What is HR Service Delivery?
‘HR service delivery’ is a process in a company used to provide services to the employees. It is the collective term that refers to the strategies, practices, solutions, and processes the HR department applies to manage the employees in their organization effectively. Hence, it spans the complete life cycle of the employees in an organization.
So what is HR service delivery? The HR service delivery of an organization is responsible for a wide range of activities ranging from onboarding to offboarding of an employee in an organization. Hence, it includes multiple processes such as talent acquisition, compensation structuring and its disbursal, performance management, maintaining employee relations, and more.
FAQs
1. What are the Benefits of HR Service Delivery Technology?
HR service delivery and the technology associated with it have multiple benefits for the organization. While it vastly improves HR efficiency by providing them with a structured approach towards accomplishing their tasks, it also enhances employee engagement since it enables HR to take care of their staff members.
Some of the tangible benefits of HR service delivery include:
➔ Distributed Work
With the right HR service delivery technologies, HR can delegate tasks to the employees and make them self-reliant. For example, by deploying an HRMS in the organization, the employees will be able to access their Employee Self-Service (ESS) portal and undertake their HR-related tasks without having to contact their HR department. Similarly, with the tiered approach, HRs can also allocate tasks among their team to accomplish them quickly.
The distributed workload of HR also ensures that they have adequate time to strategize innovative programs for enhanced employee engagement as well as for maximizing their productivity. Such programs will also provide the staff with additional incentives to stay longer with their organization.
➔ In-depth Analytics
By utilizing the right technology for your HR service delivery, your HRs can monitor the staff and gauge their performance and other parameters. Similarly, they will have in-depth insights into the daily work of your company and your staff.
These insights and data enable them to understand the pulse of the company and realize whether their strategies are working. They can also use this data to enhance their strategies to further enhance the company’s productivity and growth, ensuring success.
Having real-time insights at their fingertips provides the staff with an enhanced overview of the status of their organization. Moreover, it enables them to monitor the patterns throughout the company and make necessary changes if required.
Furthermore, this data also enables them to realize which strategies are working and further enhance them for maximum optimization.
➔ Improved Experience
By utilizing your HR service delivery platforms effectively, HRs can create a positive employee experience in their companies, leading to engaged staff who would want to remain in the company for longer. It also enables them to develop a sense of belonging to their workplace which enables them to work more for their organization.
Millennials and Generation Z have increased expectations from their workplace and having the right HR service delivery in place will ensure that their expectations are met. Since the employees have access to the required resources at the right time, it vastly improves their experience with the company.
➔ Performance Tracking
With the right tools, HR service delivery can also monitor employee performance effectively, with the help of pre-defined goals, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Key Result Areas (KRAs), and more. These metrics enable the HR department to understand whether their workforce is working to their full potential.
The HR team can identify areas of improvement and provide the workforce with training to enable them to perform well in the organization. With the right HR service delivery technology, HRs can monitor several aspects related to employee performance such as work efficiency, handling time, Net Promoter Score (NPS), error handling, revenue per employee, etc.
➔ Cost-effective Management
With the help of real-time insights, workforce pulse, as well as gathering continuous performance data, the HR team can allocate the resources necessary to undertake tasks on time. They can also reward the performers, while providing training opportunities to the under-performers, thereby optimizing their resources.
Additionally, the companies can also save their time and effort in implementing business strategies which will further help in the growth of the company.
Moreover, training and engagement lead to increased productivity and effective retention of the staff, leading to reduced costs. As a result, it leads to optimized running costs for the company, making HR service delivery a crucial factor in its success.
➔ Increased Engagement
Due to HR service delivery technologies, the HR team can understand the pulse of their company and take necessary actions to ensure that the staff remains productive and engaged with their organization.
Additionally, they can also gather regular feedback through multiple mechanisms, ensuring that they have a clear understanding of the employees’ expectations from their company.
2. What are HR Service Delivery Models?
HR service delivery used to be a simple endeavour with the HR and the employees being able to communicate directly. Similarly, any paperwork required was undertaken face to face.
However, with the increased complexity of organizations and the diversified functionalities of modern HR teams, HR service delivery models have established themselves as the new-age solution to enable integrated employee management.
