Transforming The HR Function Through Better Business Partnering

HR has a mission: to be 'high impact'. A new operating model for HR is emerging

What is holding HR back from making the impact the business expects? Three main factors have come out of research carried out by Bersin by Deloitte and our experiences with complex clients in the field:

The traditional definition of the business HR role no longer meets the business and workforce challenges of the 21st century. Business leaders and sometimes the HR function itself have a dated view of HR's strategic and business potential Business HR roles have often been left to evolve organically in the hope of becoming more strategic merely by centralising some activities within a traditional HR administrative group and implementing HR technology. Changes of this nature, or the use of titles such as HR Business Partner have not provided business HR teams with the tools, training or infrastructure to attain the elusive goal of 'getting strategic' Specifically in Luxembourg, the typically small size of organisations means that local administrative roles are combined with a more strategic role, which further undermines the job content of the business HR professional. Despite the best of intentions, in many organisations today's HR 'business partners' are yesterday's 'generalists', without much more than a new title, some new automation, and the removal of some administrative work. HR leaders tell us they still find it difficult to drive new outcomes when the HR professionals closest to the business are still doing the same things as before. One of the major shifts involved in implementing the Deloitte High-Impact HR (HIHR) Operating Model is taking the role of business HR to the next level— creating expert consultants close to the business. Yet, despite the widespread adoption of a business-focused HR role, organisations indicate that they are not achieving the anticipated impact and return on investment from the change. In fact, a large portion of the HR work continues to be administrative and transactional in nature.

The HIHR Operating Model places HR customers in the centre, with business HR positioned closest to the customer to drive strategic business objectives and enhance business performance by working in partnership with leaders of people and the business, applying increased HR agility, flexibility, coordination, networking...