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 the top 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.”(The Hackett Group)