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 corporate return on investment. The outsourcing choices you make are critical decision points that affect both your employer and 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 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 business’s needs. Your human resource career has transitioned from a hands-on tactical position to holding down a strategic role in HR department. As 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 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

Don’t Need No Stinking PR?

Almost assuredly you do, especially when your most important external and internal audiences behave in ways that stop you from achieving your organizational objectives.

With that attitude, you could have a long wait before you see community leaders strengthening their bonds with you; customers making repeat purchases; unions bargaining more frequently in good faith; prospects becoming customers; employees beginning to value their jobs; political leaders and legislators starting to think of you as a key player in business community, and suppliers working hard to expand your relationship.

Lighten up and use public relations in your own best interest, and benefit from a really cost-effective assist to your business, non-profit or association.

And there’s another reason to do so. Tough times require tough tactics. Luckily, PR firepower can do for you what it was meant to do – help you achieve your operating objectives by moving those people whose behaviors have greatest impact on your organization, to actions YOU desire,

You know it’s worth it, so give it a shot!

Best place to start is by listing your most important audiences, or “publics,” and ranking them according to impact they have on your enterprise. Let’s work on outside audience at top of that list.

How aware are you and your colleagues as to how that audience views you? Could there be negative perceptions out there that, inevitably, will morph into behaviors that hurt your organization?

You really can’t afford to ignore that possibility.

So get out there and interact with members of that target audience and ask questions. The alternative is to spend a LOT of money on a professional survey. Instead, make time commitment to do some home-grown research. After all, PR best practice says you should be in regular touch with target audience members anyway, so this interaction is probably long overdue.

Ask questions like “Do you know anything about us? Have you heard anything good or bad about us?” Stay alert to hesitant and evasive responses. Notice any negative undertones? Do inaccuracies crop up? Any misconceptions or rumors that need your attention?

The answers you gather are fodder for your new public relations goal – i.e., specific perception to be altered, followed by behavior change you want.