I would like  anybody to  comment on the issue of  "Outsourcing HR for competitive advantage" 
 
few leading questions are: 
1) Do you envision outsourcing additional HR  work in the future? If yes, when? In which 
areas? Why?  For those who are outsourcing some or the other HR  processes: 

2) What benefits have you realized by outsourcing? 

3) Approximately how much do you spend on  outsourcing HR work? 

4) Have you experienced any problems outsourcing?  If yes,  what were they?  EG:(Low quality of work/Lack of understanding  of organization  culture on the part of contractor/Unmet  timeframes/  High cost/Difficulty in identifying competent contractor) 

5) Are you aware of any situations where you  outsourced HR work,  then brought back in-house? If yes, why did you  do so? 

6) If you are outsourcing any HR work, how do you  rate the  relationship between your organization and the  supplier?  POOR / EXCELLENT 

7) In your experience, what would you say are the  5 or 6 most  important issues to address in order to ensure  that.

eChoice Training

In my opinion, outsourcing will depend on the individual business model  and various other factors like size of the company,  future plans, business  life cycle, company culture, speed of delivery,type  of industry, and so on.  There is no rule book by which  you can go. I will try to explain a few from my  own experience, hope it  will help: 
 
1. Outsourcing of employees through agencies :  this can be done when you  are sure that a particular post is required only for  a short duration, eg.  2-6 mths. OR  the particular skill set which is not going to be  useful later, but  currently required for specific project. 

2. Cost at a glance appears higher 

3. Outsourcing of staff is also effective when  the cycle time for  recruitment is very short (normal recruitment  process can take longer time) 

4. HR services can be outsources for recruitment,  trg, retirals  management, etc. but some amount of supervision is  inevitable by HR dept. 

5. Outsoucing of HR services like counselling of  top management (by  Management consultants) can be effective(sometimes  you will not listen to  your HR manager as he/she is your staff, but an  outsider can influence and  bring about required changes), change  management etc.  Most routine HR jobs can be outsourced, but no organisation, should ever  do away with HR dept and opt for complete  oursourcing, there will always be  issues sensitive enough and will require HR  interventions from within. 
 
Issues/disadvantages : 
 
1. In case of recruitment of regular employees, I  rarely could find  recruiter who could find you the right fit (skill  wise perhaps yes they can  , but the right blend of skill and personality to  get the best fit for your  organisation !). Not because they  cannot understand the culture of yourcompany but  mostly because their  objectives and targets are different from the HR of  an organisation. 
 
With warm regards 

Poornima

Hi Colleagues,

Most areas of HR cannot be effectively outsourced.  Take the simple task like training. We do outsource  trainers from outside,  but how effective that training is ?. 

Training conducted by our own staff has proven to be  more effective that any  training conducted by one of the best trainers  available for the skill. It  is because nobody understands and can explain the  task better than an  insider i.e. co's employee... 

Same is the case with recruiters - Agencies can  supply manpower, but will they be privy to things that an inhouse recruiter  has access to... Temporary  / contract labour on the face of it is expensive. In  face of hard times, it  is a boon for the employers, but what about commitment towards the project,  company etc....  Agreed that counselling can be an area that could be  outsourced, but again  will it sound convincing enough ?. It has to be  backed up with an HR person  from within the company. 
 
The list could go on and on..... 

Outsourcing HR is effective and is a necessity when  the company's business  is huge, there is a essential need for a huge staff  / contract labour, the  co's central HQ is in one place and work sites in  different places etc...  Now tell me how many companies in India employ a  staff that goes in the  range of 30,000 - 40,000...... Again, could the  entire HR be outsourced ?. 

The answer is No.

srini

I agree with srini as far as training from outside  agency is concerned. I have personally experienced  this during my previous assignment. Its really  impossible or atleast difficult for them to understand  the requirement of the organization, and then who is  there around to monitor the progress of that training.  Where as training imparted by inhouse can create magic  if designed well. You can really creat a very good  pool of experts who know things in and out and can  really make participants relate to real situation in  the organization.  Inhouse experts will be very flexible in their approach towards the training substance and and can  adequately mould it as per the requirements of the organization. This where helps to meet the purpose of imparting  training, also it helps to be a very cost effective thing.

Regards

Jagadish

Hello friends,

A decision to Outsource Training or any HR activity should be made after considering needs of the organisaition. If internal resources / personnel can meet the objectives of learning transfer, why anybody should outsource at all?

Training to be outsourced (and will be economic and effective) when an internal tainer is not cost effective, not competent to transfer learnings, or not accepted withint the organisation as a competent trainer... A person who is reactive / not accepted as a role model cannot build a favourable climate for learning transfer.

I fully agree with you guys regarding post training implementation. The training partnership should include the implementation in the scope of the contract for training. If a trainer is not confident in implementing what he taught, and get the result, he should not be considered for the assignment. Real picture is that HR takes up such responsibility, to reduce the cost of training.

Thanks echoice training and others for the interesting debate.

Cheers

Ash