5 reasons to consider outsourcing some HR functions
October 30, 2008 by Sam NarisiPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Outsourcing
Obviously, companies need an in-house HR presence. But that doesn’t mean outsourcing some administrative functions is always a bad idea. Could it work for your company?
Here are five signs that it might be worth a try:
- Deadlines are missed– If employees aren’t getting critical documents — like W-2s, paychecks, health care information, etc. — on time, it might be a good idea to have an outside provider perform some of those administrative tasks.
- Recruiting doesn’t get enough focus — One of the benefits of outsourcing is that it lets HR pros use their talents in ways that really benefit the company, like finding and hiring the best talent.
- HR staffers are angry — No one likes to work in a department that can’t get all its work done. If that describes your team, you could have a big retention problem soon.
- Employee relations are suffering — Again, administrative work often gets in the way of what HR is really there for — keeping employees happy and productive.
- Everyone’s on the same page about what to outsource — Companies often report less than satisfactory results when outsiders handle critical functions like recruiting and training and development. That’s why its important for HR and top brass to come up with a plan that lets HR remain a strategic partner within the company.
Tags: administration, outsource, recruitment
October 31st, 2008 at 11:43 am
This such great source of informtion especially if the company or agency is small and the HR department does not know that much about the laws. In my case I was due a 3 month performance evaluation while I was on ‘probation’ but with a 3 year contract in tact. The agency failed to do the 3 month performanc and terminated me 6 months into my contract. Now the Attorney that is representing the agency is the same Attorney firm that trained me in Disipline, Performance Evaluations, and termination of public employee’s - Go figure….
November 5th, 2008 at 9:54 am
I think it makes sense to outsource some functions in some cases, but this is something that every company needs to decide based on their needs and resources. We outsource payroll processing, wage and garnishment processing, COBRA administration and payroll tax filing / processing. It’s cheaper than hiring the person we would need to handle all these administrative duties, it’s more efficient and we don’t have a huge investment in software because it’s vendor provided. There are pros and cons, but it works well for us at this time. We have a little over 100 employees. I also work with several recruiting firms to help us find top talent in our industry. They have resources and time that I don’t have to focus on finding the right person for us. And I work with the local technical school for some of our training, which is often paid for in full by outside funding available through the community or state. I think it would be a mistake to outsource everything because you really do need to keep your finger on the pulse of the organization, but to selectively outsource makes good sense in a lot of cases.