A reflection for last weeks HRO Summit in Amstersdam.
In today’s world, business transformation has come to mean more than just the alignment of business strategy and vision with its People, Processes and Technology. It means a focus on People more than ever before – to the point that HR has suddenly been thrust into the central, strategic position that it has coveted for what seems like decades! The credit crunch, globalisation, step changes in web and technology advancement, all mean that many organisations are looking for different types of people to lead them forward. Organisations are often now producing and/or selling radically new products and services, and they are looking both internally for the best talent that could be developed or re-trained, and externally for skills that they have never before employed. This puts Talent right at the centre of transformation, where HR process and technology play the role of – albeit fundamentally critical – enablers. Without the talent, there is no transformation.
At the HROA Summit last week in Amsterdam, there seemed to be a difference in opinion as to whether or not HRO providers were really delivering transformational services. Are HRO providers actually involved directly in adding value themselves or are they providing services that enable HR to focus on adding value to the business? Most HRO providers, whether they are in multiple HR disciplines or specialist, focus hard on providing great efficiency to enable HR to focus on strategy. So they play the “enabler” role.
As Recruitment Outsourcers we are in a unique position to truly add transformational value and bring expertise through partnership where we often see very lean HR teams. It is the talent that brings growth and it is incumbent on us as experts to seek to deliver that value, and indeed be measured and paid for the results that drive our clients forward. And if we are ever accused of not being transformational, perhaps it is because our service simply enables HR to be more strategic themselves, providing functional and process-led services that don’t look beyond the efficiency.
Thank you Damien Stork, Director at Ochre House, for your insight.
