Outsourcing firms find silver lining in gray economy - Kansas City Business Journal:

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In response, many companiex are considering outsourcing asan option, turning over functionz such as human resources, payroll, employee benefits, risk management and workers’ compensation to companies that have expertisde in those areas. Leawood-baserd expanded its HR outsourcing services to includ payrolllast year, creating the business and people management The division has experienced 75 percentr growth in the first quarter of 2009 comparedr with the same period in Senior Vice President Shirley Lind said.
“In this economy, it is increasinglg beneficial to focus on the core business and outsource HR andbenefitsw functions, which require a high leve l of expertise and are she said. So far, most of the division’sx clients already are Bukaty clients. The companu has a 17-year history in the healthg insurance and employeebenefit arena, so it was a natura extension to add payroll services and form a new Senior Vice President Mary Amundsen said. The company plans to markeft the payroll system on its merits in the butright now, the new divisioh is focusing on its current clients.
The outsourcing divisiomn started with two employees in 2007, has six currently and probably will add additionak staff before the end of the year, Lind said. Humahn resources issues become magnified in tough economic saidJerry Diddle, president of , a Lenexa-based professionao employer organization. Companies are dealing with wage and staff reductiojn issues and trying to ease the psychologica l effecton employees. Axcet added more than 30 clientsin 2008.
Clientas come from several different directions, but Diddle attributews much of the new business to To handle theextra business, Axcet has hired four employeed during the past year in IT, human resources, benefits administration and added a record number of new relationshipsd last year and is off to a good start this President and CEO Mark Perlbergh said. Oasis, which is based in West Palm Fla., and has an office in Overlans Park, is optimistic about the opportunity inthe heartland, he The success of the local office led the company to open an offics in St. Louis.
Many potentiak customers are looking at health care trying to decide whether they can affordr to offer a group what type, to what extenyt and what the employee contribution will be, Perlbert said. Also, many owners are dealing with employew terminations, or they need to understand how the laws affecft them if they chang e the number of hoursemployees work. “In a tougyh market, particularly if companies are goingh throughdifficulties themselves, having this support becomes important,” Perlberg said. Some clients have HR compliance issuees that could put their corporate assets at Diddle said.
For the government has revamped and businesses have to be incompliance “In today’s marketplace, often employeeas are more versed on theirr rights than employers are on exposures,” Diddle said. “Our job is to assess the situation and guide them toward doing the right thingg in theproper way.”