An HR department is a critical component of employee well-being in any business, no matter how small. HR’s responsibilities include payroll, benefits, hiring, firing, and keeping up to date with tax and employee laws. Any mix-up concerning these issues could cause major legal problems for your business, as well as considerable employee dissatisfaction. Small businesses often don’t have the staff or the budget to properly handle the nitty-gritty details of Human Resources. Because of this, more and more SMEs are outsourcing their HR needs.

The benefits for an SME

Strong human resources practices have the potential to increase your company’s productivity and profitability, but HR management has become a considerable task, demanding significant resources. Keeping abreast of legal and regulatory issues has become an overwhelming undertaking, and time spent on administrative duties is time spent away from growing your business. Outsourcing your ‘people needs’ can help you gain a competitive advantage as well as having access to professionals who can cut through the minefield of HR practices and deliver a positive impact on your business. This gives employees better benefits and the business owner the freedom to focus on the critical business issues.

Despite recognising the benefits of outsourcing HR, half of small to medium sized businesses are not making the most of the opportunity. The issues they give for stalling on making the decision include, for example, that they are unclear how much it will cost them, compared with their in-house function. There’s also a concern about employee resistance, and HR employees themselves fear they will lose their jobs. The other main reason is anxiety about managing an outsourcing provider because they have never done it before. In reality, by outsourcing, the company can be helped to save up to £1000 per employee; employees will be given a better service; HR employees will be freed to work on more strategic people issues and with the right advice and preparation, managing an outsourcer is fairly simple.

The different types of HR outsourcing providers

HR outsourcing providers generally fall into 4 categories:

Full responsibility organisations

These assume full responsibility of your company’s human resources administration. They become a co-employer of your company’s workers by taking full legal responsibility of your employees, including having the final say in hiring, firing, and the amount of money employees make. The organisation and business owner become partners, essentially, with the organisation handling all the HR aspects and the business handling all other aspects of the company.

BPOs

Business Process Outsourcing is a broad term referring to outsourcing in all fields, not just HR. A BPO differentiates itself by either putting in new technology or applying existing technology in a new way to improve a process.

Specifically in HR, a BPO would make sure a company’s HR system is supported by the latest technologies, such as self-access and HR data warehousing.

ASPs

Application service providers host software on the Web and rent it to users: some ASPs host HR software. Some are well-known packaged applications, while others are customised HR software developed by the vendor. These software programs can manage payroll, benefits, and more.

E-services

E-services are those HR services that are Web-based. Both BPOs and ASPs are often referred to as e-services.

It’s useful to know these service terms, but don’t get too sidetracked by the names when interviewing potential outsourcing firms. The key to hiring the right outsourcing firm is knowing what services your company needs and then finding an outsourcing firm that can provide them.

What can you get?

When you outsource HR functions, some services go with the ‘all-or-nothing’ approach, requiring that they handle all your HR functions or none at all. Others offer their services ‘a la carte,’ meaning you can pick and choose from the services they offer.

These can include:

• Job offers and new employee registration

• Benefits administration

• Work-related status changes

• Sickness and absence

• Personal details maintenance

• Payroll data entry, audit and payment

• Expenses data entry and payment

• Training and appraisal administration

• Health and safety procedures

• HR Procedures and policies

• Leaver administration – references

• Ad hoc enquiries

Coaching and support can also be available in the form of:

• Business and HR Strategies development and implementation

• People development

• Attracting and recruiting people

• Any HR matters and employment law advice

Selecting an outsource provider is dependent on each individual business. It is useful to ask yourself what you are good at, and what your level of knowledge is, then where you find gaps, inconsistencies or a large amount of time consumption, it makes sense to find a company who can take those areas over.

A quick health check of your business

Here’s a reference list for you to work through for your business. Clearly, for any of the points where the answer is no, you are leaving yourself and your business exposed, and these are areas to cover in-house or with an outsourced service.

Have you issued your staff with written contracts of employment?

Do your contracts include the requirements of the Employment Regulations Act 1996 (as amended)?

Does your organisation have an up to date Health and Safety policy?

Do your Employment Contracts cover:

Absence and Sickness procedure?

Use of equipment, computers, telephones etc?

Disciplinary procedures?

Appeals procedure?

Alcohol, illegal drugs and smoking procedures?

Working Time Regulations Procedures?

Gross misconduct definitions?

Holiday request procedures?

Which of the following policies do you have:

Disciplinary policy?

Grievance policy?

Equal opportunities policy?

IT and communications policy?

Maternity and parental leave policies?

Policy for time off for domestic emergencies?

Company car policy?

Sickness and absenteeism policy?

What to look for when looking for a good supplier

Always ensure you have considered the following:

• Guaranteed service levels – set specific levels early on

• A proven track record

• Guaranteed cost savings

• A compatible corporate culture and specific timings for managing the relationship between your company and the outsourcer

• Pay attention to detail – if it’s not in the contract you won’t get it

How much will it cost?

There are no clear-cut price ranges with HR outsourcing. The fees range greatly between services, as well as within the services. Aspects like number of employees, the options you choose to use, and even geography, will affect your overall cost. To put the quote in to context, compare this with the average salary and maintenance of an in-house HR director or staff. You might find significant savings either in money, hassle, or both.

