IT giant Unisys has announced a $200m (£138m) deal to outsource its HR to the same company chosen by outsourcing pioneer BP Amoco late last year.
The deal with American firm Exult is further evidence of a growing trend among the world’s biggest companies to either automate HR or hive it off, allowing the company to save money and concentrate on its core business.
Unisys expects to cut its HR spend by 10 per cent as a result of the seven-year contract. It said it is too early to predict how many HR jobs will go.
HR strategy and planning will remain with Unisys but all transactions and administration will be the responsibility of Exult. They will be carried out, in the main, by Unisys staff, who will change personal details, fill in forms and complete training and holiday requests through an on-line self-service system. This will be backed up by call centres.
Unisys already has a sophisticated HR management system, based on PeopleSoft software, and an HR portal where employees can access information. But it said it is quicker and cheaper to let a specialist like Exult move it on to the next step.
“Capitalising on Exult’s proven expertise in managing HR processes, we can deliver an even higher level of service to everyone in the Unisys community more economically,” said David Aker, senior vice-president of worldwide human resources at Unisys.
HR will be rolled out to staff in the 100 countries in which Unisys has a presence over the next two years.
America and the UK will be the first to transfer. Existing service centres in Glasgow and Houston, Texas will support them. The Glasgow centre was set up earlier this year to handle the $600m BP Amoco contract announced in December.
Exult chief executive Jim Madden said there are other deals in the pipeline.
Exult is targeting companies with 30,000 or more employees with headquarters in North America or Europe.
By Dominique Hammond
