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Downsize HR and Cut Costs without Reducing Services
Spurred by the promise of wide-ranging cost savings, a growing number of HR departments are replacing their multiple Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) platforms from a variety of vendors with a single, enterprise-wide HRIS, reports Debra Garcia, Oracle director of the HCM product line.
HRIS consolidations, begun in some cases before the slump, are being accelerated as large companies eye efficiencies made possible when they no longer need to staff to support outdated, often customized HRIS or call centers for multiple platforms, which often grow up because of mergers or decentralized decision-making.
A single HRIS can provide a foundation for efficient HR services that are shared corporate-wide. “I’m engaged with one client in the Atlanta area that has three outdated HR systems, and they’re now deciding which one to upgrade so they won’t need three different staffs to maintain three different systems,” Garcia says. A similar move allowed a chemical-industry company to expand its employee-to-HR-staff ratio from 60 to 1 to 200 to 1, she adds.
When HR departments standardize on a core system and upgrade their choice to its latest release, they’re also better positioned to manage today’s varied workforces, which may span Baby Boomers to young “Generation Y” employees. “Companies have difficulties accommodating all of the different learning styles, compensation needs, and desires for work/life balance with older HR systems chosen because of features that were important six or seven years ago,” Garcia points out.
Garcia advises HR managers to evaluate HRIS upgrades in part for the modern HRIS components they offer, such as portals, Web 2.0 collaboration tools, and self-service applications. “These capabilities provide the first line of defense for answering questions so employees contact the call center only for information they can’t get elsewhere,” she explains. “That’s when efficiencies really come into play, because you’ll need only a fraction of the HR employees you might otherwise require.”
Many organizations that have already centralized to a single HRIS system and helpdesk are now taking the same standardization model to their newer, strategic applications that help manage talent. This new, integrated HRIS and talent framework provides immediate as well as long-term benefits to the bottom line and help companies forced to “do more with less.”
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