{"id":1362,"date":"2012-06-15T08:09:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-15T08:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/projects\/horsesforsources\/pete-ackerson_061412\/"},"modified":"2012-06-15T08:09:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-15T08:09:00","slug":"pete-ackerson_061412","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/pete-ackerson_061412\/","title":{"rendered":"Pragmatic Pete to pontificate a panoply of personnel policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

HfS Research Fellow, Pete Ackerson takes a break from gardening to pose for HfS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

There’s been one dependable, consistent voice in the world of HR operations, quietly\u00a0plying\u00a0his trade leading the HR shared service center for a 325,000 employee retailer (Sears), as one of the first employees of the first end-to-end HR outsourcer (Exult), and, more recently, as one of the most respected and in-demand HR specialists for one of the big consulting shops (Deloitte). \u00a0And he’s managed to do it always\u00a0with an uncanny ability to speak his mind and never get in any trouble… \u00a0so surely a poor fit with HfS then.<\/p>\n

And when we got the news that “Pragmatic” Pete Ackerson was “retiring” we just couldn’t turn down the chance to have him spend a few hours each week sharing his lifetime of HR experiences with us –\u00a0in-between\u00a0tending to his rhododendrons and his vegetable patch (or whatever it is that retired people do). \u00a0So… without further ado, here’s Pete Ackerson introducing himself as the newest HfS Research Fellow…<\/p>\n

Reminders about the dark ages<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Phil Fersht has asked me to join his band of analysts, pranksters, and pundits\u2026with an emphasis on the Human Resources field. I thought I\u2019d start off with a reminder of how far we have come and how far we have not moved ahead. As a resident gray hair\u2026and happy to have it\u2026I\u2019ve been through most of the changes over the last X number of years.<\/p>\n

Recordkeeping was a manila folder, payroll was calculated in pencil on ledgers and paid in cash, weekly (!), regulations were related to FLSA, policies were more local than national, being good at HR-stuff was how to get promoted, HR executives never made it out of HR. Some of that has changed, but some still remains as it was. If anything significant has changed (other than technologies and regulations), it has been the career path of HR executives. While few HR execs make it to the CEO-level, the competencies and contributions have changed\u2026and for the better.<\/p>\n

My experience has included senior HR generalist and specialist roles in a very large corporation, officer- level positions in a start-up HR outsourcing firm, and until recently, a consulting role in a Big-4 professional services firm. All have contributed to my knowledge and competencies\u2026and to the fun I have had in these roles (well, not all the time).<\/p>\n

I made a career choice early in my career\u2026I opted to stay in HR roles in an organization that didn\u2019t value HR except as an expeditor of stuff. My last role in the large corporation was being responsible for HR shared services, including payroll for 325,000 employees. I did many things right, but not everything. On the things that didn\u2019t go well\u2026and we all have our stories\u2026I finally got to the point where I could not only learn from them, but also feel free to ensure that others do not go down that path. Teaching turned out to be what I loved to do best, and adding experiences (war stories) to knowledge makes the story more believable to those in your organization and to clients.<\/p>\n

While most \u201cHR-types\u201d tend to drive to senior generalist roles (\u201cI am a business partner\u201d), what was of more interest to me was the value HR process and technology can bring to an organization. This interest caused me to focus on the administrative part of HR (back-office)\u2026not to make HR better, but to enhance the value of people to the organization.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019m going to focus on with these epistles over the next months is the value, tools, and techniques of HR Shared Services and Business Process Outsourcing. In that I\u2019m an operator at heart, we will not focus on the grand strategy of any of these, but instead look at pragmatic solutions. While I love elegant solutions, I place more value on solutions that work.<\/p>\n

One thing we all need to learn about driving value through HR is there is no right answer; there is no single solution to anything. An example of this is tied to the question of internal vs. external delivery of services\u2026which is better\u2026the answer is \u201cyes\u201d. I will spend some time on this topic in the next installment (if Phil lets me continue).<\/p>\n

If any of you have any subjects you would like dissected, please let me know. In the meantime, I have some weighty topics, some axes to grind, dragons to slay, and some knowledge to impart to what I hope will be an enthusiastic and kind audience.<\/p>\n

Peter Ackerson (click for bio<\/a>) is Research Fellow, HR Shared Services and Outsourcing, HfS Research. \u00a0You can also email him here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HfS Research Fellow, Pete Ackerson takes a break from gardening to pose for HfS There’s been one dependable, consistent voice…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,50,63,840,79,80,88],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[19],"yoast_head":"\nPragmatic Pete to pontificate a panoply of personnel policy - Horses for Sources | No Boundaries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/pete-ackerson_061412\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pragmatic Pete to pontificate a panoply of personnel policy - Horses for Sources | No Boundaries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"HfS Research Fellow, Pete Ackerson takes a break from gardening to pose for HfS There’s been one dependable, consistent voice...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/pete-ackerson_061412\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Horses for Sources | No Boundaries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-15T08:09:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Peter-Ackerson-HfS.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Phil Fersht\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pfersht\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Phil Fersht\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/pete-ackerson_061412\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/pete-ackerson_061412\/\",\"name\":\"Pragmatic Pete to pontificate a panoply of personnel policy - 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