Examples of HR Outsourcing
By Dawn Robson
Here are a few examples of how outsourcing human resources and getting the HR support your team needs can benefit organizations.
An HR Consulting firm can provide the expertise you need on an as-required or project basis. Experienced human resources professionals can provide guidance on legal requirements and “best practice” trends. They can help to develop tools and processes so that you can support your staff more easily and with more consistency – and they can take on specific projects like the ones below.
Compensation Survey
If your company is losing valuable employees or there are grumblings about the total compensation program – it may be time to act. It is critical to get an understanding of how your organization’s salaries compare to similar organizations in the market place and also to ensure that the salaries of your positions are defensible. Every organization should develop a compensation philosophy to guide them as they hire and provide total compensation packages for their staff.
An HR Consulting firm helps organizations develop a clear compensation philosophy and identify the criteria that are valued by the organization. These factors can be utilized to help determine the relative value of each position and, with this information and access to external and applicable compensation data, approved salary ranges can be created for all positions in the company. New positions can be evaluated based on these criteria as the company grows and this will provide the company with a higher level of confidence in their internal compensation program. For employees, understanding their salary range will provide context for future growth potential either within their current position or as they move within the organization.
Recruitment
With a growing economy and/or a tight labour market, the challenge of finding the right talent with the specific skills you require can be daunting and time-consuming for internal resources. In order to alleviate this pressure or speed up the process, you can outsource this responsibility to an external search firm.
External search firms can operate on either a retained search or contingency basis. A retained search means that the recruiter has the search exclusively and will work on your behalf to fully understand your company, structure, culture and the position responsibilities and accountabilities. The recruiter does all the pre-work and will present suitably qualified applicants for your final selection. This is often used in hard to fill or more senior positions.
A contingency search assignment can be provided to a number of different firms and no fees are paid until the candidate is in position. The company would not get as dedicated a level of service with this option but the fees would be lower.
Outplacement
With a change in business operations or a decline in the economy, an employee (or employees) may become redundant. As part of their severance package, many companies will provide an outplacement service to support the employee in finding alternate employment and the courts tend to look favorably on this provision. This service, which is especially important if the incumbent is in a senior position or has a lot of tenure with the company, is usually outsourced to an HR Consulting firm.
For an employee, losing a job can be emotional and challenging. Outplacement services help the employee deal with the emotional and financial effects of the lay-off and provide them with guidance in job search techniques (e.g. networking, résumé writing and interview preparation). Supporting ex-employees in this manner will demonstrate the company’s level of commitment to their team.
Chemistry Consulting is able to support any of your HR outsourcing needs. Contact us today.