Contracts with HR outsourcing firms usually run for a year. But you should work in a clause in which you can give 30 days’ notice to break the contract if you are dissatisfied with the services or don’t need the services anymore.

What are the downsides to HR outsourcing?

An in-house HR person handles perks that you can’t necessarily count on an outsourcing service to carry out – like looking into group offerings, building employee incentive programs, even taking care of recognition for employees’ birthdays. Employees may want someone in-house who is an impartial co-worker they can trust and see daily to turn to if they have a work-related problem or dispute with another co-worker.

Because an in-house HR person interacts daily with your employees, they will likely have more of an interest in your employees. For example, employees often appreciate having someone on staff who will help negotiate in their favour for certain benefits that are critical these days for employee retention like holiday policies.

The best option, if possible, is to keep an in-house HR manager to concentrate on these issues: freed of the constraints of HR administration, they should be able to explore all the benefit areas for employees and, with a more strategic role, provide an impact to the businesses bottom line. They can also manage the outsource company instead of the owner.

If you decide to use an e-service, the same issues you’d have with any application service providers remain. When everything is stored and handled online, you should take a proactive approach to security and continuity of service.

So, should you consider outsourcing your HR?

If you have fewer than 100 employees, the answer is yes. At this size, you often don’t have the resources for an in-house HR staff, so outsourcing is just right for you. You don’t have to worry about managing all the details that are so critical to HR in your business, and most small-business owners just don’t have the skills and experience to do so. Remember, HR functions must be handled correctly as close to 100 percent of the time as possible; slip-ups can cause your business major problems.

If you have less than 12 employees, online and electronic services are the way to go. These services are tailored to work with all sizes of businesses, even the smallest. You don’t have to give up legal responsibility just yet, and you’ll be able to easily access your information online, and since the charge is usually by user, you won’t be overpaying.

In conclusion, if you’re uncertain about outsourcing everything but know you don’t have the staff or experience to keep it in-house, try outsourcing only certain parts, such as payroll and benefits. You can also purchase HR software right off the shelf to support any in-house efforts. Whatever you decide, make sure to keep your employees in the loop. They will appreciate knowing that you are seeking the most affordable solution for the business while doing your best to meet their needs. You get more out of your business when you get more out of your employees: focusing on people does pay off.

Source:http://fmlaregulations.blognub.com/fmla-regulations/hr-outsourcing-for-smes-benefits-challenges-and-how-to-go-about-it/

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Source:http://www.hostrage.com/dedicated-offshore-development-outsourcing-it-work/

India, looking to launch a second green revolution to boost its food security, has begun looking at distant South America where countries have been able to ramp up food production with new technology and farming methods. And to take lessons first-hand, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar will visit Argentina, Brazil and Mexico this month.

‘India has much to learn from the best practices of South America, especially Brazil and Argentina,’ R. Viswanathan, Indian Ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, told IANS during a visit here.

The South American countries have overtaken the United States in soya production, accounting for 50 percent of global production, and significantly denting the American domination in the agri-business sector.

With large swathes of land in a sparsely populated region, which accounts for 26 percent of global freshwater reserves, South American nations have the highest yields per hectare.

For Indian companies, which have been looking at farmlands for their agri-business, there is another attraction the technologies that have been indigenously developed in these countries and applied in farming.

A revolutionary method is ‘no-till farming’, which is applied in 80 percent of the land cultivated in the Mercosur countries (a trading bloc comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay,). In this kind of farming, land is not ploughed. Instead, the agricultural residue of the last plant is allowed to enrich the soil. The seed is then injected into the soil through special machines.

Another technology which Pawar is likely to see in Argentina is the Silobag a polyeutherane bag that can store up to 200 tonnes of foodgrains on the field itself – that saves costs on building concrete storage units.

‘We have brought this to the notice of the agriculture ministry,’ said Viswanathan.

India faces a shortage of 15 million tonnes in storage capacity, one of the main reasons why hundreds of tonnes of food grains are wasted every year in the country. The technology figured at a meeting between Pawar and his Argentine counterpart, Julian Andres Dominguez here earlier last month.

Moreover, India can look to replicate the success of Argentina in turning agriculture into a high-technology sector.

Viswanathan referred to the Argentine group Los Grobos, which has brought the outsourcing model to agriculture. Los Grobos cultivates 270,000 hectares in Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina, without owning a single plot of land.

It uses ‘precision farming’, which employs software to determine the input distribution and monitors by satellite the location of the seeds and sprayer machines. At the same time, soil monitors give real-time information, helping the group head office to decide on the nutritional and other parameters.

All this could be brought to India for trial.

Also, Indian companies can move to the continent to take advantage of the available technology and expertise for business in the agricultural sector.

Viswanathan said Indian entrepreneurs should vigorously explore the region ’since South America has an agri-business ecosystem like the IT ecosystem in India – export-oriented with competent human resources and service providers that allow investors to focus on output and returns.’

South America is a major source of oilseeds. It exports soya and sunflower oil worth $1 billion to India annually. It is learnt that the Indian delegation led by Pawar would explore increasing the supply of edible oil and pulses to the subcontinent as domestic output has not been able to meet galloping demand.

Source:http://sify.com/finance/india-looks-at-south-america-for-farm-revolution-news-default-kjdnuciebdd.html