The TecBlast Blog

As an HR professional, you have responsibilities in several broad areas that have a significant impact on your company’s bottom line, directly contributing to the corporate return on investment. The outsourcing choices you make are critical decision points that affect both your employer and the HR community at large. We recognize that you want and need to make informed choices, and we can help.

The following problem analysis explores emerging strategies in human resources.

Increased workloads resulting from governmental requirements, budgetary cutbacks, profitability margins and operational necessity require that HR professionals do more with diminishing resources. In approaching this challenge, we analyze a range of choices. Depending on your company’s culture, you may consider any or all of the following:

• working nights and weekends

• creating and hiring a new position

• outsourcing a function or large project

• directly contracting with an independent professional colleague: Outsourced professional employee

Problem Analysis

Many times each day you reach a decision point and choose which priorities get your time and attention. Accepting added accountability in your HR department and thriving with your ever-growing workload require detailed analysis of your decision points.

Working nights and weekends

Every HR professional worth his or her paycheck is pressed for time. Workweeks ranging from 55 to 60 hours are commonplace. You’ve determined that you’re already working smart and hard to keep current with the business’s needs. Your human resource career has transitioned from a hands-on tactical position to holding down a strategic role in the HR department. As the competition for capital intensifies, how will your decision to outsource translate to your company’s bottom line?

Creating and hiring a new position

G & A cutbacks mean that there’s no budget for new hires this year. The term hiring freeze has made a comeback after nearly a decade in hibernation. You no longer fill vacancies as they occur, and this trend may continue for the near future. In fact, you quite possibly severed someone with whom you worked closely. How will you provide greater results with less?

Outsourcing a function or large project

Speak to ten companies, and ten HR managers will define outsourcing differently. Small- or medium-size firms frequently use single-source outsourcing for operations such as payroll or benefits. Fortune 500 firms have moved toward outsourcing all transactional and tactical practices. Seven-, eight- and nine-figure contracts in the form of comprehensive solutions have increased dramatically over recent years. Once set into motion, Fortune 500 outsourcing agreements often have a shelf life of five or more years. The definitions employers use to quantify successful outsourcing depend on the goals and objectives outlined at the onset of each engagementand they vary widely. How will you determine if and when outsourcing meets your needs?

Directly contracting with an independent professional colleague: Outsourced professional employee

Today’s economy challenges HR professionals to demonstrate their advocacy of responsible stewardship. Historically, the personnel agency evolved as the American franchise economy grew from the 1950s. By the 1970s, franchise usage expandedfrom food to cars to personnel. The decade of the 1990s required the franchise and boutique staffing agencies to invest heavily in technology or sink in the mud.

The novel Ivanhoe characterized soldiers who offered their lances to any king as free lances. Today’s e-commerce and growing media technologies, wireless Internet with DSL, and effective corporate Web sites with e-mail together provide the daily tools used by the modern entrepreneur. A solution with both strategic and visionary applications is to identify and formulate direct relationships with independent HR professionals. How can you partner and leverage these tools immediately?

With research, you can determine the outsourced professional employee who is a solution in search of problems. A July 2003 survey by Consultive Source asked human resource professionals to rank the importance of the following three vision & values competencies held by HR vendors:

• MEASURABLE RESULTS Delivery of solutions by the alignment of HR mission, vision and strategy

• CONSULTIVE Solving problems with hands-on industry experience, creating a strategic alliance significantly stronger than a typical vendor/supplier relationship

• HUMAN RESOURCE LEADERSHIP The blending of business savvy, leadership, facilitation/coaching, strategic perspective, conceptual thinking, internal consulting and the tangible perspective of human resources within the organization

The survey listed MEASURABLE RESULTS at the top, with 77 percent of the vote. CONSULTIVE SKILLS and HUMAN RESOURCE LEADERSHIP tied for second place.

Any freelance outsourced professional employee may prescribe to this and should prioritize their skill set accordingly. Concerns about the outsourced professional employee’s abilities, stability and results can resolve themselves by taking a “test drive.”

Similar to your auto mechanic and electrician, you expect consistent service from those you know and trust. The traits exhibited by every outsourced professional employee must include high quality service, fair prices and deadlines met as needed to name just a few.

The right outsourced professional employee at a fair and competitive rate will provide innovation in education, strategy, technical resources and skills. Choosing to outsource and manage this partnership and process successfully will enable you to protect corporate capitol and shareholder value. Which technology applications or transactional differences describe your vendors as a strategic partner of choice?

John T. Mooney 2003 All Rights Reserved

About The Author

Focused exclusively on EMPLOYEE RELATIONS, HR COMMUNICATIONS and RECRUITMENT PROJECTS contact John Mooney at (972) 355-7481 or email JMooney@ConsultiveSource.com or the company website www.ConsultiveSource.com.

