That Human Touch

BM. Why has HR become such an important function for organisations today?
Saïd Aïdi. Organisations have noticed that investing in materials is not the only route to competitive advantage in today's business environment. The people who are in charge of those materials need to be trained, have a competitive salary but also have certain expectations of their company. Moreover, we are talking now of a job market. That means that we also have an investment in the employee. People are more flexible now in our worldwide business market and have no hesitation in seeking what they expect: career and evolution, salary perspective, training to increase their skills. Organisations now consider HR as a critical function thanks to the employees and that people are more added value they can offer to their customer.

BM. How can good HR practices deliver a competitive advantage?
SA. In order to deliver good HR practices, the organisation has to understand what its employees' expectations are. On the one hand, common language like retention, motivation and giving visibility of the future are normally used to implement HR practices. But it also concerns the way manager manages, the services offered, and the benefits proposed that make people stay in the organisations and be confident in it. Evolution is also critical; an organisation can include long-term career perspectives for their employees. For example, internal mobility is another way to 'keep' people in the organisation and capitalise on their skills and knowledge. The competitive advantage can be better quality products and/or better services. But those goals can only be achieved if the employee is committed to them.

BM. What are the benefits for organisations that choose to outsource this critical function of the business?
SA. Outsourcing HR may involve all domains: payroll, recruitment, training, compensation and career development. Making the outsourcing decision is usually guided by two goals - saving costs by outsourcing the majority of low-level tasks and gaining expertise for some tasks that HR can't handle. The first choice is usually made in a global company strategy: outsource database administration, printing payslips, distributing payslips, managing payroll programs and maintenance (even legal), record applicants resumes, print applicants' letters and so on. The second choice is made when HR wants to be able to really focus on strategy and services delivered to its employees. Outsourcing becomes a way to deliver those services. The offers are focused on talent management, training path proposals, assessment of specific profiles and so on.

BM. How are your services and tools helping organisations with their HR needs?
SA. HR Access is a complete HR solutions tool that gives an HR team the ability to help deliver more services and advice than just purely administrative tasks. Our new release, HRa Suite 7, is a full web solution delivering all services HR may expect from a Human Resource Information System (HRIS): guided processes based on HR best practices, document management system, HR information space, key performance indicators, HR process tracking tools and also personnel administration and payroll, recruitment, training, career management, compensation & benefits, time and attendance, expatriate assignment management, risk management, HR warehouse and more. Thanks to its architecture, HRa Suite 7 is able to communicate with every other information system in the market. Our customers choose HR Access for its leadership in HRIS, our HR services offering and our excellent customer references. The investment decision is usually driven by a reduction of low added value tasks and a strengthening in delivery of talent management advice such as individual training path, compensation and benefits programs. We also deliver business consulting advice on organisation, training, skills assessment plus specific advice on how to manage change in HR services. HR Access Solutions also provides outsourcing services and now owns a dedicated outsourcing platform: HR Access ESP. In addition to HRa Suite 7, the platform delivers a range of tools and 'best practice' processes that enhance the value and efficiency of each customer's outsourcing solution.

Saïd Aïdi is Managing Director for HR Access Solutions Tunisia, tasked with managing the company's roll-out in Middle-East and Africa and with building up a large and strong added value team in Tunisia to support the global development and the services activities of HR Access. Aïdi joined the business in 2006 after his own company, ATLASYS, was acquired by HR Access Solutions. www.hraccess.com