The common HR service delivery models are:
➔ Traditional Service Delivery
The Traditional HR Service Delivery Model deals with employee management at a local level by providing custom services for the staff members. As a result, the HR department is centralized in one location. Additionally, this model consists of HR generalists since they are required to undertake administrative duties mostly.
Since the traditional HR service delivery model deals with HR generalists, it deals with a broader list of administrative tasks undertaken by HRs. Hence, it is more suitable for smaller organizations. It is also cost-effective, and hence, used by smaller organizations and start-ups.
However, a major disadvantage of this model is that it limits the HR from becoming strategic as their specialized functions are not utilized.
▸ Advantages
- The HR team has predefined priorities and tasks.
- Limited holdups due to repetitive tasks.
▸ Disadvantages
- Potential for setbacks in case of any new task.
- Limited potential for HR in creative pursuits.
➔ Shared Service Delivery
In the Shared HR Service Delivery Model, the HR duties are divided between the HR generalists and HR specialists, depending on the task at hand. As a result, the administrative and clerical tasks are usually handled by the generalists, while the advisors draft HR policies.
Similarly, the HR Business Partners or HRBP deals with developing strategies for business growth. Since the duties are well-defined, the HRs can concentrate on their tasks and improve upon the well-established tactics. Hence, it leads to the overall development of the HR teams too.
▸ Advantages
- The HR teams can concentrate on their specialized tasks.
- The processes are more streamlined due to the added expertise.
▸ Disadvantages
- This model is dependent on the technology and hence, lack of the right tools could hamper productivity vastly.
- Adequate planning is required for the right execution of this model.
➔ Self Service Delivery
In the Self-service HR Delivery Model, the employees can access their HR-related tasks using self-service tools and software. For example, a dedicated chatbot can act as a virtual HR for the staff, enabling them to resolve their doubts by simply interacting with it.
Similarly, the staff can undertake several tasks such as requesting leaves or payslips using or accessing their training modules using self-service portals, which frees the HR from having to tend to their staff for the same repetitive queries.
▸ Advantages
- Employees become self-sufficient.
- HRs can be free of repeated queries.
▸ Disadvantages
- If the chatbot is not interactive enough, then the staff may not interact with it.
- If the self-service portal is not intuitive then it may deter the employees from using it.
Apart from these models, there is another widely used model by enterprises, known as the ‘Tiered Service Delivery Model’:
3. What is the Tiered Service Delivery Model?
The Tiered HR Service Delivery Model ensures maximum automation for the HR teams as it combines the HR Shared Service Model with the Self Service Model. Such a combination of these two models ensures that most employee requests are either automated or handled by the self-service portals.
Only the remaining ones reach the HR and they can provide personal attention to these requests, further enhancing their service delivery.
Since the Tiered Service Delivery Model is complex to implement, it is generally preferred by multinational enterprises. There are 4 tiers in this model:
➔ Tier 0: Self-service
The employees are encouraged to use the self-service options to place their request and maximum efforts are put into resolving their queries using the automated tools at the HR’s disposal.
Common company documentation such as HR policies and other terms of service are a part of this tier as they help the employee understand the company’s rules and regulations. AI or artificial intelligence is also being used nowadays to further enhance the functionalities provided by this tier.
➔ Tier 1: HR Generalist
After going through tier 0, if the employee’s query or issue is still not resolved, it is moved to tier 1, where an HR generalist is entrusted with the case. The HR generalist will have discussions with the employee to understand their concerns and provide a resolution.
However, there are scenarios when an HR generalist cannot solve the employee’s query or issue. In such scenarios, the query or issue is moved to the next tier.
➔ Tier 2: HR Specialist
Since tier 2 consists of HR specialists, they are better equipped to handle employee queries and concerns. Since HR specialists have advanced knowledge of the company and its inner workings, they can provide a better resolution to their staff’s queries and issues.
➔ Tier 3: HR Management
The next tier consists of HR management, who have the authority to make changes to the company policies if required. Since they consult directly with the company management, they are equipped to handle major concerns of the staff which were not solved by any previous tiers.
They can even make changes to the company’s rules and regulations based on the employee’s input as well as implement the same after consulting with the organization’s management committee.
