Spanish
Today we live in times of constant renovation. Daily the market is flooded with new products, new technologies and new competitors who impose different rules to the game. In the face of so many changes, and so fast, a company may become so immersed in implementing corrective measures and copying strategies used in the market just to keep up to date. Alternatively, it can decide to face change with creativity, integrating innovation into its own strategy.
A good example is the distribution sector, which knows better than any other, how to forecast, anticipate and adapt to the current circumstances we find ourselves in marked by relentless change and the economic downturn. This sector has been able to maintain and even increase profits by adapting their strategy to the economic prudence of their customers. In this panorama, just like in other areas, the HR department has taken the much needed lead to align with the corporate business strategy, tackling fresh challenges and new management models.
In this manner, some organizations have transformed their HR management model by outsourcing. They have done away with purely administrative processes and concentrated on those that add value and contribute to company performance, but without relinquishing control and autonomy. We can say that the distribution sector has not focused on the outsourcing model as a fad, but rather out of necessity, to gain competitive advantage by differentiating from rival players and save costs.
Furthermore, depending on the needs and the degree of maturity in organizations, providers of such services can offer different solutions and assistance to resolve the two key challenges faced today:
– Improving productivity and effectiveness: It is important to be handheld by a technology partner who smooths employee management in new outlets or warehouses, without overloading the HR department. Geographical diversity and the high volume of employees to manage lays the case for decentralizing tasks through the employee and manager self-service as the most ideal medium for improving the productivity rate in the company. And yet, being solutions adapted to the end user, they allow personnel who are not particularly qualified in IT solutions to control and manage absenteeism, contract expires, open vacancies, training requests, etc.
– Globalization: Competition and low internal consumption together with vanishing protectionism has encouraged many Spanish companies to expand their business to new markets. This internationalization implies that companies need to deploy the same corporate HR processes in the countries where they are present, processes like hire plans, recruitment, training, evaluation and compensation, consolidating information at the global level, among others. This way, they can transmit corporate culture and values while achieving a homogeneous and service of excellence across all countries. These software solutions enable information manipulation and consolidation across all countries via dashboards, and also control and compare workforce productivity, making it easier to take decisions.
Due to their idiosyncrasies, distribution companies should work with a technology partner who can solve their needs for complete global HR and payroll management. They also need providers who offer them progressive and reversible models that allow them to outsource HR management, but also to return to an in-house model to protect the investment made. This flexibility bestows not only cost savings in the midterm but also greater agility in outsourced services and the access to state-of-the-art technology.
