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[Divernan]

31. Even Human Resources departments are being increasingly outsourced.

This fact was brought home to me when 2 of my nieces were recently hired - one in the metropolitan Boston area, and the other in central Ohio, by firms who handle phone calls/emails/benefits questions from employees of other companies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/jobs/more-companies-are-outsourcing-their-human-resources-work.html?_r=0

Problems arise if outside vendors are concerned mainly with maximizing their income and lowering their costs, resulting in “low flexibility and poor service,” Ms. Lucas said. It’s in the best interest of employees at this kind of vendor “to provide as little service as possible,” she said. And at such a vendor’s call center, she said, “I don’t even have to care about morale at your site, because it doesn’t affect my day.”

MS. LUCAS said that if human-resources professionals work for the same company as the employees they serve, their interests are more closely aligned. If your performance is good, “the company will make more money,” she explained. “A better-performing company means a better bonus for me, a happier workplace, and fewer problems all around.”

But many internal H.R. functions have been “cut to the bone,” said Peter Cappelli, a management professor and director of the Center for Human Resources at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Therefore, the idea that companies will be more strategic about human resources after they outsource “requires some heroic assumptions,” said Professor Cappelli, author of “Why Good People Can’t Get Jobs.” Supervisors may be able to take over some important roles, but many of the people who were experts at recruiting, training and career development have been laid off, he said. So is it any surprise, he added, that companies complain that they can’t find good people?

“The world has moved toward self-service,” he said, and that puts the emphasis on technology, and on information over advice. Sometimes, he said, “there’s literally no one to talk to.”