The Snitch

Singapore – ­When Kellogg Company rolled out a shared services model for its human resources (HR) function, its main concern was ensuing employees could still feel a human connection with the organisation.

“The big challenge was getting people to accept the idea that they may not have that tap on the shoulder anymore,” John Gigerich, senior director of application solutions at Kellogg, said.

The new HR shared services model meant that employees no longer have to approach a business leader or the HR department to obtain or clarify information about their work.

“Before, if the [HR] generalist was out for two weeks, employees will have to wait two weeks for a response,” Gigerich said.

Gigerich explained an effective shared services model is about “getting questions answered quickly or escalating that to someone who can answer it faster”.

Since implementing this centralised structure in 2008, the cereal company has witnessed an 18% return on investment in the first year. Currently, 65% of staff queries are answered within the first call, and 75% of requests are replied within the day.

Another advantage of using a shared services model is that as companies continue to expand, it becomes challenging to have functional experts “spread around the locations while maintaining consistency”.

Gigerich said having information that is easily shared and accessed at one location narrows the gap between employees based in different countries and offices. Business leaders are also better equipped at making faster and more informed decisions because they have “data at their fingertips”.

As the shared service model only completed its final implementation for the US, Canadian and Latin American operations this year, Gigerich said Kellogg has no plans to roll the programme out to Asia just yet.

Gigerich sits down with HRTV to talk about other pros and cons of an HR shared services model, and how it can further support HR. To watch the full interview below.