Outsourcing your HR

WHAT IS OUTSOURCED HR?

An Outsourced Human Resources Solution ("Solution") defines the process where your Company transfers certain parts (or the whole) of its existing Human Resources ("HR") requirements to the responsibility of another company (in this case replaceOCHR plc), to be managed on an ongoing basis.

The aim of our Solution is to increase your HR efficiency without increasing cost, and to decrease your HR effort without decreasing performance. In short, our Solution allows your Company to provide a high quality level of HR service without a high price tag.

Our Solution does not however, remove your control over your own HR, and in fact provides you with a far greater degree of control. This is achieved by providing the Line Managers with high quality advice, methods, processes and systems, which allow them to more efficiently and effectively manage their staff and their HR.

WHY OUTSOURCE YOUR HR?

The answer is simple ... fewer headaches, reduced costs and exceptional results.

Over the past decade, outsourcing has become routinely and widely accepted in larger companies. These largest of corporations don't think twice about asking specialised service providers to take on activities they once performed for themselves. As a result, they've lowered costs, improved organisational focus, increased their speed and flexibility and become more efficient, flexible and nimble.

For smaller businesses, the picture is quite different. Compared to large organisations, small businesses are inherently flexible and nimble; they are specialists in what they do and they do it with great passion. What they often lack, however, is access to the types of know-how, technologies, capital, economies of scale and other resources that the bigger companies enjoy. Owners and managers of small companies also face another very real challenge - making sure that they don't get so bogged down in running the company that they are unable to focus on building the business.

Essentially, outsourcing enables the business owner/manager to access some of the best resources on the market, but to only pay for the slice they're using, when they use it. And, once the owner begins to look outside, he or she is often amazed to find the solutions already out there for some of the most seemingly intractable problems they face.

But to really see what this can mean for your company, begin by objectively comparing the capabilities of outside specialists to existing internal operations. An honest evaluation of the costs, quality, speed and innovation that is available from others is likely to reveal inefficiencies that simply can't be justified by maintaining the control that comes from doing it all yourself. How much business value is being sacrificed because of the perceived need to do everything inside? You may find the answer quite surprising.

In summary, the power of outsourcing to enhance business operations is well understood and documented. The challenge, as always, is one of leadership. Business managers need to add outsourcing to their list of business tools. In the end, it will be your ability to create the right relationships, with the right outside providers, for the right reasons and to then successfully manage those relationships that will create the optimum value for your organization and your employees.

The decision to outsource your HR will sharpen your competitive advantage by enabling you to focus on HR strategy and policy rather than on administration and help you manage the many pressures you face as an employer.

WILL OUTSOURCING HR WORK FOR ME?

If you want to determine whether you should outsource your HR then draw up a list of the most difficult people management problems your company faces. For each problem, write down the things that would have to be done to fix them. Then, ask, "Why aren't these things being done today?" If the answer is lack of management time, lack of expertise in the company, lack of investment or the potential ongoing operational costs, then outsourcing is definitely a solution. Some of the issues you face as a business include:

Rapidly changing employment legislation

With the recent rise in the level of new employment legislation, keeping up to date with the changes has become a full-time job, even for experienced HR professionals. By outsourcing you are getting access to a pool of expertise that you couldn't afford to employ. As your outsourcing partner our role is to ensure that you are up to date on the changes that affect your business and that your organisation is complying with legislation.

Dealing with increasing personnel administration

There is no getting away from the fact that much of the HR function is transaction based, paper intensive and time consuming. Your staff's valuable time is taken up with time and labour intensive functions. Using our streamlined, automated processes to increase efficiency and accuracy we can help you manage HR workflow. We'll ensure your personnel records are up to date whilst at the same time ensuring you have the key management information you need to run your business.

Increasing workforce productivity

Your employees and managers will appreciate having anytime/anywhere access and self-service HR support. Our HR support services can enable you to communicate new programs, benefits, and policies much more efficiently. Plus, people can resolve a multitude of HR-related issues on their own with our help, freeing you up to concentrate on meeting your business goals. There is no doubt that by transforming the delivery of your HR services employee satisfaction and internal communication will be enhanced. This will enable you to get a greater return from your biggest investment - your staff. Providing better service to employees doesn't have to mean costs soaring out of control. By leveraging our services and technology, your organisation can take advantage of new and innovative ways to support your employees while reducing administrative effort and controlling costs

Reducing inefficiency in your business

Improving HR services will lead to a more efficient, more motivated workforce and there is no doubt that this will lead to a rise in productivity. As part of our service we can ensure that the common areas of workforce inefficiency are tackled by proactively dealing with thorny issues such as unauthorised absence from the workplace and reducing staff turnover.

Helping you cut costs

Outsourcing will save you money. Where appropriate, we can reduce business headcount by moving internal HR headcount costs outside the business. Ensuring you are fully compliant with the legislation and ensuring you have a robust set of employment policies and contracts will minimise any opportunity costs incurred as a result of not complying with the legislation. We also maintain that we can deliver a better service than you could afford to provide internally.

