Today’s business culture continues to look at ways to automate functions of virtually any department in an organizational entity that can affect significant economies. A frequently addressed question regarding the HR function is what part of the HR function can be effectively outsourced. The usual thought is the most labor-intensive parts of the HR function. In order to pursue this potential initiative, it is first necessary to dissect various of functions of the HR initiative in the organization to determine which of those functions the organization is willing to outsource and which it is not.
Thus, a starting point is the identification of the usual human resource functions in an organization.
On a macro scale the person or persons handling the Human Resources Function for an organization would likely handle the following:
· Placement of ads or the deployment of such other actions as needed to attract job seeker flow for screening.
· To devise a series of HR interview questions (often referred to as qualification questions) to differentiate applicants with the requisite qualifications from job seekers who do not. HR interview question must be devised to fit each job category opening, and they must be consistent if the organization must be EEOC and or OFCCP compliant. A record of the HR interview questions by candidate must be kept in the event of a Desk Audit, Company Audit or Full Company audit by the OFCCP. HR interview techniques and practices cannot be underestimated. The HR interview is not only the beginning interview of the job seeker in search of a job but a good HR interview must also sell the organization and the job itself to an ideal job seeker.
Since one of the most critical functions of human resources is the interview process, including not only the attraction of great candidates but selling them on the organization as well, human resource training is vitally important to successful department operations. Human resource training must include training and or validation that the interviewer does in fact have the knowledge and ability to not only handle effective interviewing, but the selling process as well. The organization’s interviewer who has not had effective human resources training in how to sell the organization to great candidates can do as much harm as good to the organization by ineffectively presenting why the candidate should seriously consider the organization as the place to come to work.
However, when HR staffing is considered, most organizations hire HR personnel based on qualifications and experience without consideration to whether the individual who is going to be placed in a recruiting position possesses the sales ability to sell good candidates to take jobs with the employer. Thus, HR staffing should include consideration of not only education, and experience, but those traits that convey the ability to overtly sell the organization to good candidates as well. HR staffing can be greatly enhanced with an assessment like the Achiever, available from CRI (www.criw.com to objectively assess the aptitudes and behaviors of candidates for the HR department to validate that candidates do have good people skills and in some cases salesmanship skills as well.
Being an executive in the human resources function of the organization means dealing with human resource issues. Human resource issues are a part of life in the organization and the best human resource personnel become masters (when they have the right aptitudes and behaviors) of dealing with human resource issues.
However, simply assessing people and learning how they are is only part of the equation. Human resource development not only applies in operating jobs in the organization, but in the human resources function as well. The Achiever assessment provided to employers by CRI for their usage not only presents a picture of the individual who has been assessed, but also provides training and management suggestions to effect human resource development in the respective job in the organization. Human resource development in all jobs and levels cannot be underestimated in the overall growth and achievement of the organization.
HR forms are critical, must be devised to meet the organizations needs and kept as appropriate. It is easy to think of the employer’s application as a critical HR form and it is but it is not the only one. As mentioned earlier, if the organization must be OFCCP compliant, then another HR form might be one that in addition to the application, the questions have been derived for the candidate to complete that would establish whether the job seeker as the minimum qualifications for the job. A function such as this is not accomplished through the application.
Each organization has its own HR policies. HR policies most frequently center on what the span is of operating management in the interviewing, offer giving, hiring and new hire orientation process. Some organization’s HR policies provide maximum decision-making authority to operating management with people in HR simply facilitating the process and handling the documentation thereto. The HR polices of each organization thus must reflect and be determined by top management and that decision weighs heavily on what authority and staffing level the HR department will have and operate under.
HR benefits an organization in direct proportion to the role it plays in driving the organizations effectiveness. Thus, when HR is given the authority, responsibility and budget needed to locate and drive really good job seekers to apply to the organization in which to be hired from, HR benefits the organization immeasurably. Organizations frequently suffer from lack of HR benefits when HR personnel are not provided the resources in time and money to properly handle they role they can handle in bringing really good people into the organization.
The organization’s health and human resources are frequently linked to how well the organization is doing in meeting and exceeding its objectives, especially those financial in nature. Yet those organizations who are not doing well usually fail to realize that perhaps a major part of the reason they are not doing well is lack of having hired and placed the right people in jobs in the organization to begin with. Health and human resources link directly to top management and top management’s attitudes toward the value of the human resources aspect of the business in general. Health and human resources are rarely able to properly addressed on the organization’s behalf by an outside vender to which the human resources function of the business has been outsourced.
Some organizations have addressed the issue of their human resources department through human resources consulting. They take the stance that the internal human resources personnel are really engaged in human resources consulting services provided to operating management. Through this approach human resources consulting becomes the mode by which HR internal people provide and are paid for their services from operating management.
