Feature

HR BPO, the next wave

HR outsourcing could well be the next big thing in India's BPO space, writes Sudipta Dev

Globally a $40-$60 billion industry, the HR BPO segment is still a fledgling in the Indian BPO industry. Yet to take off in a big way, it is however poised to be the next big thing in the BPO space. The opportunities are undoubtedly immense, with the global market growing at 14 percent per annum. The HR BPO industry could be divided into two categories—large multinational players such as Hewitt with an outsourcing centre in India, and secondly the pool of small outsourcers that cater to the local market (engaged in payroll processing). Midway are the few established third-party outsourcers who serve international clients.

The history of HR outsourcing (HRO) industry can be traced back to more than five decades, when ADP (Automatic Data Processing) set up its payroll processing services in the US. Today, the company has annual revenues of $7 billion and 40,000 associates. Global HR BPO players like Hewitt and Fidelity have set up operations in India. Chennai-based Secova eServices is the first third-party Indian HR BPO organisation in the country. V Chandrasekaran, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Secova eServices says, “At present the Indian share of the pie is a mere $43 million, according to Nasscom, which is insignificant compared to the overall opportunity.”

The Indian share of the pie is a mere $43 millionwhich is insignificant compared to the overall opportunity V Chandrasekaran Co-Founder and CTO Secova eServices	The reason for a low Indian base in HR BPO is due to a lack of knowledge about US taxation, understanding of the culture and other factors Rajiv Srivastava Senior VP, Business Development Dimensions BPO India

Slow start

Despite its high potential, the HR BPO industry in India has not witnessed growth patterns that other BPO segments have achieved. The reason is obvious: It is a complicated process which requires strong domain knowledge. And this is not easy considering that fact that the US has 50 states with different taxation laws, federal laws, etc. “Lack of knowledge about taxation is the key factor, apart from understanding the culture, staffing, training, compensation and leave administration procedures,” says Rajiv Srivastava, Senior Vice President, Business Development, Dimensions BPO India. This HR BPO organisation has centres in Mumbai and Kochi catering to US-based clients. The company has tie-ups with many HR outsourcers for which it does backoffice work (mostly payroll processing).

Besides the fact that one has to know how to deduct the tax—based on state, marital status (single/divorce), work timings, etc—the cost of maintaining and constantly updating the system is very high. Dimensions BPO has a proprietary HRIS (Human Resources Information Sys-tem) that reduces the cost for its clients by almost 40 percent, claims Srivastava.

Services offered

Every HR BPO company offers payroll services, and later graduates to services like benefits; education/training; recruiting/staffing; and oth-ers. “At the higher end of the market you have large players such as Hewitt, offering a wide spectrum of services across all the segments. Outside of the top-tier vendors, the market is dispersed with a number of small organisations offering a limited range of services and serving limited geographies. Analysts have pointed out that there is a huge opportunity for a services provider catering to the mid-market. This is the space that Secova is targeting. We believe that we are pioneers in the mid-market HRO segment and leverage the ‘best-shore’ strategy,” states Chandrasekaran. Secova eServices’ initial focus will be on health and welfare benefits administration, payroll and HRIS services for the mid-market that accounts for $13.2 billion of the HR BPO pie.

Like most HR outsourcing organisations in the US, Dimensions is in the process of starting self-services (like helpdesk). For instance if there is $2 less in somebody’s paycheque, the individual can call back for clarification and further action.

Future prospects

HR BPO is the least serviced segment of the BPO space, though the potential is enormous. Gartner has forecasted HR BPO to reach $51 billion to represent 39 percent of all BPO revenue by the end of this year. “Other analysts such as Bernstein and Everest Consulting have said that HRO is in the ‘cradle of opportunity’ and appears to be the best among various BPO opportunities for growth. In our specific market space, we see a $13.2 billion market of which $1.3 billion could be serviced offshore in the next three years,” adds Chandrasekaran.

Career options

The skills needed for HR BPO are more complicated than the simple customer care skills of language and accent. Domain expertise and knowledge of specific processes are must. “What is imperative in this space is domain expertise coupled with knowledge about specific legal, regulatory and compliance structures in the markets we service. For employees, this provides a learning opportunity and scope to build a fulfilling and long-lasting career,” points out Chandrasekaran.

Being an early player in this industry segment, it was not possible for the company to get trained people for the job. eSecova takes people with basic skills to handle voice and data services and trains them in the HR domain in addition to client-specific training. The company usually targets talent with experience in related fields such as healthcare and insurance.

Dimensions BPO hires graduates with commerce background for basic payroll work. They should of course have a good knowledge of accounting. For self-services the need is for graduates who can provide the relevant information to the callers.

“A career in HR BPO pays well as recruits tend to have a strong domain knowledge,” acknowledges Srivastava. As far as attracting talent is concerned, he concedes that there is no dearth of BCom graduates, but the problem is that they have to be clear that they want to be in the HR outsourcing industry, “They jump to other fields and the training is a waste. Retaining them is a tough task.”

Training focus

It is a formidable task for HR BPO companies to train their staff to be HR specialists, experts on US taxation laws, statutory compliances in the country, etc. At Secova, personnel get trained to be benefits counsellors and many of them get certified by professional bodies. Some payroll staff are certified by the American Payroll Association. The company provides the necessary training for certification over and above maintaining a learning environment, info-rms Chandrasekaran.

Similarly, Dimensions BPO has a five-week long training by experts, mostly on payroll process (taxation laws, etc).

HR outsourcing is considered as the next big wave in India’s BPO scene. What is needed is concerted domain knowledge to get a larger share of the global HR BPO pie.

sudipta@expresscomputeronline.com