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HR Wheel for Recruitment Services from Clark Schaefer Strategic HR.

What Is an RPO?

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The letters RPO with the acronym spelled out as Recruitment Process Outsourcing

HR Question:

I keep hearing about RPOs… but I don’t have a clue what they are. What are they, and should I be looking into one?

HR Answer:

It’s nearly impossible to keep up with all of the business acronyms, new or old, so it’s not shocking that you may not have heard of an RPO – particularly if you work outside of the HR space. An RPO – or Recruitment Process Outsourcing – can be beneficial to all kinds of companies, particularly if you’re working with limited staff dedicated to human resources.

What is an RPO?

The Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association defines RPOs as something akin to business process outsourcing, where “an employer transfers all or parts of its recruitment processes to an external service provider.” While that might sound intimidating, think of it this way – an RPO takes care of clearing your desk of resumes, pending background checks, job descriptions desperate for review, and all of the other paperwork that goes along with hiring new employees. An RPO can operate as a seamless extension of your organization throughout the entire recruiting and selection process.

An RPO will require an element of transparency that you may not be used to, but don’t worry, it’s in the name of better service. An RPO will want to understand your organizational culture, how you typically approach your recruitment process, the reason why you’ve done it this way in the past, and previous candidates that you’ve worked with or considered. This will keep the RPO team from spinning wheels already spun while making sure to move your process forward to find the best candidates who fit your needs and your organizational culture.

Benefits of an RPO

Not only does an RPO take care of the more tedious and time-consuming aspects of talent acquisition, but they can also tackle some of the softer approaches that recruiting calls for in today’s market. With the additional time and attention RPO teams are able to afford candidates, they can create the “human touch” that is so often called for in a recruitment process. Don’t believe us? Check out Monster’s article on candidate experience and why it matters.

RPOs can also be a significant money-saving recruitment solution. When you consider the average placement rate of many staffing firms – which ranges from 25-40% – versus the hourly rate of many RPOs, you can save thousands of dollars. For example, take a new manager position with a target salary of $60K a year. If you were to work through a staffing firm, that new hire could cost you between $15,000 – $24,000, not to mention the time and energy put in by your team to hire and onboard this individual. Should you work with an RPO (with an hourly rate of $150) using an average of 55 hours to fill a position, you’re only spending $8,250 – a cost-savings of almost $7,000 – $16,000. This provides a compelling argument for using an RPO if you’re seeking buy-in from your CFO.

Is an RPO right for you?

Even if an RPO is a great process for some businesses, it’s not meant for all. This tends to be a good recruiting solution for businesses that have a lean or limited recruiting team. If you don’t have the resources or your plate is too full, reaching out to an outsourced recruiting firm can keep your timeline moving with a limited time commitment on your part.

If you don’t need help month-in, month-out or your needs ebb and flow more than you can plan for, an RPO may be a good fit. Ideally, their consultative approach should be able to be turned on or off when your needs call for them.

Or perhaps you may need a recruiting expert or a strategic partner. You and your team might recognize the limits of your understanding or knowledge in recruiting while doing your best to avoid compliance issues. An RPO provides an opportunity to partner with a team of talent acquisition experts who can help to support your recruiting and compliance needs.

What to look for in an RPO

While there are many RPOs out there, not all are the same. When trying to assess which RPO is right for you, consider the following items:

Expertise

If you’re handing off your recruitment process with an increased level of transparency, you want to make sure you can trust the team with which you are partnering. Take a look at the level of expertise the company boasts. What is their approach to talent acquisition? Are they thought leaders in their industry? Do they create and share helpful content? Are they able to speak to providing a positive candidate experience, data analytics, and cost-savings?

Examples & Testimonials

Take a look at their online reviews. Have others in your industry used this RPO? Is this company able to speak to the experience that both candidates and clients have had during their time using their services? Does this company have experience in your industry and understand the nuances that might come with your jobs? Consider sharing your recruiting challenges and ask how they intend to address them. Or, ask about the challenges they have faced recruiting in your industry and how they have overcome those challenges.

Clear Communication

Can this company clearly outline their costs and how they will save you money? Can they provide an accurate prediction of potential costs you may encounter along the way? Are they as timely with you as they are with candidates? How will they communicate progress with you? This may be another good reason to dig into your network and seek client/candidate testimonials to see what others say.

