Critically examine the motives for and consequences of HR outsourcing. Is outsourcing HR good or bad for organisations?
2500 words (+/- 10%, 2250 min, 2750 max)- Point Evidence Comment
Introduction -150 Words (evaluate)
• History of outsourcing, growth and trends
• Why do people outsource and how environmental factors have triggered this
• Examples of those who outsource
• Outsourcing and its impact on the hr function
• Core activities – competitive advantage
• Globalisation encourages the hr function
• Commonly outsourced functions
• Advantages for outsourcing
• Consequences of outsourcing
• Reality of outsourcing and challenges and devolution of hr
• Disadvantages
• Shared services
• Predictions for outsourcing
Outsourcing in the Human Resource industry has become significant, as it has assisted organisations to manage their time and resources effectively. Outsourcing transpires “when an organisation contracts with another organisation to provide specific Human Resource services or activities” shifting the basic and traditional functions that are normally completed internally, to “an external provider” (Wilton, 2011).
There are a variety of factors that outline the significance of outsourcing and its rapid growth over the years. Firstly, there has been an “increased desire on the part of organisations to focus efforts on core activities, which are the source of competitive advantage” (Wilton, 2011). This allows the organisation to invest all efforts
HR outsourcing services reduce cost and free up time for managers of all types of businesses across the U.S. HR outsourcing services can be customized to the company based on the type of workforce and specific needs of the business. Some of the HR outsourcing services include (a) human resources - hr forms setup and compliance, employee orientations and new hire paperwork, (b) payroll services - payroll processing, tax payments and government compliance, (c) employee benefits - benefits administration and invoice reconciliation, (d) workers compensation - workers comp policy setup and safety programs, OSHA compliance and advice, (e) hr training - management training, safety training, conflict resolution, strategy sessions for growth and, (f) timekeeping solutions -
Advanced human resources technology utilized by outsourcing providers help streamline important HR functions, such as payroll, benefit administration and compliance management. Outsourcing helps employers and managers spend less time doing paperwork and more time dedicated to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the workforce.
The HR office can be viewed as the heart of the organization and is in charge of a large portion of the important capacities in a partnership. It is responsible for the capacities that permit the organization to address the issues of the administration and staff. Outsourcing is turning out to be more basic to organizations that are attempting to lessen their costs, the topic of it aiding or harming the organization is a begging to be proven wrong theme. Thomas Stewart and Keith Hammonds are adversely incredulous of the human asset division in the article "Determination: Close Down the Human Resource Department". Despite the fact that their sentiment is regarded, a great human asset office can positively affect an organization.
When most people think of Human Resource Planning, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the internal environment of the organization. There is, however; the external environment which is just as important. The external environment consists of governmental policies, condition of the economy, demographics, technology, international influences, competitors, and a changing labor force (Greer, Peters & Youngblood, 1998). Neglecting the external environment can have devastating effects on an organization. Entire civilizations have vanished for failing to address external environmental factors and the need to adapt in an ever-changing environment. You may ask what extinct cultures have to do with HR planning and the external
Outsourcing will increasingly be used to stimulate the creation of value and innovation in organizations. Enterprises will use outsourcing as a tool to consistently position themselves at the forefront of their industries, turning to the best talents, resources and opportunities, and sometimes using outsourcing to access new markets.
The recent competitive challenges of the global marketplace are creating demand for outsourcing some of the responsibilities of human resource professionals. Outsourcing can save time and money while allowing HR professional’s to focus on core tasks and participate in business strategy. With the increase in the use of the internet and software programs, outsourcing some HR tasks has been made much easier. People can now apply to a position, access payroll and benefits, take company surveys, plus much more online.
