What should you look forward from your HR Service Provider ?

Human resource is where nearly all activities of an organization revolve around in any organization. Professional HR Service Provider [HRSP] should perform lot of roles and functions in an organization towards the attainment of business objectives and goals in order to drive organization’s overall growth. 

HR service providers in general have varied roles to play in meeting up with various agendas set forth by the management and at the same time should be performed professionally to meet the set objectives without much deviation. HRSP should be all of these:

1. SME: An HRSP should be a subject matter expert in all things HR. Be it Selection, Recruitment, Training and Development, Payroll, Compliance, Compensation Benefits, Employee Engagement and much more, its imperative that a Service Provider is an expert in each of these activities corresponding to what we actually consider them for.  

2. Trusted Strategic Partner: HRSPs should be able to partner with organizations in making plans that will align human resources with long term business objectives of an organization. The Service provider must also be able to provide tools and contribute to business strategy development.

3. Expert Administrator: HRSP are expected to be masters in the art of administrative support so that organization can operate seamlessly. They should also be able to discover evolving trends that are beneficial for the organization.

4. Wide Geographic Outreach: Though not a pre-requisite, its something that can add lot of value in your association. If your organization is of size and magnitude requiring support in a wider geography, it naturally makes sense to see if your service provider has similar reach which helps get customized support meeting each regions sensibilities and needs.

5. Agent of Change: HR service provider should always be able to find out new ways of performing their duties that can move the organization forward. They should be able to convince firm’s management in the need for change and address employees of the organization about those changes. As an expert in the field, they must be capable to create new organizational change without causing a disturbance in firm’s operations.

6. Employee Redressal: Good HR service provider is the one who will be able to determine long term HR needs, assess current resources and determine which areas in the organization need change. As an employee champion, HRSP should be involved in grievance handling issues in the organization.  

7. Single Provider for Multiple Services: Each organization has its own cultural ethos and principals. Foremost challenge of any organization while finalizing a Service Provider is to ensure they understand our philosophy and organization culture more than anything else. When one does, imagine our plight of doing this exercise for every single Vendor we look forward to for each HR Services that we assign? All the more reason to consider a Service provider catering to various HR services as a Bouquet, acting as single point of contact for multiple services. This saves lots of time and more importantly entrusting HR activities to someone who actually understands our business well.

Though above are some of the most sought after qualities in a HR Service provider, it nevertheless boils down to providing customized solutions for all your HR needs that makes a service provide stand out from the crowd which inturn helps build a long lasting association that is beneficial for both concerned.