As with any business service you consider working with, be sure to do your homework first to ensure you find the best RPO for your organization.

Thank you to Samantha Kelly, Senior Sales & Marketing Strategist and Melinda Canino, MS, Senior HR Communications Advisor for contributing to this HR Question of the Week. 

Do you think an RPO might be a fit for you? Strategic HR can tackle your recruiting challenges so you can have time to do what you do best. Learn about our approach to Outsourced Recruitment or Contact Us today.

Clark Schaefer Strategic HR's wheel of HR Services, including HR Strategy, Recruitment, Training & Development, Benefits & Compensation, Communications, Employee Relations, Recordkeeping, and Health, Safety & Security

What Does an HR Audit Involve?

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Photo of HR professional conducting an HR audit

HR Audit.  No one likes to hear that word⁠—audit.  Assessment.  Inspection.  Review.  Evaluation.  Analysis.  No matter what word you use, negative thoughts start to fill your head.  I challenge you, however, to look at this event as a chance to review and renew.  A properly conducted HR Audit can be (and should be) a welcome addition to your annual HR calendar.  Regularly having a review of your human resources function can help you remain the best in class and continuously improve the function and services you provide.

What is involved in an HR Audit?

Auditing involves an organized and structured review of your organizational practices.  By reviewing company and department goals, policies, procedures, legal requirements, and established processes, the HR Audit will allow a complete review to assure you are on track and compliant.  The review will help identify gaps in policies and identify what is happening versus what should be happening.  Many audits identify areas where procedures are not followed or haven’t been updated. Identifying outdated or inconsistent policies and procedures can lead to:

  • Review of processes to determine what makes the most sense for your organization
  • Assuring that everyone is following the same procedures
  • Process improvement and enhanced customer service
  • Assuring HR Compliance
  • Improvement of the quality of the process from those inside human resources as well as those outside of the process who rely on it for their department’s success.

How to conduct an effective HR Audit?

How do you make sure your HR Audit is a constructive event resulting in improvements rather than demerits?  The key to an effective audit is to clearly define it and have the process work to your advantage.  When selecting an auditor to review your function, I recommend securing an individual or team that will work with you to ensure you get what you want out of the review.  In order to do that, interview those you are considering to take on the auditor role to verify that they understand your culture and your industry.

Consider the following before you engage in the process:

  1. Identify your desired outcome. What is the goal of your HR Audit? Why are you conducting this review?  What do you hope to accomplish from the review?  Is it a compliance-driven review?  Is it a review of process and best practice?  Some employers are confident that their compliance is on point and prefer a review of processes and best-practices in functional activities such as recruiting, payroll processing, or even benefits administration.  Others are solely concerned about compliance and keeping up with the myriad of changing legal requirements.  Determine your desired outcome before you begin and tailor the review to meet those expectations on the front end.
  2. Determine which HR areas you want to review. Are you reviewing all of the functional aspects of HR or just one or two key areas?  For example, some employers request an in-depth review of a specific area, such as their recruiting function, rather than a review of all areas.  The review would consist of an evaluation of both compliance and best practices in the recruiting process to identify areas of potential improvement surrounding their recruiting efforts.  Others prefer to have a review of all of the HR areas.  In this type of review, all functional areas reviewed would include recruiting and employment, recordkeeping, policy development, compensation, benefits, health and safety, communications, and payroll.  These reviews typically involve a focus on compliance in these areas but also review processes and procedures for each of the areas.  The organizational effectiveness of the HR function can also be reviewed to assure the department is meeting the needs of their internal customers.
  3. Determine who you would like to have involved in the audit. Will you only include human resources staff that regularly touch the function or will you include your internal customers as well?  For example, if you are doing a review of your recruiting and employment process, who will you include?  Your HR recruiting staff is an obvious choice, but what about the hiring managers in the functional areas?  Will you include a sampling of individuals involved in the orientation and onboarding program?  Determine how deep you wish to go as you review the areas and who will be involved in the audit.
  4. Determine how you are going to address any deficiencies or findings. The report provided at the end of the audit will most likely include a number of items that could be used for improvement.  Findings may include items such as general compliance or regulatory items that need to be addressed or even a process improvement recommendation.  Most audits help you to determine the high priority items versus those of lower priority based upon compliance concerns.  Once they are identified, it will be up to you and your team to create your own internal priority for the action items and determine who will be tasked with correction.  Some may involve an easy one-person / one-click fix, such as updating the I-9 form you are using.  Others may involve improved process recommendations which could include a team to work through, resolve, and update.  Determine how you will approach the “fixes” so expectations are clear at the onset.  Not everything will be able to be addressed in one day, so align expectations accordingly.

