How to Save HR — Step 2 — Outsource the "personnel stuff"

The next step in saving HR is to get rid of the nickel-and-dime stuff. (The first step — establishing a Talent Department run by the Chief Talent Officer — is here. The introduction to the problem is here.)

There's a reason why many companies and their employees lack sufficient respect for their HR professionals. They spend too much of their time dealing with what I call "personnel stuff": I-9 forms, dress-code exceptions, sick-day tracking, floating-holiday calculation, progressive-discipline rules, snow-day cancellations, dental-plan waiting periods. This administrivia is the tail wagging the dog of HR. Even the most forward-thinking, strategy-minded HR chief has no time left to do the important work — developing and implementing the company's talent strategy — after dealing with all the personnel stuff.

Get rid of it.

Outsource it. Send it to India. Offload it to companies who provide these services as an "outside personnel department." Clear your desk of the nickel-and-dime stuff. Then you can focus on developing, managing, and retaining the best talent your company can get.

Comments

[Christopher Mirabile]

It is not necessary to outsource jobs overseas, especially to a different culture, with different cultural norms, in order to achieve the result you seek. And by mentioning a politically sensitive outsourcing location like India, you risk distracting people from one of the main but subtle benefits of outsourcing HR administrivia: getting HR out of the "petty no" business. As long as they are in the business of enforcing silly rules and making hard judgment calls in the name of fairness, and punishing minor infractions and nagging managers for failing to get reviews done on time, they hurt their credibility with the company and its managers and make it even harder to partner on the more strategic stuff. If they could get out of that role, and focus more exclusively on helping managers and senior managers manage talent, they would be viewed in an increasingly serious and value-added light, and the upward spiral of positive engagement would replace the downward spiral of negative engagement.

[Jay Shepherd]

Christopher's right on the money about the need to get HR out of the "petty no" business — I like the turn of phrase, and will now steal it. As for where to send that business, I had India on my mind because one of our clients recently sent most of their HR responsibilities there. But I agree that local HR-replacement firms are probably the better bet for most employers. Thanks for the post! — Jay