Human resources outsourcing: benefits, risks, and implementation

Human Resource

Microsoft Corporation is one of the biggest and most trusted name in the world of computer technologies, software and products. Its headquater is based in Washington, USA with huge annual profits and more than 71,000 employees on the payroll in over 100 countries. Its truly the prototype of modern and multinational corporate world.For any business venture that wishes to establish itself as a credible entity, a human resource policy is absolutely imperative and Microsoft is no exception to it. In Microsoft's business philosophy people are considered as their greatest asset. Its part of their business strategy to bring in the suitable people and furnish them enough to yield the best results for the business that caters and positively influences the lives of millions of people around the world. (Microsoft.com)

Because of the vast nature of this business phenomenon it is natural for Microsoft Corporation to practice human resource outsourcing, as the term indicates is the outsourcing of activities related to human resources. Being one of the most successful businesses of the world it uses HR outsourcing in variety of fields, customer support and call center just being two of them.(Erber, 2005) the customer service organization is an important part of the operations. It serves as a platform, where customers first get in touch for resolving technical problems, help and answers to queries. For most of Microsoft's clientele these customer service representatives serve as human "face" of Microsoft. They operate by phone and e-mail, they offer assistance in resolving ordinary problems and for more complex and technical issues they provide best reference such as relevant product support professionals and engineers. As the telephonic access numbers are invariably universal access numbers so it is possible and convenient to hire skilled labor for this purpose from any part of the world and especially from those countries where quality workforce is easily available and relatively cheap.

Microsoft should continue to carry out their operations this way because the reasons behind such outsourcing are multi-faceted, but the most important is the fact that it saves money. The firms undertaking such jobs provide the services for a sum, which is considerably less than what is normally incurred. The basic reason they are able to do so is that they don't have to provide perks and privileges to their workers and have fewer minor or overhead expenditures to take care of. (Edstrom, 1998)