In a recent benchmark survey by The Hackett Group, companies that had adopted
an HR shared-services model reported reducing process costs by as much as 80
percent. The savings most often came from reduced staffing in HR. In the Hackett
study, “world-class” HR organizations—defined as thetop quartile of 125 companies
benchmarked— spent on average 13 percent less on HR per employee. However
the study highlighted that “if savings like these are the sole reason a company
adopts the model, it will miss the greater benefit of enabling HR specialists to
contribute to the success of the business units they serve. Though difficult to
quantify, the bigger benefit comes from unchaining HR professionals from their
administrative tasks.