What are the best locations to offshore your HR function(s) today?

I agree with my good friend Rob O' Malley that location does not really matter. There will always be risks in going offshore with your HR functions. However, you can MINIMIZE those risks by following 3 simple rules, to wit:

1) PREPARE EXTREMELY WELL ! - The success of offshoring is highly dependent on
the processes and procedures being FIRST “tried and tested” and well-documented at the
home office BEFORE any offshoring exercise commences. Many times, processes and
procedures sent offshore were still incomplete, resulting in both confusion at the receiving
end during the offshoring cycle and frustration back at the home office for what became a
doomed project from the start. It is also important to note that a number of offshoring failures have been explained away as the result of different cultures, etc., when in fact, such was only a “manufactured” excuse : the main culprit is attributed to faulty processes / procedures that were (a) not properly documented from the beginning and/or (b) not communicated properly.
2) DESIGNATE “CHAMPIONS” AT BOTH ENDS ! – Matrix, solid/dotted lines will not
work! The chief BPO/KPO drivers, or champions - at both ends - must be clearly identified
and empowered - before any offshoring commences. Both “champions” must work hand-inhand, unfettered by organizational mazes that have split-responsibility groups interacting in a way that spurs conflict and tension during the offshoring cycle. Both champions, directly responsible for their respective “shore,” must work closely with each other to remove all obstacles and bottlenecks that prevent seamless transition during the offshoring cycle.
3) TEACH AND LEARN – BOTH WAYS ! The offshoring process is a dynamic one,
where lessons will be taught and learned - at BOTH locations. The offshoring company that turns deaf to the foreign nuances (example: cultural differences) will endure a greater share of birth pains. On the other hand, there are indeed many benefits that, speaking as a Philippine based company whose parent company is listed in the American Stock Exchange, Filipino employees can offer. These strengths, once identified (through excellent communication between the two champions) can be harnessed positively to accelerate and further improve the offshoring process. A true win-win is possible for both the home office and the offshoring location. The teaching and learning process – at both ends – is an ongoing activity and never really stops.There will be improvements upon improvements and constantly new ways to further enhance and modify offshored processes to meet new market conditions, new technologies, new competitive strategies. The true mark of an offshoring expert is that they fully appreciate the cultural differences between home office and the offshored location AND they creatively use these differences (NOT weaknesses!) to shared advantages, culminating in a true celebration of diversity, enhanced with innovative harnessing of global strengths for mutual glories.

The above rules were devised by our Director, Mr. Ben Sevilla of Global Hotline Philippines, Inc. (www.globalhotlineinc.com). These are simple but extremely effective tools which have guaranteed that our customers fully enjoy the benefits of their decision to outsource/offshore their processes to our organization.

I would say that location doesn't really matter at all these days in terms of offshoring any kind of business process. If it did, certainly The Philippines is far ahead in terms of English language than India. Instead, the issue is quality of vendor. As someone who has outsourced call centre activity around the world, some of my best suppliers have been in the same country as some of the worst providers. The only advice I would give in terms of locations is to go for tier 2 and tier 3 cities. The main offhsoring destinations of Mumbai, Bangalore etc are now so full of various BPO units, that it's very difficult to find quality staff there these days without paying much higher rates. Instead, head for much smaller cities.

If you are looking for English being your primary support language, I will suggest India is the best option at this point. I have seen the transformation of F&A and HR and the country has reached a maturity level that they can service better in HR benefits/payroll/workforce management/outsourcing evaluation etc.
Risks: While offshoring, it is imortant to see the stability of the company as well as the adoption to your changing needs. Most of the companies today provide the necessary infrastructure and work force to meet your requirements however, you are equally part of the success or failure. So it is important that you spend enough time explaining them about your business needs.
Locations: India (English), Eastern Europe (for all European lanaguages), Singapore (for AsiaPacific lanaguages)

I will suggest India is a good option. Apart from English language, it is also the trained professional, management skills and matured Industry following best practices.

The risk in offshoring are more to do with fear of unknown. These can be mitigated if you get right advice and may be a consulting help to manage offshore. Most offshoring faliures are because of adopting a unfit combination of offshore management team, communication faliure, mismanagement of relationships between ">onshore and offshore teams. Some of the best practices are designing a process that can socialise the offshore teams in to onshore culture and onshore teams in to offshore geography culture. We privide this kind of management support to help companies transition sucessfully. For small teams we suggest Managed offshore centers as the way out apart from outsourcing to speiclaized third party providers. By adopting Managed offshoring - you can mitigate most offshore risks and yet keep sufficient control almost equivalent to having a captive center.

India offers many location within the country and you can choose a location depending upon what your objectives are. e.g. is cost the overriding objective etc...

Locational differentiations are primarily:
1. Cost + Manpower combination+ Language
2. Concentration of industry
3. Functional Management Skills
4. Infrastructure
5. Quality and Productivity of existing players
6. Political stability
7. Connectivity of location to rest of world, especially to onshore location in consideration
8. Ancillary Industry

and many more...

I hope this answers your query..