Outsourcing: Are HR and Payroll So Different?
July 12, 2010 in Corporate Services, Shared Services and Outsourcing
Image : Tychay, Flickr
Over the last decade, it’s become increasingly clear the transactional side of Human Resources and the Payroll service are two sides of the same coin.
The HR team helps managers source and deploy people into effective roles on the right employment terms. The Payroll team implement those terms accurately and in accordance with tax legislation.
Completing the cycle, the Payroll Team provide invaluable workforce and cost information which cab support strategy, planning and policy review.
Both teams help manage the workforce and support the reduction of associated risks while removing burdens from front line management, allowing them to focus on operations and team leadership.
In the article “The Other”, SystematicHR described the highly structured environment payroll inhabits and the contrast with the “flexibility” which managers and HR departments so highly value. Working with both teams regularly, Attractor recognises the description and accepts there are elements of truth in the common stereotypes.
There is something else which, until recently at least, distiguished the two departments.
In the UK, organisations have traditionally been happy to outsource payroll transactions to a commercial partner. They recognise the work needs technical skills but can be labour intensive. They consider it safer to pass risks to a specialist body who guarantees compliance and, hopefully, generates economies of scale.
Some perceive the reluctance of organisations to outsource HR as protectionism or empire-building by the management team. HR is often considered more central to business operations, making it less attractive to outsource. Fears often arise over “losing control” of key issues on staff appointments and difficult people management issues. With HR supporting action by senior and line managers, it isn’t possible to transfer “compliance risk” in the same way. Read the rest of this entry →
In Northern Ireland, the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) is looking for new enterprise IT systems.
With Attractor’s benchmarking toolkit having gone live, a thorough review of screens and features has generated a short “snagging list”.
Attractor has just completed work with an NHS organisation implementing its first “self service solution”.
Attractor’s benchmarking solution was made available to our early client group this week.
The NHS QIPP programme is likely to focus attention on front-line service provision.
Working with NHS organisations, Attractor is often asked where the payroll function should reside … with Finance or Human Resources.