Thus, each organization must address these issues: “What is human resources?” “What is human resources as a department in their organization?” Only top management in the organization can address the issue of “What is Human Resources for this Organization” and the subsequent question of the willingness of the organization to put forward the assets necessary to accomplish that decision.
While top management is dealing with what the human resources is to provide the organization, the question of managing human resources appears. The organization’s decision as to its human resources objective then dictates the level of investment necessary to hire the right people to manage the human resources function. Managing human resources is not easy. It takes personnel who are not only trained in the field but that also have both management and sales skills as well to sell the organization to job seekers and often people employed by the organization as well. Thus, managing Human resources is directly related to top managements empowerment decisions as well as financial investment thereto.
The Society of Human Resources (SHRM) offers a never-ending series of courses to increase and enhance the knowledge and ability of human resources personnel. Human resource certification is readily available with appropriate time and study. Human resource certification thus enables anyone coming into the human resources function in and organization to become more effective, knowledge and efficient in the job they are responsible for. Human resources certification is also vitally important in keeping an organization’s human resources personnel up to date with what is going on in the field.
In the final analysis, when an organization fully considers what is involved in the human resources function in an organization, especially if the organization seeks to be dynamic and growth oriented then the conclusion is likely reached that outsourcing the human resources function to an outside vendor is not likely to provide the type of attention, personnel and creative techniques to properly serve the organization and its objectives.
When an organization has an objective to be dynamic and would like to grow the internal HR department, tools are available to increase its effectiveness and achieve serious economies in the process.
CRI’s Applicant Management System is the product that can achieve just that.
Retaining HR department’s management functions in house may be the best decision, when combined with today’s most foremost online technology to automate the much of the routine labor intense functions that can be automated and as a result lower HR operating dept. costs.
CRI’s online Applicant Management System is the starting point. Applicant Management Systems constructed by CRI are built to look like the employer’s website and are linked via a “jobs” or “careers” button that enables job seekers to apply to employers online.
Unique features of this system include:
· Job seekers are attracted by job boards, newspaper ads and such other applicant attraction processes that the employer chooses to utilize · Job Seekers view information about the employer as a result of the employer’s website being included in their ads · Job seekers chose a job and employer location to apply for · Affirmative action data is gathered if needed by the employer · The job seeker answers qualification questions to validate that the job seeker has the requisite qualifications to be deemed an applicant · Next the applicant completes an application online and attaches a resume Data can be gathered for future background screening and pre-employment testing deployed to validate job fit. Pre-employment testing alone may be the most significant improvement for the organization if the testing is truly job related and sufficiently comprehensive to provide information on job fit from both a Mental Aptitude and Behavioral standpoint. In the case of the Achiever and Sales Achiever, both provided by CRI, thorough objective job fit data is provided the employer along with Behavioral Interview Questions to validate job fit and tips for management and development of the applicant after hire.
With this process handled online, the need for paper files are eliminated as well as the labor to keep them up. More important, the requirement for someone to preliminarily interview job seekers in order to differentiate which have the requisite job requirements from those who do not is eliminated, thus creating another significant saving in labor in the employment process and the HR dept. function.
If the organization must submit EEO1 reports or be OFCCP compliant, then savings can range fund in tens of thousands of dollars annually from the online Applicant Management System obtaining and retaining the data, and in the format required, for both EEO1 reports and OFCC compliance in the event of a Desk audit, company audit or full company compliance audit.
By transferring many of these costly labor-intensive activities over to technology, thousands of dollars can be saved in the HR department function. Thus, enabling the in-house HR personnel to focus on important HR functions that directly contribute to the well being of the organization as well as a stronger more direct contribution to corporate growth and objectives.
In summary, the smartest decision for the organization may be to keep its HR function, top personnel, and at the same time lower the department’s operating costs by eliminating clerical and recruiting labor intense functions that can be readily handled far more effectively and economically through an online Applicant Management System.
Another critically important function of the HR department in any organization is to facilitate retention of good employees. Often this can be most effectively accomplished with a good Performance Management System that includes Performance Appraisals.
Performance appraisals have represented another time-consuming paper process that can also be automated rapidly and efficiently. CRI’s online Performance Management System enables employers to go online, create a directory of performance review templates by job category to then utilize for actual Performance reviews which can be facilitated through the web as well. Thus eliminating another seriously time consuming and labor intensive function in the HR department. With a better performance management process, employers can once again realize the benefits of technology not only in decreasing operating costs but also in increasing the performance levels of existing personnel another strong reason for automation.
Technology Can Play a Vital Role in Keeping an In-house HR Department While Achieving Modernization Economies in the Process - To learn more about this author, visit Milton S. Cotter's Website.
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