Bridging Talent Management and Workforce Management with HRO

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall

One of the hottest topics in HR and HRO has been talent management (TM), including everything from recruiting and RPO to performance management and employee engagement. Major ERP vendors have snapped up TM software leaders to strengthen HR product lines, e.g., SAP and SuccessFactors; Oracle and Taleo. Very good moves and very on trend, but let’s not forget about the less flashy powerhouse: workforce management (WM).

TM and WM are both critical components of human capital management (HCM) and depending on definitions and models, there can be a lot of overlap. For my purpose here, TM is about the individual and the capabilities for a specific job position and WM is about groups of workers and managing multiple positions.

TM involves attracting, retaining, and developing people with the required capabilities according to requested volumes and performance management. WM involves workforce planning and forecasting the capabilities and volumes needed and day-to-day scheduling and time and attendance. It takes both processes to have the right number of people, with the right skills, in the right places, at the right time.

Let’s consider two more elements, HR analytics and ROI, that will also benefit from seamless HR systems and processes, which our dear HRO community can enable and deliver. Timely and accurate workforce data is a foundation block upon which HR is built. At least part of the drive for multi-country payroll has been to get better employee data, and there is an important feeder into payroll: time reporting. Today’s leading time and attendance systems offer great flexibility in capturing the detailed data needed for payroll plus analyses of productivity, labor costing, pricing, project billing, workforce planning, etc.

Everybody wants to tie HR and HRO to ROI. Lowering the cost of HR operations alone is not enough. We must show real impact in measurable business results. Simplifying a bit, TM supports improved business results through customer satisfaction and revenues generated; WM supports improved business results through optimizing SG&A via operations and reducing losses.

Many HRO offerings come in basic and advanced levels. HRO providers– ensure you offer both levels of time and attendance, scheduling, and attendance management services. Buyers – take the time to determine whether advanced workforce management services will not only provide better data, but will pay for itself through reductions in overtime and the impact of absences. Also, for many positions and industries, ensuring all customer-facing seats are filled at the right capacity, capability, and time has a direct link to productivity and revenues. Finally, don’t forget about compliance with wage, hour, and labor regulations where accurate records and proactive scheduling are a great defense against fines and losses.

HR and HRO in partnership can be the bridge to strengthen TM and WM across the entire human capital value chain.

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How to Get There From Here – A Roadmap for HR Analytics

HR service providers have reporting and analytics capabilities including software, consulting and outsourcing. But getting beyond providing support for basic reporting capabilities has been a slow and rocky road. To move further down the path, we need a roadmap for HR analytics.

NelsonHall’s 2009 report, “HRO Analytics: Utilizing Analytics to Improve Outsourcing Experiences”, found that 85 percent of vendors have an advanced analytics offering, but only 22 percent of clients have implemented such services. Gaining agreement that workforce data is important is easy, but finding funding to build or buy the capability is considerably harder. One of the reasons for the slow adoption rate in HR analytics is how hard it can be to demonstrate ROI. 

I see signs of current buyer interest that can be leveraged, although the signs may not look like a direct request for HR analytics:

•  Behind the drive for multi-country payroll during a recession was not a bizarre interest in payroll systems, but rather a senior leadership demand for better workforce and financial data in order to understand what is happening in every operating geography.

•  Growth in leave of absence, absence management and dependent audits all support tighter workforce management in lean times.

•  Can anything sound more non-urgent than consolidating time reporting systems? But how about when they are linked to razor-thin staffing levels and controlling the use of overtime while still meeting sales and customer service objectives?

•  With an expected modest rise in recruiting, improved workforce planning and forecasting is vital to ensuring the most critical areas are targeted.

Each of these opportunities require timely and accurate data from across the enterprise, and each impacts the total cost of labor – in other words, an ROI signpost and a roadway to direct bottom line impact.

Sometimes HR wants to start at the end – the fun and strategic stuff. But to get credible workforce data that drives decisions and impacts business results, the data infrastructure must be in place first. Perhaps boring to some, but data definitions, data warehousing, establishing a system of record, reporting applications, data security, etc., are all important, as is having a framework for what data needs to be pulled into the system: employee, workforce, individual and business performance and financial data.

If you’re a buyer, do you have a roadmap to get there from here? Are current HR systems adequate, or can you get there with add-ons at the edge or in the cloud? If you go for separate point solutions for each issue, will you be able to pull in all the data from the various vendors? Where will you connect to the enterprise business performance and financial systems? How many interfaces are manageable, and who will manage them? Which analytical capabilities should you build in-house, and should some be outsourced?

A word to vendors – R analytic sales opportunities may be disguised, but they are there.  The time is right for you to drive your shiny offerings down prospect road.

And advice to buyers – call your friendly HR portfolio manager to ensure you build an integrated set of systems and capabilities at the lowest operational cost level while raising the bar on HR’s ability to increase business results.

Linda Merritt, Research Director, HRO, NelsonHall