Is Human Resources Outsourcing Right for Your Growing Company?

If you're an owner or general manager of a growingwe take on more overhead and hire an HR Manager
company at some point you will find that more andor Coordinator?"    The correct answer is –
more of your time is being spent on dealing withneither.
employee related issues and concerns and less andAs with most situations in life, the quality of the
less is being spent on growing your business.    Thequestions we ask will determine the quality of the
more successful you are… the more you grow… theanswers we get.  In this case, the correct question to
more you grow…the more employee issues andask is, "How do we acquire HR expertise in the most
concerns to deal with.  That's just a fact of life whencost effective and productive way possible?"  In a lot
you're in business today.   So when do you lookof cases, the answer is to outsource all or part of the
outside your company for help with your HumanHR function. 
Resources?  If you are like most small businessAs companies grow there is a growing need for HR
owners, you wait until the pain is so great that youexpertise, but that doesn't mean that they need an HR
have no alternative but to bring in some help. department or even a full time HR person.   A
 Unfortunately by that time the damage has alreadyknowledgeable and experienced HR professional can
been done. easily manage the Human Resources function of an
In actual fact the best time to bring on an HR specialistorganization with 20 to 80 employees on a less that
is when you notice that you are spending more thanfull time basis…sometimes even in as little as one day
20% of your time on HR issues.  These issues(8 hours) a week.   This is where a "Human
consist of, hiring and firing, employee on-boarding,Resources Outsourcing" firm comes into play.  
compensation and benefit administration, employeeMore than ever before, businesses are looking for
relations and development, conflict management,innovative ways to reduce their costs while increasing
change management, performance management,their productivity and bottom line results.  An effective
regulatory compliance, among other things.   If youway of doing that is by outsourcing non-core functions
are spending more than 20% of your time performingso that more time, money and energy can be put
administrative or non-core activities that are taking timetoward growing the business, all the while ensuring that
away from doing what you're supposed to beyour employees are well looked after. 
doing…which is growing your business, then you haveUtilizing the services of a Human Resources
a problem – even if you don't realize it yet.Outsourcing firm is an ideal solution for the organization
So at what point will you begin to exceed the 20%that is growing but is not quite at the size that would
mark.  Usually it is when your employee base growsrequire a full time Human Resources
to about 20 or 30 employees.  Once you get to thatpresence.   Outsourcing companies provide
level…some HR expertise is definitely required.  experienced and committed Human
That doesn't necessarily mean you need a full time HRResources Professionals who could easily manage
person on staff…it just means you need thethe HR function of an organization that is on the brink
expertise.  of moving to the next level of success.   More
In this economic climate organizations are extremelyimportantly, they can do it on a less than full time basis,
reluctant to take on any more overhead than theywhich means reduced costs in comparison to
absolutely need, but sometimes doing without doesemploying a full time HR person.  HR outsourcing
more damage than taking on the extra cost.  So atprovides all the advantages of an in-house HR
some point these organization will ask themselves thedepartment without the added cost of employing
same question…"Do we continue to do without, or doadditional staff.