Human resource consulting

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The human resource consulting industry has emerged from management consulting and addresses human resource management tasks and decisions. [1]

Contents

The Expert Resource Consultant suggests solutions based on expertise and experience, and assists in their implementation. The role is very typical in information benchmarking and design consulting (see examples of actual design practices in the subsequent section below).

The Process/People consultant assists in searching for solutions with methods that facilitate and raise creativity of the client company so that they will be able to implement solutions themselves. The role is traditionally demonstrated by organizational development and change consulting.

Core fields in practice

The following are core fields around which most human resource consultancies are based:

Employee engagement: Measure employee engagement levels through surveys and interviews, define and improve performance in employee engagement and retention. While this area of HR consulting is necessarily broad, encapsulating total rewards strategy, employee performance management, leadership transformation, and organisation structure design, [2] most companies do have very specialised independent practices. [3] [4]

Compensation: Design and manage compensation programs related to basic salary, bonuses, and stock plans. Evaluation of positions and building of salary structures, bonus plans and stock plans for clients are common. [5] Specialisations are often based on employee types (e.g. Executive compensation consultants and sales compensation consultants.

Employee benefits: Optimize benefit plan design and administration (inclusive of health-related benefits) by assessing competitiveness and effectiveness of benefit plans (analytics and design), and cost-effectiveness and quality of vendors (brokerage). [6] [7]

Actuarial and retirement: Provide actuarial and administration services to manage cost and effectiveness of retirement programs, including defined benefit and defined contribution plans. [8]

Mergers and acquisitions: Conduct human capital due diligence, coordinate and administer cross-functional activities during execution, including payroll and Human resource management system technology. Align organizational cultures and work styles during post-merger integration. [9] [10] [11]

Talent mobility: Provides the insight and execution for full international expatriates (usually for executives) or local plus (partial-package expatriates), from pre-move informative guide, to post-move expat management program. [12]

Other services may also include legal counseling, global initiatives, investments consulting, and the implementation of human resource technologies to facilitate human capital management.

Companies in the field

Human resource consultancies vary in their ranges of services and sizes, with many consultants and academicians breaking off to form their own practices. In 2007, there were 950 human resource consultancies globally, constituting a US$18.4 billion market.

As of 2015, Korn Ferry, Mercer, Towers Watson, Aon Hewitt, and Buck Consultants were referred to as the largest HR consulting firms. [13] [14] While the MBB and Big Fours may not have the largest HR Consulting practice, some of them are known to be among the best in this field. According to Vault.com, a website that provides career information by industry and by Fortune 1000 company, the top 10 HR Consulting Firms to work for in 2023 are as follows: [15]

RankCompany
1 Deloitte Consulting LLP
2 Korn Ferry
3 Mercer LLC
4 Boston Consulting Group
5 Accenture
6 Bain & Company
7 Willis Towers Watson
8 KPMG LLP (Advisory)
9 Ernst & Young (Consulting Practice) NA
10 PwC Advisory/Strategy&

Qualifications and certifications

Many human resource consultants have specialized qualifications or certifications, such as:

See also

Related Research Articles

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Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include manpower, labor, labor-power, or personnel.

Human resource management is the strategic and coherent approach to the effective and efficient management of people in a company or organization such that they help their business gain a competitive advantage. It is designed to maximize employee performance in service of an employer's strategic objectives. Human resource management is primarily concerned with the management of people within organizations, focusing on policies and systems. HR departments are responsible for overseeing employee-benefits design, employee recruitment, training and development, performance appraisal, and reward management, such as managing pay and employee benefits systems. HR also concerns itself with organizational change and industrial relations, or the balancing of organizational practices with requirements arising from collective bargaining and governmental laws.

Professional in Human Resources (PHR) is a certification in the human resource management profession. The certification, awarded by the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI), signifies that individuals possess the theoretical knowledge and practical experience in human resource management necessary to pass an examination demonstrating a mastery of the body of knowledge in the field. The Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) is the senior-most human resources certification for those who have also demonstrated a strategic mastery of the HR body of knowledge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Society for Human Resource Management</span> Professional human resources membership association

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is a professional human resources membership association headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. SHRM promotes the role of HR as a profession and provides education, certification, and networking to its members, while lobbying Congress on issues pertinent to labor management.

