Addressing Workforce Public Productivity Through Human Resources Outsourcing

Abstract

Human resources outsourcing, a process whereby human resources management functions are contracted to outside players, has gained popularity as a reform strategy that allows the human resources department to focus more on strategic change management functions. Effective human resources management is needed to create an effective, professional and responsive public machinery that makes a significant contribution to the achievement of national development goals. The study sought to discuss the extent to that human resources outsourcing strategy address productivity challenges in the Zimbabwe public sector in general. Using qualitative desk research and documentary analysis, the study revealed that, despite the widely heralded benefits of human resources outsourcing, its uptake in Zimbabwe’s public service remains low. Human resources functions are highly centralised leading to unnecessary bureaucratic delays in the implementation of human resources management functions. Therefore, outsourcing of recruitment and selection functions can increase the chances of attracting the best talent from the market, hence likely to attract high performing and productive workforce teams. The research findings support the claim that the public sector on its own may not be able to pool a highly-skilled workforce due to the poor image associated with working conditions within the public service. The study concludes that the public sector needs to compete with the private sector in building relevant modern skills hence outsourcing of human resources functions like auditing, workforce planning training and development, though expensive, proves effective in bringing a culture transfer into the public service mechanism. The research recommends the need for the public sector to introduce a deliberate policy of mandatory outsourcing of human resources functions when appointing high-level grades. In addition, the public sector needs to build strong public–private partnerships in building and implementing outsourcing functions within the public sector. However, the collaborations may need a strong budget commitment from the Treasury to support a highly productive public sector workforce.