I utilize extensive hands-on industry competencies to solve your HR challenges. Supporting small, medium or large human resource projects with 20 years of human resource and operating experience, John Mooney has a results-oriented, focused approach to the human resource needs.

Author of “The Art of Computer Programming”; creator of TEX and METAFONT; and inventor of the strangest software versioning systems ever. Well known for many reasons, famous for a few; Donald Ervin Knuth is most certainly a legend in his own lifetime.

His series of books, The Art of Computer Programming [’TAOCP’], was first introduced to the public in 1968. It is still in production. Volumes 1 to 3 are available at all good bookshops, with volume 5 currently scheduled for release in 2010. Advance order your copies now. Once he completes volume five, Donald thinks that the time will be about right for a revision of volumes 1-3. Don’t expect this any time soon.

Knuth offers $2.56 to each person that alerts him to an error in one of his published works. Why $2.56? Well, because that’s the number of pennies in a hexadecimal dollar, of course.

In between writing what is arguably the most famous and respected computer science text ever produced, performing the duties of a retired professor, being an accomplished organist, and winning a plethora of awards, Knuth produced the TEX software and METAFONT language.

The versioning systems used for his creations are unique and somewhat quirky. New versions of TEX are numbered with versions approaching pi; METAFONT’s versioning system similarly approaches e. Once Knuth passes from this realm, the development of the software and language will stop, with any remaining bugs remaining as “features”. This appears to be the inspiration behind much of the development of the Windows Operating System which contains an ever increasing array of interesting “features”.

A quote from the man himself: “Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it”.

Personal fitness has never been more popular. This might be
because of recent health scares linked to obesity. It could also
still be due to the pressure and influence of fashion magazines
that only show pictures of sleek, attractive women and strong,
muscular men. It may even be driven by the simplest of desires
to loose weight, keep fit and healthy.

Whatever the reason, many recent studies have already shown that
more people then ever before are getting involved in personnel
fitness and more of them are choosing to purchase home exercise
equipment in order to achieve their goals rather than joining a
gym.

So what is stopping you from moving out of the gym and joining
the home exercise revolution? Here are six common excuses that
many people use for not purchasing home exercise equipment and why they are wrong.

Excuse 1: Home exercise equipment is too expensive.

It is true that some home exercise equipment is very expensive.
Of course, there is the very cheap end of the exercise equipment
market and many people are tempted to purchase products from it
thinking that they are saving money. But we would not recommend
this as cheap exercise equipment is typically poorly made and
will rarely keep pace with your exercising needs as your fitness
starts to improve.

The price of good quality home exercise equipment is falling
sharply and the range of features fitted as standard to help
with your exercise routine is increasing rapidly. In the future,
as home exercise equipment becomes more popular, this trend is
sure to continue.

If you are a member of a gym, you are probably already paying
out hundreds of pounds a year in membership fees. Could your gym
fees be better spent?

Excuse 2: Going to the gym is more convenient.

People today are living increasingly busy life styles. How many
times have you had to miss a lunchtime training session at the
gym for an important meeting at work or been exercising in the
evening as it is the only time available to you when you could
be out enjoying yourself?

With home exercise equipment, you can literally get out of bed,
perform your exercise routine, and dive in the shower all before
you go to work. Alternatively, use your exercise equipment in
the evening to unwind from the stress of the day.

Your home exercise equipment is always there when you need it
and at the times when it is most convenient for you to use it.
No more time wasted driving to and from the gym or waiting for
the item of exercise equipment you want to use to become
available.

Excuse 3: I do not have the space.

Another common objection to home exercise equipment is that
there is not the space available for it. Sometimes, this can be
a valid objection. If for example, you live in a small flat and
will have to move the table and a heavy sofa to get sufficient
floor space to set up your exercise equipment, then perhaps home
exercise equipment is not for you?

But if the issue is where to put your home exercise equipment
when it is not in use then this is no longer such a problem.
Most manufacturers can currently provide good home exercise
equipment that can be folded up after use. And as exercising at
home becomes increasingly more popular, home exercise equipment
is going to become even more compact and easy to store.

Excuse 4: I need my fitness coach!

Many people need the guidance and motivation of a fitness coach
to keep their exercise routine on track. But if 6am in the
morning is the most convenient time for you to exercise, where
is your fitness coach?

The Internet now provides you with the solution. Web sites exist
today that you can subscribe to for a small fee and obtain a
complete exercise program tailored to your exact personal needs
and current fitness level.

And why stop there. Everyone knows that exercise is not the only
thing that is important for a healthy life style! Diet matters
to. So why not get the help of an Internet nutritionist as
well?

You then get a complete exercise and diet program individually
tailored to your needs at a fraction of what it would cost from
a gym along with all the personnel advise and motivation you
could possibly need available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Excuse 5: I need entertainment when I exercise.

