Employee Leasing
Benefits of HR Consulting
Written by Chukwuma Asala for Gaebler Ventures
Why use an external HR consultant? The use of an external consultant in an organization is a common practice in the world of business.
HR consultants offer a number of different services, ranging from payroll, compensation and benefits, and a host of other services.
Some argue that they can be a little on the expensive side, and they can be, but they save you a lot more money down the road. Here are some quick benefits of using an HR consultant.
Have no culture
This is one of the biggest reasons HR consultants are very effective when helping an organization restructure a department that is not performing at its best. A consultant is very objective in the way they view an organization because they are not in a centralized organization where a conventional HR department is run from a single office. They function much like an entrepreneur; building relationships with different clients and getting referrals based on the work they do for these individual clients. This helps them to come into an organization and right away see the things that work and the things that are hampering the growth. The statement "well this is how we have always done things" is not something that a consultant listens to because culture is not something they have experience with.
Bring experience from other projects
Consultants travel a lot. This is usually the biggest downside to the actual people but a major plus to the organizations that they are serving. Consultants work based on contracts with different clients. Some bigger projects may require the person stay on the site for six months to a year while smaller projects range from a week to three months at the most. This experience is invaluable because someone who has been doing HR consulting for a number of years has seen so many different types of organizations and helped them to restructure some part of their organization. This gives them a history of solutions to draw from when facing a different challenge that they may not have experienced. Using an internal HR person for example, who has only worked with the same company for a number of years, will not have the same effectiveness because they only have one experience to draw from.
Employees are more receptive
This should go without saying but internal use of HR is never something employees have an affinity for. It is much easier to use someone who has no prior experience with the people, the culture, or the company in matters of HR. That lack of history or reputation will help resolve whatever the challenge is much quicker and much more objectivity. Internal HR staff is used to the company culture and will be more liable to make an error based on what they feel about the company versus what they know.
Chukwuma Asala is an international student from Nigeria who is studying to earn an MBA from the State University of New York in Albany. He has analyzed more than 20 industry case studies throughout his education thus far, and hopes to bring some of his business knowledge to Gaebler.com.
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