Situation

• A key tenet of the Government of B.C. is that it should not manage functions that are better handled by outside sources
• Based on this, the Government decided to outsource its Human Resources functions
• Rather than a supplier, the Government wanted a partner to work with them in enhancing their HR services

Approach

• The Government of B.C. uses a unique Joint Solutioning Request for  Proposals to find the provider or partner it is looking for
• After spending three months working through potential solutions with TELUS and another vendor, the Government chose TELUS

Business Benefit

• By providing the Government of B.C. with a full range of HR services, TELUS has freed it to concentrate on serving the Province and its citizens
• Direct savings are anticipated to be in excess of $30 million over 10 years
• At the TELUS Centre of Excellence in Victoria, the Government and TELUS work together to develop innovative HR solutions that can be marketed to other organizations

Solution

Organizations in the public sector face pressures that are quite contradictory. They have to demonstrate fiscal responsibility, proving they are managing taxpayer dollars effectively, while at the same time delivering on ever-increasing demands for service to their constituents. Budgets are almost always constrained, yet public expectations are exceedingly high.

These are just some of the reasons the Government of British Columbia firmly believes that when non-governmental functions are better provided by outside organizations, they should not be managed internally. That’s why it recently decided to set up an alternative delivery program for its Human Resources services. By relying on a trusted partner to administer payroll, recruitment, benefits, employee performance management and recognition, occupational health and safety and other HR functions, the Government would free its own resources and management to focus on their core expertise of governing and delivering vital services such as healthcare and education.

However, the Government of British Columbia was not looking for a vendor. They wanted a partnership where, in the words of Eulala Mills-Diment, Executive Director of the Provincial HRMS Partnership, “we work collectively to meet the goals of both organizations.”  To make sure that happened, her Ministry followed a unique Joint Solutioning Request for Proposals process. “It’s about jointly developing a set of goals and outcomes that meet both our expectations,” she explains. “We selected TELUS because of their vision for growth and partnership.”

As the country’s second-largest communications company, with annual revenues of $8 billion and 29,000 employees, TELUS is a major Canadian employer. This size and experience provide the company with an unparalleled breadth of HR expertise. At the same time, TELUS is an industry leader in applying new technologies and IT to assist in managing organizational performance and HR.

Today, TELUS provides the Government of B.C. with a full range of award-winning, best-in-class eHR offerings. As a result, the Government has:

• Gained access to HR best practices and the latest state-of-the-art technology and applications.
• Provided employees with information and capabilities beyond just payroll. Many HR functions have been Web- enabled, allowing employees to access claim forms, check benefits, enroll in and undertake training and more, all through an easy to use Web portal customized for the Government.
• Eliminated capital investments in HR infrastructure and ongoing expenses for management and maintenance, replacing them with predictable costs
• Ensured that service levels to employees will be either enhanced or, at the very least, maintained through stringent service level agreements
• Transferred all financial and operational risks, including the risk of technology obsolescence
• Freed their own technical resources to concentrate on smooth service delivery to the public, as maintenance and management of the core technology are TELUS responsibilities
• Achieved payroll reductions by taking over existing employees

Mills-Diment stresses that cost-savings were not a key driver behind the program. However, she does expect to see direct savings in the region of $30 million over 10 years.  “We wouldn’t have moved forward if there wasn’t a strong business case,” she explains.

The Government will also benefit from ongoing improvements in service delivery. TELUS has created a Centre of Excellence in Victoria, where it not only provides HR services to Government employees, but also works with the Government to develop, test and evaluate innovative HR system solutions which can then be marketed to other health and public sector organizations.