THE RANGE OF OPTIONS

The range of services offered are divided into the following general categories. Please click on any of the headings below for further information on that particular category.

• Employment Law and Legal Issues
• Staff Development
• Payroll and Benefits Administration
• Recruitment and Retention
• Management Support

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The relationship between your business and VizualHR

The most important thing to remember is that you are in control.

The most common inhibitor to outsourcing is the fear of losing control. The owners and managers of smaller businesses are so accustomed to directly managing the people, processes and technologies that make up their operations that the notion of moving some of this to an outsider is a difficult concept to embrace. The rewards of overcoming this fear, however, can be well worth the effort.

Working to pre-agreed objectives

The basis of your relationship with your company is that we function as a part of your business. Your account manager gets to know your organisation and we work to mutually agreed service level objectives with very clear key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs are a key part of the service agreement that you sign up to so there is no ambiguity about whether we are delivering on our commitments or not. Our aim is that for each client we establish a long-term relationship supported by a continually renewable short-term contract. This gives both parties the ability to adjust things as business conditions change.

Ultimately, you decide whether we are doing a good job or not. We view the relationship between our organisations as a partnership rather than a typical supplier/purchaser arrangement and by combining your skilled staff with ours and putting our expertise to work for you, VizualHR provides improved, integrated HR processes that will positively impact your culture and environment

What HR services does your business need?

A Human Resources (HR) department is a critical component of employee well-being in any business, no matter how small. The definition of what a HR department does, however, varies from company to company and we believe that no two businesses are the same. Our aim is to offer a portfolio of services on an 'a la carte' basis and a selection of these services can be bundled to provide the solution that is right for your business. See 'The range of services we offer' section for information of the support we provide.

Depending on the needs assessment we present you with a quotation to supply the range of services that are right for your organisation.

What about the 'people' aspect?

A common reservation is that client believes that by going down the outsourced route the 'face to face' element of the HR function will be lost. That definitely is not the case. As part of our service we can provide as much on-site support as you require in the form of an experienced HR professional who endeavours to become part of your business. Some businesses have that person there a few days per week, others once a month and other clients only call on them when there is a particular situation to deal with. Even when they are not at your site they are always contactable by telephone and are supported by our contact centre which is available to managers and employees during office hours

What if you already have a HR department?

That's OK. There are a number of possibilities. The likelihood is that your HR department has more work that it can cope with. We can relieve some of that burden by taking on the transactional work and providing back-office support to your HR team, leaving them to focus on the strategic aspects of their role. Alternatively you may have already made a decision to outsource the function and we would consider absorbing your existing HR staff under a TUPE agreement.

WHAT DOES IT COST?

The costs vary and every quotation is based on the range of services required by your business. The basis of our pricing strategy is that, in the majority of cases, you pay a fixed price per month for the service. These prices are fixed for pre-agreed periods so you know that your costs are controlled. Any expenditure in excess of this fixed monthly fee will only be incurred with your prior agreement.

WHY CHOOSE VIZUALHR AS YOUR HR OUTSOURCING PARTNER?

Our People

Our HR consultants have been specially selected so they fully understand the issues you face as a business owner/manager. Whether you deal with them on the telephone or work with them in your premises you will be impressed with their ability to articulate the commercial implications of their advice whilst ensuring you remain compliant with the legislation. All are seasoned HR professionals with at least 5 years experience of doing the job and you'll be relieved to know that they don't speak 'legalease' but will you the answers you need in plain English.

Our Technology

Because we come from a strong HR systems background we apply leading edge technologies and processes to transform the way your company delivers vital people management services. Users of the outsourced services automatically get access to their own company specific web-based personnel management system and its integrated capabilities support all of the main HR processes. Depending on your requirements this system supports multiple communication channels, including web-based portals and kiosks.

Industry studies have found that this use of technology can reduce a company's cost for an employee inquiry by as much as 50 percent and for an employee record update by as much as 80 percent. Until recently, however, only large corporates were able to benefit from these savings. With our service, these cost savings are passed directly on to you.

We understand your problems

As a growing organisation ourselves we fully understand the issues you face as a business. In the 4 years since we were created we have gone from 2 to 160 staff so we are aware of the people issues and their associated administration. As a company we outsource many of our non-key services such as logistics and technical authoring so we fully understand the dynamics of creating outsourced partnerships from the buyers side. At the same time we have built up the largest installed base of HR systems users in the UK and the feedback from this customer base provides us with tremendous insight into the requirements of a wide spectrum of businesses.

Our range of services is comprehensive

We believe we offer one of the most comprehensive ranges of HR services on the market. Many suppliers claim to offer a HR outsourcing service and in many cases this provides you with little more than access to an employment law advice line. As you can see from the previous pages the services on offer cover, we believe, most aspects of HR management required by any business. This range of provision combined with our technology and experienced practitioners create a service offering that is unique in the marketplace.

MORE INFORMATION

	Click here if you would like someone to contact you regarding OneClickOutsourcing
	Click here for information about one of our Outsourced HR Solution customers.