I’ve posted before about the mindset of the executives in an organization not valuing Human Resources and viewing the department as a necessary evil that costs money.  There seems to be a lot of companies with this mindset who choose to outsource this function.  How does this help and hurt the company?

To me, outsourcing HR seems to be a dangerous statement.  Isn’t this demonstrating a lack of concern for their people?  Human Resources, by its very name, is a resource for the most important piece of any company – the humans! 

I do see potential value in lowering costs by outsourcing some of the administrative functions, such as getting new hires on payroll or enrolled in the benefits program, but isn’t outsourcing an entire department that is supposed to exist to ensure happy and productive employees contradictory to the goal?

Wouldn’t any company want their main liaison between the production goals and the people responsible for achieving these goals to consist of a staff that knows the specific business, has a vested interest in success, and has a solid understanding of the long term, big picture?

Human Resources should be a strategic department designed to increase productivity.  How can you have a successful onboarding program if it is run by people who don’t work directly for the company?  How can you represent a trusting and caring environment if the message is that you hire a vendor to take care of your own?  I think if I were an employee of a company that outsourced HR, I would feel that the corporation didn’t want to be bothered to put people in place who are there in the trenches with me and genuinely want to make my professional experience the best it could be.

HR can be a very strategic department if it consists of people who know employment law, human behavior, business metrics, business law, production goals, engagement – the list goes on and on.  An internal Human Resource department that has these specialties covered will be an asset to any organization and I find it hard to believe that the same level of effectiveness can be found by outsourcing.