Employee Outsourcing

HR outsourcing (also known as HRO) is the process of sub-contracting human resources functions to an external supplier.

There are many ways in which outsourcing human resources can be done:

·       Business process HR outsourcing (also known as BPO), where an external supplier manages discrete HR activities, such as payroll administration or recruitment, or perhaps the whole human resources function.

·   Shared service HR outsourcing, where only the transaction or administrative elements of HR’s activities are subcontracted to an external supplier. This may include the personal interface with employees.

·  Application (and facilities) service HR outsourcing, where external providers look after the technological (and physical) infrastructure to support human resources activities.

Outsourcing human resources or some of its processes to an external provider is a major business decision as, while it may be cost-effective, it introduces new elements of risk, including:

·         Loss of control

·         Impact on the employer/employee relationship

·         Loss of flexibility

·         Failure to deliver cost benefits

·         Legal or regulatory requirements

·        Industrial relations issues

The operation of any HR outsourcing arrangement should be governed by a service level agreement. This will define the required standards of performance by both parties and any penalties for non-compliance. A service level agreement is a crucial document and must be negotiated with great care to mitigate the above risks.

People management plays a crucial role in delivering organisational performance. In today’s modern, knowledge economy this is more true than ever before. The decision to outsource human resources is therefore not to be taken lightly.

There are many circumstances in which outsourcing HR services can deliver tangible benefits to the organisation, for example by freeing HR professionals to devote more time to a strategic role supporting organisational performance.

Advantages and disadvantages of HR outsourcing

Potential benefits of HR outsourcing

·         Reduced cost

·         Increased efficiency

·         Access to improved HR IT systems

·         Improved management information (including human capital metrics)

·         Access to HR expertise not available internally

·         Increased flexibility and speed of response

·        Philosophical reasons (for example the organisation is outsourcing a number of its support functions, of which HR is just one part)

·         Reduced risk

·         To free HR resources to operate more strategically.

Potential pitfalls of HR outsourcing

·     Don’t outsource what you don’t understand. The HR outsource provider will only have to subsequently solve the problem (at a cost) and the provider’s solution might not be most suitable from your organisation’s perspective

·         HR outsourcing does not absolve the organisation of good people management practices nor of overall responsibility for the provision of HR services

·         Loss of local knowledge and processes which instead reside with the outsource provider

·         Standardization of processes in line with outsource provider not organisational preferences.

NB. Where this process involves the outsourcing of human resources to another country, this is known as HR offshoring.

References

HR outsourcing (HRO) – an in-depth guide 01 May 2019, Market Information https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/hr-outsourcing-hro-an-in-depth-guide/