Human Resource consulting or HR consulting is the branch of management consultancy that focuses on the effective utilization of Human Resources to obtain the goals of the organization. It can also be defined as a process that addresses the specific need of the business in a manner that serves the interest of both the company and the employee workforce. A Human Resource consultant tends to make and provide and advise companies over the wide range of issues that can help the business to become more productive.

A wide range of skills and techniques are used as part of the process of HR consulting. The HR consultant may have a background in such disciplines as accounting and finance, legal matters as they relate personal issues, health benefit packages, and management education. A human resource consultant may also hold credentials in a specific area of human resources.

HR consulting has turned into an industry worth $18.4 billion as per the data collected until 2006. And most of the HR consultancies are based upon the following core fields:

• Human capital, including remuneration (also called total rewards), employee rewards and incentive programs, and talent acquisition and management
• Health and benefits, orchestrating optimal employee health plans with the carriers themselves
• Mergers and acquisitions, examining fit across culture, job-type, transaction costs, etc.
• Communication, including surveying employee attitudes, satisfaction, engagement, and other employee behaviors
• Retirement
• Recruitment process outsourcing

Benefits of Human Resource Consulting

HR consulting is of benefit to businesses of every size and description. Start-up companies require guidance in establishing and deciding policies and procedures that agree with the law as they relate to hiring and firing personnel. Small companies and organizations may require the HR consulting in developing specific programs and taking the companies to a new level. Larger companies may require consulting regarding the development of mediation processes or evaluating the current size of human resources and providing suggestions on how to reorganize the department to provide the best possible output. People or organizations may choose to hire an HR consultant for a specific task such as developing strategies and techniques to enhance overall human resources function.

To summarize HR consulting can serve the following purposes:

• Help in structural reduction of the Human Resource Managing (HRM) cost base, by identifying the non-value adding activities and eliminate the hidden HR operations costs.
• Help in identifying the inefficient Human Resources (HR) Administration processes and HR practices.
• Help organizations to focus on human resource performance.
• Help organizations to serve their employees better, as the people come first.
• Help organizations to improve efficiency, productivity, and communication and employee morale.

In all cases, the ultimate goal of HR consulting is to leave the client with a solid and fully efficient human resources department. The department will have specific guidelines and procedures that can adapt to any type of personnel issue and all employees assigned to the department will have a clear understanding of their duties and responsibilities. When HR consulting is fully successful at attaining these goals, the consultant becomes redundant and is no longer needed in order for the company to competently deal with human resource issues.