needed to adapt quickly, contain costs, and align contingent talent with business goals.
In a sector where risk and regulation are constant, agility is the true differentiator. Workday VNDLY helps financial institutions manage their extended workforce strategically, combining visibility, compliance, and scalability within a single, secure Workday ecosystem.
By modernizing how contingent labor is sourced, tracked, and managed, organizations can achieve the balance of speed and governance required to thrive in today’s financial landscape.
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Explore more insights from PwC and Workday on workforce transformation, automation, and financial services innovation.
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