HR outsourcing: Finding and optimising the right solution

HRO teams operate as an extension of a business, either working hand in hand with its internal HR team or plugging in as its HR team. This blog post explains what each of these options looks like in practice and advises on how you can get the best results from both scenarios.

HR Outsourcing, when done well, can equip businesses of all sizes with the skills, data, and expertise to achieve HR transformation and gain competitive advantage. It is particularly effective if a company feels its in-house solution could achieve more or when a business is experiencing rapid growth. But there is no one-size-fits-all model when it comes to how this kind of partnership should be structured. There are a range of different areas and services an HRO provider can cover, but there are also different options for how that service is delivered. We’re here to help you understand which one is most suitable for you.

Working hand-in-hand with internal HR

HRO teams often work alongside an internal HR team, operating as an integrated extension of that department. They will usually take over specific administrative or transactional tasks like processing benefits, issuing contracts, managing payroll activity and compliance, and so on, freeing up the internal team to focus more on strategic functions.

This is particularly effective where a company is going through a period of change or expansion and wants to remove the operational burden of day-to-day HR activity from their internal team so they can focus on partnering strategically to support business growth.

In order for this model to work, the HRO team must develop an understanding of the company’s mission, values and objectives, and communicate and coordinate with the existing HR team. We always advise businesses embarking on this kind of partnership to provide a point of contact for the new team in order to facilitate initial relationship-building, as this will help them to identify key stakeholders to reach out to in the first instance.

At Morson, whenever we partner with a new business, we aim to integrate ourselves as seamlessly as possible. By focusing on getting to know the culture of the business and what the precedent looks like, we can align with the overall HR objectives and quickly start working towards shared goals.

Plugging in as the HR team

Some companies choose to fully outsource their HR function. Here, the HRO team effectively serves as the company’s entire HR department, handling everything from payroll and compliance to recruitment, talent management, and workforce strategy decisions. This option can have a financial benefit, as the business doesn’t have to maintain an in-house HR staff. It also allows company leadership to focus more wholly on core business functions rather than HR administration.

We find that this model is particularly useful for businesses looking to set up new branches in locations where they don’t yet have an HR team, or smaller organisations who may not need an internal HR team but require HR expertise from a risk point of view. Rather than recruiting for individual roles (HR generalist, L&D manager and so on), everything falls under one umbrella of support. A good HRO partner will also support a business in identifying other areas of need, such as mandatory training and HR policies, to ensure compliance.

Relationship building and communication are both important in this scenario. Where possible, your HRO provider should build a core team dedicated to your business. We advise that members of this team communicate from your business email address in order to build recognition and trust with your employees. It will sometimes be possible for team members to have a physical presence on site, but things like attending weekly catch-up meetings, planning and developing operational improvements and feeding into quarterly reviews will also strengthen relationships and ensure a more seamless delivery of services.

Finding an HRO solution that meets your needs

At Morson, our HRO solution is both broad and flexible, allowing our clients to create a bespoke option that matches their requirements perfectly. We organise our services under four ‘pillars’ – early careers (including the design, implementation and delivery of early careers programmes), operational support (anything touching the employee lifecycle, from contracts to exit interviews), benefits and payroll, and consultancy (on an ad hoc basis, often focusing on employee value proposition and change process management projects). We offer our clients a people service shopping list from which they can cherry-pick to suit their needs, creating a tailor-made package.

But, whether we’re working with an existing HR team or taking full responsibility for that role, our primary aim is to integrate ourselves within the client business and get to know it intrinsically, because we know that being able to align culturally and communicate effectively is the key to any successful HRO partnership.

If you’d like to read more about our HRO services or learn about the Morson approach, why not check out one of our case studies for a first-hand testimonial about how we operate, or get in touch to speak to us directly.