Outsourcing your HR: How the recession is fuelling demand for specialist consultancies

At a time when businesses are under intense pressure, more and more companies are outsourcing their human resource function — whether it’s larger companies looking to cut the costs of an in-house team or smaller businesses that need help navigating through these difficult times when dealing with the likes of restructuring, redundancies, change management and all sorts of other issues that the economic crisis may have brought to the fore.

If you’ve thought about outsourcing, it’s a good time to explore this option further as taking appropriate action is crucial when faced with issues that have the potential to lead to legal claims if not handled professionally.

As a specialist outsourced consultancy, P3 People Management is seeing strong growth despite the current recession, with a 40% increase over the past six months. Director Charlotte Gallagher commented, “The benefits of outsourcing are clear: you can save time and money, whilst sharing the risk of any potential legal claims. There’s also the access to expertise so that clients can have peace of mind by making a quick call to check out potential repercussions of their actions before taking them. We take a prescriptive approach and advise clients how to avoid difficult situations which can save them thousands in the long run.”

Outsourcing can also be done on a project basis, working in tandem with an in-house team or providing dedicated support for a particular process, such as providing training on performance management, helping your organisation to achieve accreditation (ie. Investors in People) or undertaking employee surveys to identify areas of need.

John Mortimer, co-founder of Angela Mortimer Group plc recently appointed P3 People Management and outsourced the HR function for a workforce of 200 staff across seven offices.

John said, “Having previously had an in-house HR department, I’m very conscious of the benefits of outsourcing. I have now outsourced the department to an operation who can afford far better standards and business focus than I could by hiring in-house.

“I now know I have the solution to the need to cover all my HR requirements, without the impact on company dynamics, or resources.”