Traditionally, HR ‘generalists’ have done it all; sourced top talent, kept the workforce engaged, provided counsel to senior management and so on. Successful businesses know that creating a desirable workplace culture attracts like-minded and smart employees who perform well and, in turn, entice other attractive candidates. Since an organisation’s people are its engine room, it makes sense to enlist the best HR talent one can find. But for companies feeling the pinch and looking to cut costs or conversely, seeking to bolster their existing HR function and take their company to the next level, utilising an HR consultant can help….
Traditionally, HR ‘generalists’ have done it all; sourced top talent, kept the workforce engaged, provided counsel to senior management and so on. Successful businesses know that creating a desirable workplace culture attracts like-minded and smart employees who perform well and, in turn, entice other attractive candidates. Since an organisation’s people are its engine room, it makes sense to enlist the best HR talent one can find. But for companies feeling the pinch and looking to cut costs or conversely, seeking to bolster their existing HR function and take their company to the next level, utilising an HR consultant can help.
An Australian employee credit union recently discovered exactly that when it sought the assistance of an HR consultant service and it proved to be the key ingredient in their success. Previously, its 25 employees had struggled to effectively service the credit union’s 8,500 members, so management began exploring ways to streamline the company’s payroll and HR systems.
“Given we were a small team, we wanted to try and be as efficient as possible,” their chief risk officer said.
“There was a lot of time and energy being put into the payroll process each fortnight and doing the monthly reporting and reconciliation process.”
Simply getting the right advice enabled the organisation to automate and streamline important HR functions, reducing time spent in unnecessary administration. It now has access to tools necessary to support its HR processes, from recruitment to paperless onboarding, reporting, performance reviews, employee self-service, workplace health and safety and even an employee benefits program.
“We have certainly been able to reduce the amount of time and effort we spend on a fortnightly or monthly basis,” he said.
The company has also saved time with the reallocation of staff into other areas of the business, such as compliance and risk-based improvements and enhancements.
“I would tend to think there has been at least 25 per cent of time that has been freed up with our payroll person to be doing other things,” he said.
Despite the integral role HR plays, many businesses simply do not have the resources available to invest in taking on permanent full-time employees in this capacity. As highlighted earlier, outsourcing has the potential to make an organisation leaner, more adaptive, smarter and more profitable when contracted for the right reasons. Often, utilising additional HR talent within a temporary or temp-to-permanent capacity can be a better fit depending on the business needs. iHR Australia has a network of HR professionals available to work at all levels, with expertise across all disciplines.
As a human resources specialist, iHR Australia provides a range of services across three key HR Partnering models:
1. Temporary to permanent
2. Traditional
3. Outsourced, consulting or on demand
Within this framework, iHR provides expertise and experience in organisational development, HR management, employee relations, change management, HR project management, learning and development and generalist HR.
Recent articles
Overcoming the Middle Manager Sandwich: CEO Strategies for Success
