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These days, the focus on people management has become multidimensional, so you may feel overwhelmed with all its nuances. Managers analyze people operations vs. HR department, in-house and outstaffing models to find the most beneficial and suitable approach for their company.
Businesses put on the line and concentrate on people, which in the long run brings them only gains. This fuels the popularity of outstaffing, when companies choose to delegate recruiting and people management tasks to third parties.
Today, outstaffing includes much more than a simple hiring process. It brings to light all stages of recruiting, onboarding, and talent retention. Even if the vacancy for a specific project was filled with the right candidate, the cooperation with the outstaffing agency can continue. It remains the main link between a company and a specialist, not only taking care of administrative and legal work but also providing employer of record services.
The benefits of the outstaffing model are explicit, but what about people operations vs. HR approach, does outstaffing cover both?
People Operations Vs. Human Resources: Is There Any Difference?
If HR is a well established and a widespread notion, People Operations, or People Ops, hasn’t emerged in the business world until recently. The shift of the focus towards people has put them in the heart of all business activities. Therefore, even though people operations vs. HR share many common processes, slight differences do exist.
Recruiting Process
Both HR vs. People Operations follow the process of posting vacant positions, finding a suitable candidate for the defined project, and leading all stages of the interview. However, while HR focuses more on a candidate’s skills, productivity, and fit-for-purpose background, People Ops highlights a candidate’s needs and cares about their work-life balance, physical and mental well-being. All these aspects show themselves highly important in further retention of a specialist.
Onboarding Stage
The onboarding phase is needed to make a candidate feel at the right place, provide them with all the needed information for the start of the work, and establish clear communication without any biases among team members. HR takes care of the technical part of the process, focusing on learning materials, company policies and procedures, and providing guidance on specialists’ records, payrolls, leaves, and other working aspects. People Operations, in turn, concentrates on a specialist’s development, goals, intentions, and loyalty.
Retention Policy
This stage is a logical continuation of the previous steps. If the recruiting process is organized smoothly with consideration of all the details, it will play a key role in a specialist’s retention. Both People Operations vs. Human Resources are interested in retaining a new specialist, which brings benefits to a business, saves costs, and keeps the best talent. Yet, People Ops is one step ahead, proactively listening to specialists’ needs and taking part in changing company’s policies, where needed.
Outstaffing Prospects
HR vs. People Operations bring forth the best practices to fit a company’s needs. Outstaffing includes both, which allows managers to liberate time from people management and forward it to ongoing projects. It also takes into account all needs, pain points, and wishes of the potential candidates. However, taking care of people development, company’s extra perks, and policy changes is a client’s responsibility.
If you decide to leverage your people management process, outstaffing might be your option. It can cover all technical aspects of hiring and recruiting, considering your company culture, requirements, and needs. Since people are its main strength, it scrutinizes potential candidates, organizing all possible checks before presenting them to you. However, it also figures out a candidate’s expectations to find the best match for you both and bring a win-win result.
Going through the process from the point A to the point Z allows talent acquisition specialists to be more involved and interested in filling your vacant position with long-term hires. This gives you space to rely on their experience and ensure they will find a talent gem just for your needs. However, outstaffing also considers sharing the process, which means you are free and flexible to step in at whatever stage of the recruiting process you wish to.
Final Verdict: Turning to Outstaffing or Not Will Depend on Your Needs
Now, when the difference between the two processes is more transparent, you might still hesitate whether to trust your talent management process to an outstaffing company. Everything depends on your needs. Outstaffing covers most of HR tasks and includes People Operations for a more human-centric approach. It is a strong “Yes” if you want to free up yourself from administrative tasks, let others find you the best tech specialists in the market, and help your new professional to quickly settle in the team. Outstaffing can also assist you with interviews, onboarding, and even employee of record tasks. However, it will not substitute completely your care for the team and will not intervene in your company’s culture.