Facing the HR hurdle? Is HR outsourcing the answer for it.

As human resource inflates in importance as a vital department, organisations are finding it difficult to shoulder the onus of the various functions that come along with it. Human Resource or HR outsourcing has been around since a while, but it may finally be coming-of-age in India, the nation that made ‘outsourcing’ a household term with the ‘Business Process Outsourcing’ boom.

“India, with its intrinsic advantages such as low cost, a ready pool of English-speaking manpower and strategic geographic positioning, is emerging as a viable destination for HR outsourcing companies to set up their businesses. The popular delivery models for HR services outsourcing include self-service, call centre back-up and shared services involving high-calibre HR professionals who play a consultative role to line managers. Often, their services outperform those that are conducted inhouse,” says Rajeev Sharma, director, Osource India Pvt Ltd.

Sharma lists a few HR functions that can be outsourced:

• Recruitment;

• Training;

• Payroll and compensation;

• Leave and attendance;

• Back-office administration;

• Employee communication;

• Statutory compliances;

• Data analytics;

• Other allied day-to-day activities.

The skills required for this field may vary slightly from a conventional human resource role that focuses on the needs of one organisation alone. “Soft skills like interpersonal effectiveness; geniality, attention to detail; an ability to think and act quickly and increased responsiveness are critical. Adherence to a formal process, with clear definitions on deliverables coupled with constant reviews and modifications, are essential to ensure a successful partnership,” opines Tina Vas, VP – global HR, Collabera.

“Providers are creating and strengthening their offerings, because an offering can more easily be leveraged across several industries. For example, an HR BPO offering can be applied with little customisation to financial services, manufacturing and other industries. This is not to downplay the importance of a sound vertical-market understanding by the vendor,” adds Sharma.

Outsourcing your HR woes means more time on your hands to focus on other aspects of the organisation. “Several companies, especially the small- and mid-sized ones, are gradually moving towards an outsourcing model for one strategic reason – they want to focus primarily on their core business and allow specialist third-party service providers to handle the rest,” explains Vas.

HR outsourcing may seem like an obscure alternative at the moment, but in the future, the need to sub-contract some of the timeconsuming aspects may be felt more urgently. “There is a limited understanding on the returns of outsourcing HR services. Going forward, as the CEO and employee expectations change, thus requiring HR teams to invest more time and effort on strategic priorities that impact the bottom-line directly, the need to outsource transactional time-consuming activities will become an urgent need,” predicts Prithvi Shergill, chief HR officer, HCL Technologies Ltd. While the advantages of HR outsourcing are evident, one must always guard against losing control over crucial functions. “Outsourcing allows companies to offload work that isn’t a part of their core business. It also saves money. But, the concern here is that the trend should not go so far that employees start suffering in areas of training and career development,” cautions Hitendra Chaturvedi, founder and MD, GreenDust Pvt. Ltd. HR outsourcing is thus gaining in momentum and may soon become customary for most organisations.

Article Courtesy: Times of India

Author: Ankita Sreeram