Human Resources Business Process Outsourcing: Transforming How HR Gets Its Work Done

Today’s highly competitive marketplace demands that human resources departments emerge from under their administrative workloads and become full partners in determining their organizations’ winning strategies.

In Human Resources Business Process Outsourcing, Edward E. Lawler III, Dave Ulrich, Jac Fitz-enz (the foremost experts in the human resources field), and James C. Madden V (the CEO of the top HR outsourcing firm) clearly show how outsourcing offers an effective, low-cost alternative to traditional administration and provides HR managers with new opportunities to contribute directly to their companies’ overall strategy and business performance. Step by step, the authors explore how the HR function in corporations is structured and include a template for analyzing an HR department’s value, value added, and cost-to-serve. In this important resource, the authors explain new approaches and organizations can take to improve HR administration and demonstrate how HR functions can be best organized.

To demonstrate the effectiveness of outsourcing HR administration, the book contains an in-depth study of Exult, Inc., the leading HR business process outsourcer (BPO). This detailed study offers an insider’s look at an effective BPO start-up and is filled with valuable lessons for managers who are on the brink of a significant change effort. Human Resources Business Process Outsourcing also examines four companies—British Petroleum, Bank of America, International Paper, and Prudential—that contracted with Exuit for a range of HR BPO services. Each company’s “report card” reveals the substantive successes and significant challenges encountered in the transition process.

In addition to providing a hands-on resource for making the HR BPO transition, the authors look to the future and identify the key issues that will affect the long-term development and effectiveness of human resources business process outsourcing.

About the Authors

Edward E. Lawler III is distinguished professor at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and founder and director of the university’ Center for Effective Organizations.

Dave Ulrich is professor of business administration at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Why the Bottom Line Isn’t, Results Based on Leadership, and over 200 articles.

Jac Fitz-enz is the founder of the Saratoga Institute, which has consulted to most of the Fortune 500 companies and many global corporations.

James C. Madden V is founder, chairman, and CEO of Exuit, Inc.