By Amy Dufrane
It wasn’t that long ago that HR was struggling to be taken seriously by the C-suite. That’s changing, especially as every HR discipline, from talent acquisition to total rewards, has become a crucial component in attracting and retaining workers. Increasingly central to organizational success – and validated by throngs of costly consultants – we as HR professionals always knew the value of a vibrant HR function.
Fast-forward to today’s quest to fill open jobs and recruit new talent while seeking to reskill existing workers. Workforces are now dispersed, operating under work from home, work from the office or work from anywhere models. In some cases, technology has added as much complexity as it has eliminated, thanks to new offerings such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
The quest to maximize the investment in human capital management isn’t new. Always assuming there is some deep dark secret formula thwarting their success, organizations have turned to big-brand consulting firms for advice. This help comes at a significant cost. Estimations put one week of a junior consultant’s time at nearly $70,000. This level of investment puts it well out of the range of companies outside the large enterprise segment. Additionally, it’s impossible to discover and solve “boil the ocean” problems in one week’s time, so this cost is the beginning of a potentially lengthy and terribly expensive journey.
There are good reasons to hire an HR consultant. Experts in identifying the hidden variances between the current state of the workforce and top-level organizational goals, they usually possess the business credentials and latest industry knowledge to help inform decisions. When they are up to date on legislation changes, they can help reduce risk and even assist HR departments in the development of new rules and policies. When an organization’s culture is too entrenched in earlier ways of doing business, a consulting firm can help create new pathways.
When it comes to HR technology, consultants might possess expertise that enables them to optimize the existing HR tech stack to garner performance improvements or automate manual processes. In other cases, they’re bringing the future of work into today’s workplace by shining a light on robotic process automation (RPA), low code development and cognitive automation. Whether the technology investment is intended strictly for HR’s use or to be democratized across the enterprise, hiring a team of consultants can be a necessary investment.
There are also times when engaging external consultants can help break logjams. Having a third party in place as a disruptor enables change to take place across the enterprise without potential blowback on specific teams or departments. When unpopular opinions need to prevail, having a trusted outside consulting firm at the ready can enable day-to-day operations to continue without interruption.
By now, you’re thinking that I’m promoting external consulting firms. While they have their time and place, there’s something far more exciting underway: HR becoming consultants to their own companies and colleagues. After all, who knows the organization more profoundly?
Employers are already adopting this emerging trend. Given how strategic talent is to organizational success, companies rely on their HR team as an in-house consulting firm. Since HR already knows the company better than anyone else and can be effective from day one, turning to HR for trusted counsel and services is far more efficient and cost-effective than outsourcing requirements. Empowering HR to own and solve issues impacting the business, the workforce and the future of work help attract and retain a new breed of HR professional, one who helps shape how teams and departments interact.
There’s more possibility to explore under this new model. More senior HR workers – those with decades of work experience – might be looking to continue working, albeit under flexible conditions. These workers can remain in the workforce as sage advisors who know how to advance enterprise initiatives while mentoring and developing the next generation of leaders. Adept at fundamentals, they also have enough work experience to confer on different scenarios without the ramp-up time required by external consultants. Casting them as internal consultants communicates a culture of loyalty and engagement while valuing and retaining knowledge.
Imagine the possibilities for HR. Taking a systematic approach to provide consulting services within the company – for example, to revamp talent strategies or, more tactically, rewriting job descriptions to better align with market conditions and candidate expectations – can become a source of revenue for HR. And, since HR is already deeply steeped in the company’s culture, it’s an excellent judge of stress tests i.e., how much change can the business accommodate and at what speed and degree of adoption.
There are reasons to hire outside HR consultants. There are times when it has distinct advantages. But, given the accelerated speed of business, the future is bright for the role of HR to expand into an in-house consultant. When it comes to your company, nobody knows it better.