Global competition is transforming the Human Resources (HR) profession: efficient administrators and organisational professions are now required to take on new functions as strategic partners within corporate management. As strategic partners, HR professionals are now becoming increasingly involved in corporate decision-making and bring their workforce expertise to develop corporate strategy in a way that will maximise the best human resources available (Fitzpatrick 2000; Guthridge et al. 2008; Lawler and Boudreau 2009). This is where the transformed role of the HR professional becomes vital. Businesses are in increasingly intense competition with each other to acquire and retain the best talent. In such a marketplace, the strategic
In addition, majority of the countries to which MNC’s outsource HR function are developing countries such as China, India, Vietnam etc., where the labour cost is cheaper compared to the host country (Andreff,2009). In addition, there is an opportunity to integrate network of operations, when outsourcing. A study by Batt et al (2006) showed that subcontracted call centres in the India perform and intensive monitoring is rather preferred to maintaining an in-house call centres in the US (Doellgast and Gospel, 2010). Although, there are pitfalls when organizations depend on HR outsourcing, for which it is necessity to maintain an internal HR function, to act as a link between the service provider and the the organization.
Outsourcing can be defined as ‘the strategic use of outside sources to perform activities traditionally handled by internal staff and resources’. In this strategy, the organizations contract out major functions of their manufacturing products to more specialized and efficient service providers, who later become valued business partners. It looks more like a simple supplementation of resources by subcontracting, but it is actually different to outsourcing. In actual outsourcing, the organization is also involved in substantial restructuring of particular business activities including, often, the transfer of staff from a host company to a specialist, usually smaller, company with the required core competencies. The current stage in the evolution of outsourcing is all about the
Over the past decade or more, outsourcing is becoming an essential success factor. Many multinational organizations rely on outsourcing for a variety of products and services such as technology, customer support, automobile, clothes, telecommunication products and many more (Gottschalk, 2006). Outsourcing is an excellent process when it comes to cost advantage. Additionally, it provides organizations the time and workforce to focus on organization’s core business capabilities (Gottschalk, 2006).
The strategic effort of outsourcing is to allow concentration on what the organization does best. In addition, outsourcing assist companies to acquire cost advantage by tabbing into cheap labour; identifying companies with high competency level in the area outsourcing is required; and adds value to the overall process of the organization. However, it is important to note that as mentioned by Child (2005) if outsourcing is not carefully considered the organization may be prone to failure. Therefore, it is very crucial that various elements be thoroughly considered before deciding on what aspect of the organization to outsource.
On the contrary, an employee can also be bound to feel demoralized by the organization 's HR outsourcing. The disturbing questions and concerns follow whether the organization doesn 't feel satisfied with the performance of the permanent employees of what? Also, employees end up filling like the organization is not appreciative of the work, thus, outsourcing for human resources (Worried Workers Worldwide, 2007). The demoralization of employees’ impact in the sense that employees doubt their performance, hence, fail to believe in themselves and their
This explains that in modern-day organizations there has been need to outsource some human resource activities to some other organizations to carry out. Citing Powell (Snell 1999) states that given pressures for management to be both efficiency and flexibility, firms are exploring the use of different employment modes to allocate tasks. (Snell 1999) further states that apart from having to use internal full-time employees, organizations today are increasingly depending on external workers, such as temporary employees, contract labourers etc.
Handling a variety of HR activities besides the core activity by employers would not bring useful consequences for organisations. Thus, by outsourcing, they can concentrate on their core competence which might be included in the application of various policies in different businesses. For instance, as stated by Belcourt (2006) designing products is one of the major activities in NIKE. Contracting out non-core HR tasks provides free time for managers to pay more attention and attempt to the value added activities such as leadership development, innovation and customer services. Hence, diminution of HR administrative duties like employees’ pension, benefits and payroll helps mangers to be strategists to improve companies’ competitive advantages.
When most people think of Human Resource Planning, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the internal environment of the organization. There is, however; the external environment which is just as important. The external environment consists of governmental policies, condition of the economy, demographics, technology, international influences, competitors, and a changing labor force (Greer, Peters & Youngblood, 1998). Neglecting the external environment can have devastating effects on an organization. Entire civilizations have vanished for failing to address external environmental factors and the need to adapt in an ever-changing environment. You may ask what extinct cultures have to do with HR planning and