Setting HR Service Level Agreements from Scratch: Any Ideas or Experiences to Share?

Dear All,

I'm the HR Manager for an organization in London and have been asked to set Service Level Agreements for the aspects of HR. HR is newly formed, and therefore, we only have a staff handbook in place and a few policies. Does anyone have any ideas on SLAs for the HR area? Comments are welcomed.

Thank you,
Lina

SLAs are done when you outsource. What areas of HR is your organization planning to outsource?

1. Recruitment (I can send)
2. Facility Management (Best formats should be available with some manufacturing companies)
3. Payroll Management
4. Training and Development

Which specific area are you planning to start with?

Hi,

In my knowledge, SLA is nothing but the Employment Agreement, which talks about the employment conditions. If you mean this only, then I can forward you the copy of the employment agreement that I have drafted for my company.

Cheers,
Shreeram :) :) :)

Dear Shreeram,

That would be great - thank you. It's very difficult for me to ascertain exactly what is asked for as I work for a small company experiencing rapid growth within the finance sector. A young management team with infrastructure emerging. All other departments have been asked to produce SLAs and in line with that, as have I; however, the other departmental SLAs are timelines to which they will respond to certain requests they receive in the nature of their job, i.e., respond to requests for work in 24 hours with priority. Low priority will be turned around in a week. I can't actually fathom exactly how I'm supposed to do this within the scope of HR, to be honest.

If it's not too much trouble, would you please share with me your information?

Thank you, Carolina

Hello friend,

You may probably consider the following approach:

1. Make a list of services that you will be providing to other departments - so this service level agreement will be with HR and more than one department.

2. How can we measure the effectiveness of that service? For example, preparing a monthly manpower report may be one service you provide to Finance and possibly MD. Now you can mention that on or before the 3rd of every month, the manpower data will be sent. Similarly, if you are recruiting, you can mention that from the date of position approval, suitable resumes will be sent for screening "within 2 weeks."

Any information relating to people will be provided in "less than 24 hours." Some items may not have a very specific measure, but some commitments can be stated from HR.

After you prepare this document, send it to the concerned department/s and get their views for any modifications that they may suggest. They may like to change certain priorities as well. After receiving their feedback, you can finalize your list of items, and then both parties (HR and the other department) can finally sign the agreement.

Regards,

Nishikant

I may be speaking out of place here, but here goes...

I have attached a simple SLA document. Please ensure that you define a clear process map for the deliverables and mention all the inputs you may need from other departments for the process to be completed on time and effectively.