To make this happen, it is equally important that your HR professionals are well-qualified and experienced. Some legal and contractual obligations are complicated, and it is the job of your HR team to understand these, enforce them, and explain them clearly to everyone else in the company.
An effective human resources professional, therefore, needs strong communication skills, too.
Your human resources must be adaptable to your circumstances. Whether you are growing or experiencing difficulties, it is sometimes beneficial in these situations to outsource all or part of your HR so that you can focus on your core business.
What is outsourcing human resources?
Outsourcing Human Resources involves bringing in an external service provider to manage part or all of your organisation’s human resources. This could be for a one-off assignment or for sustained support over a longer period, according to your needs.
Human resources covers a wide range of areas, including (but not limited to):
- Recruitment
- Employee development
- Employee motivation
- Administration and compliance
- Policies and procedures
- Quality of life at work
- Legal matters
These are important areas which should be entrusted to an experienced HR team/professional with all the right skills.
Which areas of HR are most commonly outsourced?
The most commonly outsourced activities in the field of human resources are often administrative activities. This is because admin is generally viewed as a low added value task, and business owners therefore prefer to spend their own time on activities considered ‘more pivotal’ to the organisation’s growth.
Activities such as processing starters and leavers, induction, recruitment or training are often entrusted to an external HR professional(s). Certain strategic projects, limited in time and which require specific skills, can also be outsourced, such as the setting up of an HRIS.
The areas of HR most commonly outsourced include:
- HR administration
- Recruitment
- Training
- Establishing an HRIS
- Legal advice
On the other hand, some HR activities are more difficult to outsource. For example, many regulatory activities must be managed internally.
Why should you outsource HR?
Human resources is one of the most outsourced activities in a company. Taking this approach offers many significant advantages, including the following:
Reduce or control costs
Human resources often make up a significant expenditure for many businesses. Training up an internal HR team costs time and money – and then, moving forwards post-training, you often have to pay them a full-time salaried rate, even if you do not have the workload to justify this.
On the other hand, an outsourced HR team is only there when you need them. This means you can adapt expenditure according to the need for HR – and are therefore not spending unnecessary money on an internal salaried employee, when the demand does not justify it.
Furthermore, an outsourced HR professional is already trained in all aspects of HR, so you do not have to spend money and time training them up.
Delegate certain activities to focus on your core business
Human resources is a necessary and fundamental part of your business. However, dealing with the day-to-day hassles and administrative details is usually not why a business owner starts a company.
Outsourcing the HR tasks you don’t want to do, allows you to focus on the activities that are more important. Therefore, delegating activities in this way is a huge time saver – and it will also make you feel better, because you are doing what you want to be doing.
Increase flexibility
Your business will evolve over time – and so will its needs. For example, a start-up needs to structure itself to recruit its first employees and then to adapt its HR to the pace of its ongoing growth.
In advance, it is almost impossible to accurately anticipate how quickly/slowly a business will grow. Therefore, you may overcompensate by hiring five internal HR employees during a busy period, only to find a few months later that you only need three.
Outsourcing your HR provides invaluable flexibility, as you can vary the amount of HR support you bring in based on how your business is performing, how the national economy is performing, and other factors which cannot always be predicted ahead of time.
Benefit from the experience and skillset of a professional
Outsourcing your Human Resources gives your business access to the best HR experts in the industry. Furthermore, you can often hire HR consultancies who specialise in one particular area of human resources. This means that you can feel confident that you are accessing the best advice and support in the industry, which gives you peace of mind.
With an outside perspective and expertise, an external HR specialist also helps you to:
- Be vigilant on points of non-compliance
- Put in place all the necessary documentation and procedures
- Inform you about the latest developments
You are in safe hands with an experienced, skilled HR professional.
Outsource your Human Resources today
HR outsourcing offers your business the opportunity to concentrate on the growth of your business. It enables you to not only reduce costs, but to maximise staff satisfaction, too.
To outsource your Human Resources and access all the benefits listed above, contact HR Initiatives today on 01438 742 056 or email info@hrinitiatives.co.uk