HR business partnering
What is HR business partnering?
The term ‘business partner’ is used loosely to cover a diversity of jobs from strategic to administrative to consultancy. Business partnering involves the restructuring of HR into three specialist sub-functions:
* Shared services – a single, often relatively large, unit that handles all the routine ‘transactional’ services across the business. Shared services typically provide resourcing, payroll, absence monitoring, and advice on the simpler employee relations issues. Shared services’ remit is to provide low-cost, effective HR administration. For further information see our factsheet on HR shared service centres.
* Go to our HR shared service centres factsheet
* Centres of excellence – usually small teams of HR experts with specialist knowledge of leading-edge HR solutions. The role of centres of excellence is to deliver competitive business advantages through HR innovations in areas such as reward, learning, engagement and talent management.
* Strategic partners – a few HR professionals working closely with business leaders influencing strategy and steering its implementation. The task of strategic partners is to ensure the business makes best use of its people and its people opportunities. The role is to highlight the HR issues and possibilities that executives don’t often see. It is also aims to inform and shape HR strategy, so that HR meets organisational needs.
Few organisations create clear boundaries between the sub-functions and there is usually a degree of overlap between functions. For example, complex employee relations issues might be handled by a centre of excellence, whilst strategic partners find themselves entangled in small, routine matters. In addition, some organisations discover they need a fourth element – a consultancy role that facilitates and supports change initiatives.
Business partnering is a fundamental rethink of what HR is for, and how it is...
