Case Study: 
A Fortune 500 Medical Device and Equipment Manufacturer 

Utilizing an intern workforce can be invaluable to both an organization and the interns: organizations have a hand in shaping the next generation of the workforce and can mold talent for future hire, and interns get valuable real-world working experience, often required for school or future career opportunities. A win-win for both! However, between managing the large influx of hiring and onboarding for interns or jumping into the intern pool for the first time, this can be overwhelming, and keeps some organizations from tapping into the true potential of this population.

Why They Reached Out for Help

This medical device and equipment manufacturer implemented Populus Group as their payroll provider in 2013 for a population of 350 workers.  Throughout our partnership, we were able to recognize and develop innovative solutions to many more of their contingent workforce needs.

Large Ramp Up Period and Limited Bandwidth

• Over the past two years, Populus Group had been helping support this client’s intern population, running interns directly through their Human Resources and Talent Acquisition teams.
• This was causing a large ramp up of workers that all needed to start at the same time, taking bandwidth on their HR and TA teams away from sourcing for their full-time positions and bringing on those workers.
• Year over year the amount of interns increased, taking even more bandwidth away from their internal teams.

What was discovered?

After working with our program sponsors and sharing some of our insights from our time in the program, we were able to get a better idea of what an ideal solution would look like for everyone.

Key Insights

• As the population continued to grow, they needed a solution for bringing on such a large population with even quicker turnaround, that could scale effectively with program shifts.
• Populus Group had two years of insight and experience working in the intern program, working with over 460 interns over those two years.
• After initiating conversations with their contingent workforce team, their teams were able to dig in and identify the volume and assignment details of this intern population, illuminating a disconnect between the contingent workforce and HR/TA teams.
• The amount of time and resources required to bring on a worker relative to their short assignment lengths meant this was the perfect scenario to outsource the process to a trusted third-party that could effectively scale with the program and ease the burdens on their internal HR and TA teams.

The results:

Our experience in the program, deep trusted relationships with our stakeholders and the valuable insight from deeper discovery, led us to develop a perfect solution for our client teams.

Freeing Bandwidth and Expanding Partnerships

• Having been a partner in this program since 2013, we were deeply ingrained in their processes and proven ourselves to be a trusted and valuable partner, that could successfully guide and deliver a comprehensive solution that solved their problems and exceeded expectations.
• Facilitating increased communication between the contingent workforce and HR/TA teams helped close the gap and alleviate these internal teams’ problems.
• Our transition team was brought in to support this population during the high influx of onboards, taking on the burden of internal hire and onboarding for these short periods and expanding our partnership to best support this client.

Can Interns Help Your Program?

Populus Group can help you tap into the full potential of utilizing an intern population. Whether it’s creating an entirely new program or processes; extra help managing the onboarding, engagement and payment of the workforce; or simply helping to scale your existing program, Populus Group can partner with you to guide your program to the next level.

Ready to learn more or get started? Let us know!