What is HRBP? Model and Competency Evaluation Criteria for an HR Business Partner

As human resources becomes a crucial and emphasized function for business success, HRBPs have also become highly sought-after experts. So, what is an HRBP? What are the responsibilities of an HRBP Manager in a business? How do you recruit and evaluate a Human Resource Business Partner department? Follow this article by 1Office to learn more.

1. What is an HRBP? Popular HRBP Models in Businesses Today

1.1. What is an HRBP?

HRBP (Human Resource Business Partner) is the position of a Human Resources Business Partner (an extremely important role) in every enterprise. The main task of HRBP experts is to develop HR programs aimed at supporting the company’s business operations.

The role of an HRBP is not simply about posting job requirements, taking care of candidates, or internal training, but also about outlining a time-bound recruitment strategy to support the company’s sales and business goals.

In 1997, Dave Ulrich introduced and affirmed the important position of HRBPs in a business. According to him, Embedded HR, or the Human Resource Business Partner, is one of the three components that make up the HR function, along with the Center of Excellence and the Shared Service Center.

The 3 core components of the human resources apparatus:

• Center of Excellence: Aims to provide solutions and strategic vision for the HR system, usually a small group of experts.
• Shared Service Center: The main department that performs most of the department’s activities, such as recruitment, official correspondence, calculating salaries and bonuses, etc.
• Embedded HR: which is the HRBP, is the department responsible for connecting with other departments in the company to identify staffing gaps and then build a recruitment strategy for the company.

1.2. Popular HRBP Models Today

Over time, the HRBP model has become increasingly popular. Most large enterprises today are focusing more on recruiting Human Resources Business Partner experts with the desire to align human resources with business goals to achieve high efficiency.

The advantage of the HRBP model is that it helps businesses improve the quality of engagement between departments and, in particular, can find the most suitable people for each position for the common purpose of growing the company’s revenue.

Currently, Vietnamese businesses apply the HRBP model in two main ways:

• Applying by function (such as IT, sales, operations) in typical companies like Unilever, Prudential, Tiki, etc.
• Applying HRBP by corporate branches, such as at Scommerce, VNG, etc.

See more: What is a Human Resource Management System? Criteria for Choosing an Effective HRMS

2. The Difference Between HRBP and Traditional HR

Before understanding what the HRBP model entails, people often confuse HR and HRBP. Although both are in the human resources field, these two positions have distinct differences.

Simply put, if HR is responsible for planning and development at levels 1 and 2 of the personnel model, then the HRBP manages level 3: training, developing, and organizing personnel to meet business strategy.

3. The Role of a Human Resource Business Partner in a Business

3.1. Building HR Strategy and Management Processes

An experienced HRBP will have the strategic vision to identify bottlenecks early, resolve them, and improve the efficiency of the recruitment process, building a human resource management plan that is closely aligned with business goals.

Additionally, HRBPs manage employee retention based on people analytics data. After all, a high turnover rate is one of the main cost drivers in most businesses.

3.2. Collaborating Closely with Management and Executives

As mentioned above, HRBPs play a significant role in liaising with executive management. They work with data and management tools to support senior leaders in making major decisions.

HRBPs need to understand the company’s internal situation and the workload of departments relative to their goals to balance and achieve the most suitable outcomes.

Example: In today’s economic downturn, many companies have had to lay off staff to save on operational costs.

3.3. Evaluating and Developing the HR System

Human Resource Business Partners play a crucial role in guiding employees and driving business growth. Therefore, they need creative ideas and strong expertise to evaluate employees objectively and fairly.

Most businesses have their own performance evaluation and appointment policies. In reality, it is not easy for things to be fair and transparent, as the company and employees have very different perspectives and access to information.

See more: How to build an HR department for an SME business model

3.4. Building a Reputable Employer Brand

A final important task for any HRBP is to put the corporate culture into practice and ensure its operation.

At the same time, promoting the corporate culture and employer brand also benefits the company. This is essential and strategic if you want to attract the best employees to your organization in today’s and future competitive labor markets.

Large corporations are where this is most evident, such as VNG, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, etc.

