Human Resources Outsourcing: Is it New? Will it Last?



Defined Tag: Human Resources Outsourcing.

Outsourcing has become a hot topic in today’s business world. One aspect to this is human resources outsourcing, which many people consider yet another new step in this business trend. In this article we’ll discuss the nature of human resources outsourcing, where it’s going and where it’s been.

To begin, let’s discuss the term outsourcing as it’s definition is a bit murky for some people. Outsourcing, contrary to some mis-information, is not when one person loses his job at work to someone from another country, as such. We’ll simply refer to that as replacement. Outsourcing concerns a non-primary member of a job losing that job, or even a position, which often-times has only just been created but in which the new vacancy has not been filled. So for instance, if a company in New York wishes to set up an office with a representative in Hong Kong, and hires a businesswoman in Hong Kong, no job is taken in the New York office. This is outsourcing.

Now onto a working definition of human resources. HR is a little less vague, as many people have worked in a large company where there is at least one HR representative. This is the person who is in charge of making office relations go smoothly. Not from the business end, but from that of personality. Personalities clash at times and the HR rep will aid by creating a neutral ground along with mediation. Or, if there is a problem with only one person, the HR representative can offer advice and be a shoulder to lean on.

So by now you’ve surely figured out how these two terms can work together. Human resources outsourcing is when a company is simply not large enough to constitute (or afford) a regular, full-time HR representative. Another option is that a corporation with numerous offices spread around a city finds it not cost-effective to have a separate rep at every office, and will also call human resources outsourcing into play. This simply means that employees with personal problems will be sent to a professional mediator. This can be a psychologist, or other form of professional arbitrator.

Against common reasoning, human resources outsourcing is probably older than other forms of outsourcing. Long before HR became a common term, corporations were sending their employees to “hired guns” to alleviate personal and professional problems. This probably began with the outsourcing of doctors, which even today is a common practice as few corporations have on-site doctors on their payroll.

As for the future, we can only guess that human resources outsourcing will continue, along with other shades of this practice. The bottom line in business is not mental health or safety, but money. Yet with human resources outsourcing and the capital that has been put into it, it is a close second or third priority. With such actions and philosophy in business, the financial world is ever changing, hopefully for the better.