Let's talk about one of the most profitable forms of modern cooperation. It helps to reduce the cost of office work, and free staff from routine activities, and accelerate business processes. In other words, to save the organization from such a secondary task as personnel policy, and to direct all efforts to achieve its main goals. How to do it? Turn to HR outsourcing services. We will analyze its essence, functions, pros and cons further.
What is outsourcing?
Outsourcing is the transfer of non-core tasks of a company, an enterprise of a third-party organization specializing in this type of activity. It is one of the peculiar forms of organization cooperation.
What functions can be transferred? Accounting, paperwork, promotion, advertising, business, production tasks.
What does the performer do? It supports the uninterrupted functioning of individual branches of the infrastructure, serves them. With such an organization of work, the customer has the opportunity to reduce the number of jobs, to concentrate on the main areas of his activity, without being distracted by secondary ones.
What is HR outsourcing?
With the personnel form of such service, a third-party company assumes the functions of a personnel department. It is no secret that in the personnel policy of the organization all issues must be resolved quickly, efficiently and promptly. At the same time, the content of a modern and competent own personnel service requires a decent investment. It is expensive for beginners, small companies.
Many managers make a mistake by entrusting the functions of a personnel officer to an employee without proper education. This instantly affects the quality of the staff. Therefore, many, many organizations are turning to personnel outsourcing. Indeed, companies specializing in such activities already have a full staff of professionals (from HR managers to lawyers, accountants), accumulated experience, necessary equipment, and so on.
Transferable Functions
The following functions are usually transferred to a recruitment agency-outsourcing:
- Recruiting, hiring new staff. Most often, third-party professionals are entrusted with the selection of new employees and their subsequent employment. Sometimes outsourcing firms are also engaged in the dismissal of personnel, analysis of conflicts on this basis. Indeed, many recruitment agencies have professional lawyers in their staff.
- Drawing up employment contracts, job descriptions. A specialist who monitors changes in labor laws is most often a costly unit of staff. It is much more profitable to entrust this work to professionals who specialize in such an area.
- Staffing, vacation schedules. Personnel outsourcing includes this activity. After all, not all firms are developing such a normative act as staffing due to its optional nature. However, the document simplifies the process of recruiting new specialists, the procedure for accruing salary to them. As for the vacation schedule, the layman can easily make a mistake in it, which is fraught with punishment of the employer. Therefore, it is much easier to shift such a labor-intensive activity to an intermediary.
- Keeping work books. It is no secret that this document is the main certificate of labor activity and work experience. Therefore, it is necessary to fill out labor books strictly following labor laws. And again, such a responsible work should be entrusted only to a professional.
- Drawing up the rules of the internal labor schedule.Another document that should in no way contradict the TC, which increases the time for its development. Therefore, often this function is also transferred to personnel outsourcing companies.
Benefits of Mediation
Now let's move on to the features of cooperation. The advantages of HR outsourcing are as follows:
- Professionalism. The staff of such companies is experienced and highly skilled employees, focused on their narrow specialization.
- The agreed deadlines. An agreement is concluded with the contractor, according to which he is obliged to fulfill the prescribed list of works in a specific period.
- The size of the staff matches the size of the company. Many companies are faced with a problem when there is an acute shortage of specialist whose work will be necessary only in a certain period. Now you don’t need to “inflate” the staff to perform one specific task.
- Cost reduction. This is sometimes the main plus for the company. The remote personnel department recruits personnel, calculates salaries, insurance premiums and so on. In addition, he is fully liable for losses that may result from his mistakes.
- Focusing on its key features. A company can spend more resources on achieving key goals, planning new ones, redirecting financial flows, developing personnel, and so on.
- Disinterested party. A remote recruitment agency is an impartial intermediary between an employee and an employer. All problems, conflicts are resolved by the letter of the law, without personal factors.
Cons of mediation
Outsourcing-personnel accounting, like any other business tool, has several disadvantages:
- Low professional training. Not every remote recruitment agency is highly professional. The main requirements for an intermediary are experience in this field, an impeccable reputation, excellent staff who skillfully solves non-standard situations. It is also important to have activity insurance.
- Breach of confidentiality. Important documents of the organization are transferred to the intermediary for the full implementation of his duties. An unscrupulous agency may use the data obtained for personal purposes.
- Remoteness. Some problems need to be addressed "here and now." Specialists from a remote agency cannot do the job in this way.
- A superficial idea of the specifics of the company. The recruitment agency consists of professionals in the field of human resources. They need time to understand the specifics of the partner's areas of activity. And then there is a great chance that it will be a superficial view from the side.
Now let's move on to the main mistakes when choosing personnel outsourcing services.
Mistake # 1: Invalid Artist Selection
The guarantee of successful cooperation is the choice of a standing partner. When searching for it, many companies rely only on the reputation of a recruitment agency. But it is important to choose an artist who is most suitable for the specifics of the business, its volume. It is important to foresee the fact that the company will expand - the outsourcer must have a reserve stock of personnel in such a case.
Mistake # 2: abrupt transition
Many employers, only having concluded an agreement with the contractor, immediately seek to reorganize their structural units. As a result, employees simply do not have time to adapt to new conditions. At the same time, the customer’s expenses are in no hurry to be reduced.
The transition to a new format is a gradual process. It must be carried out together with a recruitment agency.
Mistake number 3: the desire to save
Choosing a contractor, customers sometimes determine the cost of services as the determining factor. But its low value can lead to unprofessionalism, the low quality of the work of the performer. It’s worth choosing the latter, having carefully studied its activity.
Mistake number 4: insufficient liability of the parties
Carefully you need to study the contract with the contractor. Especially the item "Responsibility of the parties".Its limits, solutions to possible disputes should be spelled out in as much detail and clearly as possible.
That's all we wanted to talk about HR outsourcing. Like all business tools, it has not only advantages, but also disadvantages, pitfalls.
