Many HR departments are currently assessing their added value. How do we truly advance the organization and where do we spend our time? Questions like these often lead to the decision to implement an e-HR system or outsource (a part of) the services.

1. Dare to dream: what does the employee journey look like in your organization?

The decision has been made. Now is the time to take an extensive look, process by process, and describe what your ideal service delivery looks like. Dare to dream! Don’t do this behind closed doors with just HR, but involve the people who matter. Who will be using the system? Exactly, the people within your organization. Understand that every decision you make now impacts the employee journey through your organization and how employees perceive and experience HR and the organization.

Organize meetings to gather the wishes, concerns, and irritations of all your target groups. This also gives you the opportunity to raise awareness among employees that a significant change is coming. Present project choices to the participants, regularly show progress, and test communication tools and needs with them. Their input is invaluable and can save you from a lot of dissatisfaction later on.

Once you have a clear vision of the ideal service delivery, you can translate this into a set of principles to guide teams in making the right decisions. These principles should serve as a guideline for everyone involved, ranging from abstract (we want to provide friendly service) to concrete (we do not send notifications for a smooth process).

2. Taking ownership: who owns what?

As an HR department you own the entire HR service delivery, the project, and the transition. This means you’re in the lead for everything involved, including the technology behind (the access to) your system. Take responsibility for all aspects of your service delivery and for collaborating with other disciplines in the organization that you need for this.

Good chain management is the key to success, not only during the project phase but also after. Therefore, organize all your HR processes into a few main chains and involve all stakeholders: the various HR disciplines (policy, process, advice, and operations), as well as IT, security, suppliers, and representatives from third parties. By bringing all disciplines together in these chain teams, you ensure that everyone has a voice. This collaborative approach ensures the best results in both ongoing service delivery and desired improvements.

3. You and your supplier: true partners?

When outsourcing, everyone looks at the impact on costs, so we don’t need to point that out to you. But don’t forget the other side of it all: outsourcing inevitably affects the quality and flexibility of your service delivery. This doesn’t have to be a problem if you and your supplier are on the same page. A balanced and constructive relationship makes all the difference. Saying you’re partners is one thing; being true partners is another matter entirely.

Partnership doesn’t happen automatically; both parties need to put in significant effort. You do this by being fully transparent with each other: be very honest about what you want, can do, and expect. Especially when things get tough, those are the moments when many are inclined to fall back on the contract. Legally correct perhaps, but it likely won’t contribute to the ultimate goal: delivering outstanding HR services to the organization’s employees together.

The best tip is actually very straightforward. Get to know each other well to understand each other better. Take a look at each other’s operations: know the people, understand each other’s strategic goals, challenges, and organizational culture. This way, a supplier understands the impact of their solutions, and you as a client understand the impact of your requests, assignments, or ideas.

Finally, be realistic

A change such as implementing e-HR or outsourcing HR services is significant. It won’t be without challenges; things will turn out differently than you expected, and some people won’t be happy about it. You shouldn’t be blind to this, but don’t let it throw you off course. True partnership takes time, just like adapting to a new way of working. It’s your job to pave the way as smoothly as possible and to guide the path forward.

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