Oliver Wyman is an American management consulting firm. Founded in New York City in 1984 by former Booz Allen Hamilton partners Alex Oliver and Bill Wyman, the firm has more than 60 offices in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific employing over 5,000 professionals. The firm is part of the Oliver Wyman Group, a business unit of Marsh McLennan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marsh McLennan</span> Global professional services firm

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., doing business as Marsh McLennan, is a global professional services firm, headquartered in New York City with businesses in insurance brokerage, risk management, reinsurance services, talent management, investment advisory, and management consulting. Its four main operating companies are Marsh, Guy Carpenter, Mercer, and Oliver Wyman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watson Wyatt Worldwide</span> American consulting firm

Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Inc. was a global consulting firm that merged in January 2010 with Towers Perrin to form Towers Watson. The firm's services included managing the cost and effectiveness of employee benefit programs; developing attraction, retention and reward strategies; advising pension plan sponsors and other institutions on optimal investment strategies; providing strategic and financial advice to insurance and financial service companies; and delivering related technology, outsourcing and data services. Its principal operating subsidiary, Watson Wyatt & Company, was a human capital consulting firm with operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. Its corporate offices were in Arlington, Virginia.

Mercer is an American consulting firm founded in 1945. It is one of the four operating subsidiaries of global professional services firm Marsh McLennan. Mercer is headquartered in New York City with offices in 43 countries and operations in 130 countries. The company primarily provides human resources and financial services consulting services to its clients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development</span> UK professional association

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E-HRM is the planning, implementation and application of information technology for both networking and supporting at least two individual or collective actors in their shared performing of HR activities.

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Segal is a benefits and human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City, with more than 1,000 employees throughout the U.S. and Canada. It is the parent of Segal Marco Advisors andSegal Benz.

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Human Resource (HR) metrics are measurements used to determine the value and effectiveness of HR initiatives, typically including such areas as turnover, training, return on human capital, costs of labor, and expenses per employee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aon Hewitt</span> American consulting company

Aon Hewitt was a provider of human capital and management consulting services headquartered in Lincolnshire, Illinois in the United States. From 500 offices in 120 countries, it provided consulting, outsourcing, and reinsurance brokerage services. The "Aon Hewitt" brand and legal entities have now been absorbed into the "Aon" business, leaving obsolete the names "Hewitt" and "Aon Hewitt."

Willam J. Rothwell is a PhD, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, RODC, CPTD fellow, FLMI, and Distinguished Professor of Workforce Education and Development in the Department of Learning and Performance Systems at Pennsylvania State University. His research includes works in competency modeling, specifically the American Society for Training and Development Competency Model.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LifeWorks</span> Canadian professional services company

LifeWorks, formerly known as Morneau Shepell, was a human resources services and technology company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1966, LifeWorks served approximately 24,000 clients in North America. Besides North American offices, LifeWorks also had offices outside North America, including Brazil, Australia and the United Kingdom. LifeWorks was a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with market capitalization of $2 billion.

References

  1. ↑ Poór, József; Józsa, Imola (25 March 2015). "IEECA Journal". Journal of Eastern European and Central Asian Research (Jeecar). 2 (1). doi: 10.15549/jeecar.v2i1.70 . Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  2. ↑ "Hay Group: Employee Engagement Practice" . Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  3. ↑ "Towers Watson Rewards Practice" . Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  4. ↑ "Aon Hewitt Performance Management Service" . Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  5. ↑ "Towers Watson" . Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  6. ↑ "Towers Watson (Health and Group Benefits)" . Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  7. ↑ "Mercer Benefits Consulting and Brokerage" . Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  8. ↑ "Mercer Retirement services" . Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  9. ↑ "Mercer M&A - HR DD" . Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  10. ↑ "Mercer Post-Merger Integration" . Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  11. ↑ "Mercer M&A Project Management" . Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  12. ↑ "Mobility- Mercer" . Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  13. ↑ "Yale" (PDF). Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  14. ↑ Christensen, Jens. Digital Business. p. 172.
  15. ↑ "Vault.com 2017 Best Consulting Firms in Each Practice Area" . Retrieved 25 January 2019.
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