The Integrity News
Vol. XII No. 3
ISSN 1081-2717
January 14, 2003
January, 2003
In a Workforce cover story entitled
"HR is Dead ... Long Live HR", the
authors argue that "the field of HR
has begun to split into two parts".
"One half consists of administrative and
transactional work, which is becoming more
automated and routine and increasingly
being turned over to employee self-service
technology or outsource providers."
"The second half consists of transformational
work, in which HR helps develop organizational
goals, determines what capabilities are needed
to meet those goals, and then creates HR
practices that make those capabilities come
to life."
Editor's Note: This dynamic situation is precisely
why The Integrity Center, Inc. has made such things
as Online Job Applications, Online Interview Note
Storage, Online Employee Files, Online Benefits
Administration, Online Employee Self-Service, and
Online Compensation Data, available as very low
cost integrated components of The Integrity
Connection (tm) interface that all clients are already
using.
The article begins by citing research that shows that
"companies with effective HR practices deliver
shareholder returns that are three times higher than
those of companies without such practices."
They go on to say that the HR profession is enduring
a wave of changes today that by all accounts is likely
to reduce the number of HR people needed. This, after
noting that the number of HR jobs has dwindled in
recent years.
The bad news for some HR staff is that there are
numerous vendors that want companies to outsource
every aspect of HR. What started as payroll
outsourcing 20 years ago is now a $32 billion industry,
and slated to be $55 billion by 2005.
The good news is that getting rid of routine transactional
tasks by downloading certain HR activities to external
vendors allows HR professionals to focus on the kind
of transformational work that helps their bottom line.
"Outsourcing is finally giving higher-level HR
professionals the time they need to tackle strategic
workforce challenges."
Unfortunately, when SHRM recently surveyed HR
professionals, only 7% identified "HR as a strategic
business partner" as a key trend. Much higher on
the list were such things as managing diversity and
administering health care. HR professionals MUST
embrace their new role.
"The "A" players not only have a solid understanding
of HR, but also are conversant in finance, sales,
marketing, and manufacturing, and know how HR
can help companies meet their goals." One quarter
of all HR jobs are now going to people with a
background in marketing according to the article.
The "demographic changes in society are making it
harder for companies to find and keep qualified
employees. It will be up to HR to determine what
kind of talent is needed to meet company goals
and then devise recruitment and retention programs
based on that need. Technology is making it
possible for companies to become more and more
decentralized", and "HR people will be the ones
who determine how to keep widely dispersed
employees connected to corporate goals."
"Even if outsourcing does remove all the transactional
work, someone with a solid understanding of HR and
business will be needed to manage the outsourcing
of vendor contracts. HR will always be responsible for
ensuring the speed and accuracy of employee
transactions, regardless of who is doing the work."
"Put all this together and you realize that the HR
field is in the midst of an enormous transformation
and its final form is not yet clear. There will be no
shortage of challenging work. HR professionals
can have an impact on their companies. But, the
HR function is likely to be smaller and very different
from what it is now."
Over the last 19 years, The Integrity Center has
worked to bring productivity and compliance to all
its clients. In recent years we launched The Integrity
Connection (tm) client interface that lets geographically
dispersed organizations have wonderful flexibility
and control. Hundreds of companies use our services
for background checking, and are now starting to
realize the overall benefits of our Online Job Applications,
Online Interview Note Storage, Online Employee Files,
Online Benefits Administration, Online Employee
Self-Service, and Online Compensation Data. All of
these services are fully integrated and communicate
seamlessly with each other to further increase your
productivity.
Please visit our website to read about any of these
services, and feel free to call us to ask questions or to
discuss any of these topics. Any one or more of these
services will help you increase your company productivity.
While we have some very large clients, our production
and client technology allows us to offer great automation
to our small and medium size clients at a very low cost.
Some additional automation is a wonderful way for you
to grow efficiently. You will be amazed at what you can
achieve by using one or more of these low cost services.
(972) 484-6140
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