Play 5 – Eliminate the Risk of Legacy Contracts

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Play 5 – Eliminate the Risk of Legacy Contracts

Looking Back

This series is part of Procurement’s Playbook for the New Talent Economy, where we explore how Procurement leaders can cut costs, reduce risks, and build resilient, future-ready hiring strategies.

In Play 1: Cut the Hidden Costs of Hiring, we uncovered the financial drain of vacancies, turnover, and inefficiency.

In Play 2: Prepare While Others Wait, we showed how Procurement can act during slow markets to strengthen hiring infrastructure.

In Play 3: Consolidate to Win the Vendor Game, we examined how fragmented vendor networks create waste and risk, and how Procurement can restore clarity through consolidation.

In Play 4: Bring Discipline to Your TA Tech Stack, we addressed the costs of unchecked technology sprawl and how Procurement can restore value and efficiency.

Now, in Play 5, we focus on another hidden vulnerability: outdated recruiting contracts.

Eliminate the Risk of Legacy Contracts

Many organizations are still operating under agreements written for a different labor market. These legacy contracts may have been automatically renewed or extended without review. They were built for hiring volumes, compliance standards, and candidate expectations that no longer exist.

The risks are real:

Compliance exposure from inconsistent background checks, worker misclassification, or incomplete documentation.
Financial leakage from vendors charging rates that no longer reflect current hiring volumes or delivery models.
Skills mismatch when outdated contracts keep companies tied to vendors who cannot source the specialized talent needed today.
Limited agility because terms were written without flexibility for hybrid workforces or fluctuating demand.

Procurement’s Role in Contract Discipline

Procurement leaders are well positioned to identify and mitigate these risks. By bringing contract management rigor to Talent Acquisition, Procurement can:

Audit existing agreements for compliance, pricing, and relevance.
Benchmark vendor performance against current market standards.
Launch competitive RFPs to ensure the business is not overpaying or underserviced.
Build flexibility into contracts to scale hiring capacity up or down with demand.
Align contracts with strategy so terms support current business priorities and future growth.

Why Procurement Leaders Should Care

Legacy contracts expose organizations to unnecessary costs and compliance gaps. CFOs see the spend but not the underlying risks. Procurement leaders can fix this by modernizing agreements, holding vendors accountable, and ensuring contracts reflect today’s realities.

The Bottom Line

Outdated recruiting contracts are more than administrative paperwork. They are hidden liabilities that drain resources and expose the business to risk. Procurement can eliminate this vulnerability by reviewing, renegotiating, and resetting agreements to ensure they protect the business and support a future-ready workforce strategy.

Schedule your complimentary Talent Acquisition Cost & Risk Assessment

Ready to cut costs, reduce risk, and future-ready your TA strategy? Contact us to request your complimentary assessment today.

Look Ahead

This article is part of Procurement’s Playbook for the New Talent Economy. Next up: Play 6: The RPO Advantage: A Smarter Model for Cost, Risk, and Scale. We will show how Procurement can bring it all together by adopting a single, accountable model that delivers efficiency, compliance, scalability, and measurable savings.

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