A clearly laid out plan and expectation can significantly impact the concerns surrounding a human resources audit.  If the review ends up being “nasty,” it is most likely due to a lack of clear expectation and direction at the onset.  Work cooperatively with your chosen reviewer to make sure you are getting what you want out of the review so positive outcomes can be reached.

 

Thank you to Patti Dunham, Director, HR Solutions with Strategic HR, for sharing your expertise on HR Audits. 

Strategic HR knows that keeping abreast of HR Compliance issues can be daunting, especially when the laws keep changing. We can help you stay compliant by offering resources to help you identify and mitigate compliance issues, such as our HR Audit which helps identify trouble spots in your HR function. If you would like to receive a customized quote for an HR Audit, you can Request an HR Audit Quote.

 

Clark Schaefer Strategic HR's wheel of HR Services, including HR Strategy, Recruitment, Training & Development, Benefits & Compensation, Communications, Employee Relations, Recordkeeping, and Health, Safety & Security

How to Tackle the Challenges of Scaling a Business

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The path of an entrepreneur isn’t an easy one, and it’s certainly not for the faint of heart. Although the journey can be filled with challenges and obstacles along the way in scaling a business, it can also be filled with fabulous opportunities that create a rewarding career. To share the lessons that she’s learned and some of the secrets to her success, Robin Throckmorton, president of Strategic HR, spoke in a Talent Magnet Institue Podcast about her experience of scaling her company up from a one-person consulting business to a thriving outsourced HR consulting firm with 20+ employees and contractors.

As we celebrate Strategic HR’s 25th year in business in 2020, it feels apropos to look back on how Robin led us to this moment. Typically, our “Emerging Issues in HR” consists of a written article, but for this edition, we’d like you to hear from Robin, in her own voice, as she talks about her experience in scaling a business.

In this podcast, Robin shares:

  • How she got the guts to become an entrepreneur to have flexibility as a young professional and a new mom
  • The gender and age bias she faced and what she did to build credibility
  • How she reacted to someone telling her his client wouldn’t work with her because she is female and too young

Robin did not let discrimination set her back.  In fact, she says, it pushed her to get involved with more leadership programs centered around empowering women.

The interviewer, Mike Sipple, and Robin discuss the challenges of scaling a business, and share these tips:

  • How to find the right advisors
  • How to let go of control
  • The book and the team building activity that transformed her business

The final portion of the podcast transitions to a discussion of the challenges of finding balance as a leader of a business.  Listen NOW to get tips on how to maintain the fine line of balancing work and life well.

We look forward to celebrating our 25th year of business in many ways with you as we travel through 2020 together!

 

Image of our Wheel of HR Services, with a focus on Employee Relations.

Work-Life Balance Has Become Work-Life Integration

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Let’s begin with the understanding that some people are going to hate this idea. Work-life integration? Work seeping into all areas of your life at all hours of the day sounds awful, right? Isn’t it already happening? It is likely that most of you thought about an upcoming deadline, had a great idea on that report you needed to finish, or thought about how to approach a coworker about an issue while binge-watching Netflix, right?

Work-life integration is happening whether you like it or not, and it has become a very important work style that allows us to successfully manage our workloads and our home. The key is embracing it correctly and managing it well, resulting in increased engagement and productivity for all involved.

What is Work-Life Integration?

So what is work-life integration? In the past, we commonly referred to work-life balance and stressed to employees the need to separate the two and maintain a balanced life. The idea ties closely to Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” work reference where the buzzer rings at 5 p.m. and we go home. No work. No email checking. No after-hours phone calls. This was your time for friends and family. You work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and check out for the evening.

