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HR departments across Europe and the United States face increasing pressure to support business growth and develop talent. In addition, according to two Hewitt surveys, many companies in these regions are reengineering HR processes and standardizing services regionally and globally. These efforts will free resources to focus on supporting the business initiatives and may position the organizations well for HR outsourcing.
“Europe’s economies have become more interdependent on each other and the rest of the world, requiring companies to develop new business strategies for different markets and geographies,” explains Leonardo Sforza, a consultant in Hewitt’s Brussels office.
In the U.S., the number one pressure facing HR executives is attracting, retaining, and growing talent both now and in the next several years. When asked about changes within the HR function, U.S. survey respondents said they are currently focusing on process improvements and standardization. However, multi-process HR outsourcing to a single provider and offshoring of HR processes have already been initiated by one out of every five respondents.
Other trends identified in the surveys include:
• Companies do not show major concerns about third-party providers that offshore part of the HR service delivery, especially when it improves quality. In the U.S. survey, 79% of participants said that the benefits of global sourcing outweigh any perceived risks.
• The vast majority of executives in both surveys would prefer an HR BPO provider with an in-depth consulting expertise rather than a broad BPO provider that also offers services in finance, IT, etc.
• In the U.S., 86% of companies indicated that HR business process outsourcing would bring benefits over their current in-house operations, especially in regard to service quality.
• When asked to think about their largest/most significant outsourcing contract, a large majority of the executives in the U.S. (70%) said they’ve realized their hoped-for benefits from HR outsourcing. 
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