Financial services company Liverpool Victoria has signed a seven-year, £30m
deal to outsource much of its HR function.
Around 65 of its 75 HR staff are to be employed by business service group
Hays to look after day-to-day HR activities for the firm’s 2,800 employees.
These will include administration, payroll, employee relations, training and
development and recruitment.
Joan Halliwell, group director of people services at Liverpool Victoria,
will retain the remaining HR staff to continue providing policy, HR
communication and pensions.
Halliwell said, "HR is a service to the employees and the deal will
help us get closer to them, understand their needs and provide a better, more
cost effective service."
She took the unprecedented step of allowing an HR manager from Hays to come
in to Liverpool Victoria and run the department for three months before the
contract was signed, in a bid to reassure concerned employees about the move.
She admits HR staff were initially uncertain about the proceedings, but said
they are now "reasonably happy".
"It was a painful experience for all of us. It has been strange as HR
is used to outsourcing to other people but now we are under the
microscope," she said.
The company’s day-to-day HR function will consist of specialist helplines
manned by HR staff to answer employee’s questions.
The company did consider outsourcing all of its HR function but decided
against it as the firm is looking to expand.
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"People are critical to the business and it was important that the
company did not lose control of its people policies and strategies," said
Halliwell.
HR is the third of the company’s support functions to be outsourced in the
past 12 months, after IT and facilities.