Advantages
- Segregates the issues ensuring that only the most complex ones reach the HR management.
- Most employee queries and issues can be handled at tier 0, causing minimum disruption to HR activities.
Disadvantages
- Requirement of robust self-service options and foolproof HR policies.
- Enhanced automation could result in fewer interactions between HR and staff.
4. What are the examples of an HR Service Delivery Model?
Since we have understood the various HR service delivery models used in companies, let us look at how an employee’s issue is resolved in each of these models.
For example, let us consider an employee who is currently facing an issue with their manager regarding their salary. Let us understand how their issue will be resolved in each HR service delivery model:
➔ Traditional Service Delivery
In the traditional model, the employee will contact the HR department and provide the details of their issue either verbally or in written format. The HR team will have an internal meeting regarding the issue and they will also discuss the matter with the concerned manager and the senior management.
Finally, they will make a decision based on the facts collected during their investigation and take the necessary action.
➔ Shared Service Delivery
In the shared service delivery model, the HR generalists will discuss the salary issues with the HR payroll specialist, based on the written or verbal complaint by the employee. Based on the inputs provided by the HR payroll specialist, an investigation will be conducted and the findings will be discussed with the manager and the senior management.
Finally, a decision will be made to provide the employee with the right resolution for their payroll issues.
➔ Self Service Delivery
In the self-service delivery model, the employee will be encouraged to check the company policy and use the self-service portal to lodge their formal complaint against their manager. Once the complaint is registered, the HR generalist may contact the employee only if required.
They will undertake an investigation, which would not be transparent to the complainant. They will also discuss the issue with the payroll specialist and the senior management before making a decision.
➔ Tiered Service Delivery
In the tiered service delivery model, the employee will have to register a formal complaint using their self-service portal. They can also access the HR policies section to understand the company policies on complaining against their manager.
Since the issue requires human intervention, it will be assigned to an HR generalist who will transfer the case to an HR payroll specialist since they are better equipped to handle salary-related issues.
However, if the employee is not satisfied with the resolution provided by the payroll specialist, they can approach the HR management to seek justice, thereby completing all tiers.
5. What are the Best Practices for HR Service Delivery?
Some of the best practices that you can implement for your HR service delivery are:
➔ Continuous Availability
One of the cornerstones of HR service delivery is that it is always available to the employees. Since the HR department is meant to support their staff, it is essential to ensure that they can reach them whenever they require any assistance.
As a result, modern HR solutions are made available to the employees in the form of self-service portals which they can access remotely even after their working hours.
➔ User-friendliness
Another essential factor in HR service delivery is user-friendliness. Despite the model chosen to implement HR service delivery in an organization, it should always be easy to use for the staff as it is meant to ease their work in the workplace.
Hence, modern companies go a step beyond to provide personalized help to their staff in the form of self-service portals and dedicated mobile apps.
➔ Better Efficiency
The queries and issues of employees should be resolved quickly to ensure ongoing engagement with their company. As a result, the HR service delivery must remain as efficient as possible. Giving replies to the staff on time also results in increased engagement, which is essential for its long-term success.
Additionally, different kinds of automated tools and software can be used to increase the HR service delivery efficiency further.
➔ Enhanced Transparency
Transparency is another essential factor to ensure the success of HR service delivery. If the employee can contact HR personnel, it will provide them assurance that their query is being heard by their company.
Hence, it is imperative to not lose the human touch in these interactions with the staff. Additionally, it is essential to share updates about their requests with the staff to ensure added transparency.
➔ Technology Implementation
Companies must provide their HR teams with the right tools and software to ensure that they can undertake their duties with utmost efficiency. Having the right technologies will streamline their duties, as well as provide them additional time for strategies and creative programs for actively engaging their staff.
They can also gather in-depth analytics using these tools, enabling data-backed decisions, which will further enhance their capabilities.
➔ Improved Scalability
The HR service delivery model deployed in an organization should be robust enough to be scalable according to the growing demands of the business. Such scalability should also apply to the technologies and software used in companies to streamline HR tasks.
Hence, a tiered service delivery model is adopted by businesses to organize the HR workflow and utilize their resources effectively.