Boredom is one of the most common reasons why many people give
up on regular exercise. Some therefore say that they prefer the
gym because of the entertainment available there. They can run
on a treadmill while watching their favourite soap or cycle an
exercise bike listening to current chart hits.

But technology is advancing at an incredible pace these days.
Horizon already sells a treadmill with a built in monitor on
which you can watch TV, DVD’s or listen to your favourite music.
Very soon, other manufactures will follow and most home exercise
equipment will include such technology.

Excuse 6: I need company when I exercise.

Home fitness equipment does not only have to be for adults. What
better way to stay motivated and healthy then to involve the
whole family? How about purchasing a garden trampoline, outdoor
basketball system, football goal, skate board ramp or tennis
table.

All are good ways of exercising and getting all the family
involved so everyone can start to live a healthier life
style.

How we pick to personally travel to holiday destination will often have a major impact around more people and the planet. Everything these days appears to personally be or is making an effort to go green and this is a remarkable proposal. Actioning this & attempting to personally travel to destinations vast amounts of miles will not be the simplest thing to personally do in the world but non the less it is achievable. By cutting back the main thing which is flying by aeroplane you will be helping improve on trim down yours and others carbon footprints & all this is the absolute most successful way to personally do it.

All that does generate 1 small problem, clearly it is not 100% attainable to personally get to absolutely everywhere in the world by train, automobile or walking often you may need to fly and by decreasing this, you have to personally look at the absalute effects you will have the main thing which is villages & territory that depend around tourism cash for continued existence. To be able to make this available there is an uncomplicated way round it. Try to personally make sure and keep your own individual flying by aeroplane to not long distances. Land to personally as near as you yourself maybe can by trains etc & then all that’s needs to be done is fly the absalute remaining part of the journey. This isn’t always the ideal situation but it will help lessen your individual footprint this is super news. Each hour you possibly fly the main thing which is a plane has a carbon footprint of further than 2 weeks. Find out the facts on Breaks by Train to reduce your carbon footprint.

Trains are also broadly thought of as the entire greenest & most environmentally friendly approach to personally travel to places through anywhere in the whole world. These days it is possible to personally take breaks by trains & still have a wonderful break & be very calm, EU Rail travel to holiday spots has become very famous now a days, there are many preferences’ about where a bouts you possibly can travel to places too & it’s not that expensive. You personally may well get your family travelling to Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain & Switzerland.

If you and others are looking for advice & propositions in find places you possibly can take super weekend breaks by trains then focus no further than BBC worldwide, they advice great areas to personally go and also give you lots of data on it too & what to do there.

One of the most important developments in the VoIP industry in recent times has been the growth of mobile VoIP technology. Although still relatively early days for the mobile Voice over IP companies such as Truphone, it certainly seems they have the capacity to mix things up in the telecoms industry. Some of the recent incumbent mobile operators’ actions seem evidence of this with T-Mobile recently being forced to allow the use of Truphone over its network, having previously not allowed calls to Truphone allocated numbers.

Whilst some people argue that as VoIP prices fall towards zero, this is making it a very difficult industry to make any substantial profit in; the increasing prevalence of cut cost high speed broadband and has resulted in a huge surge in the availability of free Wi-Fi. Consequently this is making mobile VoIP operators an increasingly attractive offer for consumers. The trend in the availability of new ’smart phones’ with the ability to run mobile VoIP client software, at ever reducing prices is also, it could be argued, creating a situation where mobile VoIP could really take off.

We have recently seen T-Mobile introduce their Voice over IP service called @home giving customers the option of paying a single low monthly flat rate. However whilst the industry is finding people not entirely willing to give up their fixed phone line all together, mobile VoIP operators have no such issue to contend with. The seamless integration of mobile VoIP clients into the functionality of mobile phones, as well as the reduced cost of data-inclusive phone packages has resulted in a predictably fast growth in the mobile VoIP sector.

At present it has been reported that there are 4 million VoIP customers in the United Kingdom, and its likely this figure will go up. How established mobile phone operators will harness this remains to be seen but the decision to force T Mobile to allow calls to Truphone subscribers surely transmits a clear signal that rather than try and resist the mobile VoIP operators, the incumbent industry monoliths must find a way of working with them.

One issue which may have an influence on the amount of subscribers of mobile Voice over IP is security, with many highly publicized stories highlighting the vulnerabilities in making calls using VoIP. Another issue to contend with is ‘VoIP phishing’ where people are convinced to part with their personal data voluntarily after falling for a thief’s lure. This is also symptomatic of other VoIP security problems where unscrupulous would be thieves can tamper with the caller ID making it appear as though they are calling from reputable financial institutions. Once such problems have been dealt with and fears allayed it is likely that mobile VoIP will become will become much more integral to peoples lives as people take the opportunity to turn their mobiles into VoIP phones.