Work-life integration on the other hand allows for an integration of work into your “life” activities and vice versa. For example, you could work from home from 6 a.m. until 8 a.m. at which time you stop and run the kids to school. You arrive at the office around 9 a.m. and work till Noon when you hit the gym for your spin class. Come back to the office around 2 p.m. and eat lunch at your desk. Pick up the kids from school at 4 p.m., run an errand, and cook dinner. Hop back on your laptop at 9 p.m. to finish up your work and check missed email. That is integration at its peak. According to UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, work-life integration is “an approach that creates more synergies between all areas that define ‘life’: work, home/family, community, personal well-being, and health.”

Today, the boundaries between work and home are incredibly blurry. It’s impossible to think that work doesn’t happen outside of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and that “life” doesn’t happen during the hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. To that end, integrating and blending the two worlds seems the most logical solution. But is it really doable? Not only is it doable, it is essential. In 2018, the Harvard Business Review conducted a study on workplace flexibility. In that study, 96% of employees said they need flexibility, yet only 47% reported having access to the types of flexibility they need — a gap of 53%.

Factors to Consider When Implementing Work-Life Integration

There are obviously many factors to consider in engaging in this type of culture and implementing such a program but here are some of the most important factors to consider:

  • The job. The most important factor is if the job can allow for such a privilege. Work-life integration is not an option for some positions with limited flexibility. Nursing and those on machine assembly lines for example may not be viable candidates for this type of work style.  Don’t just assume, however, that it won’t work. Be creative… even traditional 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. jobs may be able to be adapted.
  • Company culture. If your company has never supported this type of integrated work style this may be a challenge. The best approach in combating this is showing the positive impact and letting the company know this kind of flexibility is worth the trouble.  Flexibility in work is viewed as one of the top employee perks you can offer. Metlife’s Employee Benefit Trend Survey boasts that 31% of employees interested in “gig work” are interested because of the flexible schedule it offers. Offering an environment that mimics that type of schedule may meet a need for your staff. The results? Increases in productivity, retention, and the happiness factor!
  • Managing the expectations. In many instances, management sees these types of programs as a potential for huge areas of abuse. We have all seen situations where this has occurred and the employee who takes advantage of flexible schedules. They are never available, delayed in returning calls and emails, and are more away than at work. For success, management must MANAGE this! Supervisors must keep an eye on performance and actively manage an individual’s work to make this successful. It may take some time to earn the trust but if the manager is keenly aware of the requirements of the job, active performance management will keep this in check. Don’t be afraid to discipline or tighten an employee’s schedule if the program isn’t working. Be clear that it is not a refusal to allow a flexible schedule, but rather their inability to complete work tasks that is the source of the change and try to correct the course. The benefit is a privilege, remind folks of that.

Successful work-life integration allows us to focus on more of a balance and smoothly transition from one to the other. Conference calls in the car during half-time of the game are doable. A vacation away while conferencing in for a client call can be done. No one enjoys the thought of returning from vacation with 300+ emails waiting for us. Integration will allow us to blend these essential parts of our lives and enjoy work and our home life without isolation. Embrace these ideas of integration to meet your company and personal needs.

The Importance of Boundaries

As with all great ideas, there are always words of caution. With work-life integration, it will be essential to maintain boundaries. Boundaries with integration? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Sort of. Always keep in mind that it can be very easy to allow work to creep into everything. It’s important to prioritize and look realistically at expectations and maintain boundaries. Turn the notifications off on your phone during certain hours. Allow the integration, but also allow the downtime. Work already bleeds into your home life in one way or another. Technology has allowed that. Our own desire for instant gratification and responses feed that. Allow it and take advantage of it by allowing yourself some ‘me’ time as well and truly turning off once in a while. Your body and mind will thank you.

Thank you to Patti Dunham, Director, HR Solutions and Lisa Degaro, HR Consultant, both with Strategic HR, for sharing their insights on work-life integration. If you have any questions or would like to share your comments, contact us at info@strategicHRinc.com.

In order to be competitive in both attracting and retaining top talent, organizations have to understand and be responsive to the needs of employees. Clark Schaefer Strategic HR can help you to survey your employees’ needs and put programs and policies in place that promote healthy, productive work environments. To learn more, visit our Employee Relations page.  

 

Four Inclusive Decision-Making Principles

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