3.5. Emergency Response

If an employee has a question or a complaint about an issue, they can go to the HRBP for feedback. Additionally, the HRBP Manager anticipates situations to provide a timely response, avoiding unnecessary risks within the business.

3.6. HRBP as a “Mediator”

Upon identifying issues and conflicts both inside and outside the business, the HRBP will mediate and respond as quickly as possible to avoid affecting the company’s personnel structure and core operations. Additionally, they specialize in understanding employee psychology to minimize any potential negative impacts on work.

4. Detailed HRBP Job Description in a Business

If you are looking for an HRBP professional to join your organization, you can refer to the job description below and adjust it to fit your company’s information and goals.

The HRBP job description above is the basis for every business to recruit suitable, high-quality HRBPs.

Reference: HR Manager Job Description Template

5. How to Build Competency Evaluation Criteria for the HR Business Partner Department

Competencies vary by organization; each specific organization, company, and enterprise will differ in terms of structure, competency hierarchy, and evaluation. Additionally, data access rights and the level of HR involvement in various departments also differ between organizations.

As a department with a role that encompasses the entire HR system of a business, the HRBP (Human Resources Business Partner) is a senior position that requires comprehensive thinking skills at both tactical and strategic levels.

5.1. Tactical Level

• Ability to Analyze Data from Dashboards

The skill of reading evaluation dashboards and analyzing HR data helps HRBPs make decisions for the company’s next steps, specifically in HR and recruitment.

Example:

When your business needs to expand to a new facility in a foreign market, the HRBP will analyze HR data and assess competencies to find a suitable group of personnel for management positions at the new location.

In-depth data analysis like this is difficult to perform without a fully-featured, integrated platform.

If you are looking for a tool to support comprehensive HR information management, you can consider the 1Office HRM tool – the leading HR management software today.

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• Presentation and Communication Skills

The work of an HRBP requires the ability to work with multiple stakeholders. To coordinate with all parties and effectively communicate initiatives, an HRBP needs outstanding communication and presentation skills.

Only with good communication and well-structured presentation skills can an HRBP clearly present their opinions and plans to the leadership and disseminate them to all employees.

• Ability to Handle Resistance

Along with communication and stakeholder management skills, an HRBP needs experience in dealing with resistance. After identifying situations that require HR intervention, the HR department and the business must work closely together to implement the best possible solutions.

This skill not only brings transparency and convenience to the handling process but also helps in fully storing and tracking statistics on the system, allowing the company to monitor and understand common impending violations.

• Relationship-Building Skills

As a partner, you will need to build deep relationships. This includes not only building relationships with department heads and senior positions but also with employees at all levels.

5.2. Strategic Level

• Ensuring HR Expertise

True to the name Human Resources Business Partner, an HRBP specialist needs to ensure their professional knowledge. An HR business partner expert must have a deep understanding of HR processes and activities.

This expertise includes both a broad overview and the specific cultural context of the region in which they operate. This is an essential requirement for providing HR advice and solutions to the business.

• Business Knowledge and its Link to HR

This ability is also known as business acumen. It is important to emphasize that an HRBP is not just an HR expert; they also need to have the mindset of a business person.

An HRBP’s business knowledge is demonstrated by their ability to quickly recognize and deal with potential risks or seize business opportunities.

• Understanding of the Company’s Field of Operation

This includes understanding the general market context and the specific context of the business, including factors such as: competitive advantage, market value, competitors, the company’s market share, as well as a deep understanding of all stakeholders.

Through the article above, we have explained in detail what an HRBP is and provided specific evaluation criteria. Businesses can use this as a reference to establish a suitable HRBP position that brings long-term effectiveness to the organization.

However, monitoring and managing personnel to achieve objectivity, fairness, and accuracy in order to guide strategy for any business goal is a challenge for HRBP specialists. Understanding this difficulty, 1Office – the leading HR management technology solution – has provided businesses with the optimal HRM tool, offering outstanding utilities for tracking recruitment and evaluating personnel.

The comprehensive HR management system HRM from 1Office is currently regarded as the comprehensive human resource management solution for all businesses in the 4.0 era. Applying comprehensive HR management software helps improve work performance and provides a broader vision and new strategies in HR administration.

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