The HR advisory market consists of the sales of HR advisory services by entities (organizations, sole traders and partnerships) that provide advice on human capital matters and/or offerings revolving around the HR function. HR advisory services are generally used by two types of clients – those aiming to improve their HR function by redesigning HR processes and those undergoing transformations such as mergers and acquisitions to ensure the new human capital is trained. Only goods and services traded between entities or sold to end consumers are included.
The global HR advisory market is expected to grow from $77.42 billion in 2020 to $83.91 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.4%. The growth is mainly due to the companies rearranging their operations and recovering from the COVID-19 impact, which had earlier led to restrictive containment measures involving social distancing, remote working, and the closure of commercial activities that resulted in operational challenges. The market is expected to reach $108.74 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 6.7%.
The HR advisory services market covered in this report is segmented by type into compensation consulting; benefits consulting; human resources management consulting; actuarial consulting; strategic consulting; others.
The use of data-driven tools and analytics for employee engagement is a major driver contributing to the growth of the HR advisory services market. Employee engagement refers to a workplace approach that results in appropriate conditions for all the employees of the company to give their best performance every day by abiding by the values of the company with an enhanced feeling of their well-being. Professionals in human resource management are relying on data analytics and AI for key decisions. For instance, Genpact, an American professional services company, analyzes employee data, segments and categorizes it to find patterns such as at what age, salary range, or experience level, employees leave the organization. Predictive analytics is used to identify employees who are at high risk of voluntary attrition and interventions are designed to re-engage them. Further advances in data-driven tools and analytics are expected to drive the HR advisory service market.
Cybersecurity threats for the human resource department is a major factor hindering the growth of the HR advisory services market. A cybersecurity breach is costly and equally destructive for all organizations - big or small. According to Heimdal Security, cyber-crimes costs the global economy $100 billion every year and $17 million in the USA alone. HR professionals maintain extremely private and sensitive information such as social security number, date of birth, address, and bank details. In addition to this, according to the Forrester Analytics Global Business Technographics® Security Survey 2019, 52% of enterprise network security decision-makers experienced at least one data breach in the last 12 months, and 44% of breaches were caused by employees who intentionally or not, exposed sensitive data to data thieves or hackers. Companies rely on their HR department and do not outsource HR services because there is a risk of losing important employee data in availing external HR services, thereby restraining the growth of the HR advisory services market over the coming years.
Organizations across the globe are focusing on creating a digital workplace using cloud services and AI, which is gaining significant popularity in the HR advisory market. The digital workplace is a modern concept using digital transformation to align technology to achieve organizational goals with operational efficiency. Cloud services and AI are important parts of the digital workplace helping in removing geographic barriers for improved collaboration, increased productivity and employee engagement, improved decision making, and also in optimizing costs. For instance, in 2018, DBS bank created Jobs Intelligence Maestro (JIM), a virtual AI-powered bot to conduct candidate screening. JIM helped in reducing screening time to 8 minutes from 32 minutes and improved the completion rate of total applications for a job to 97% from 85%. The increasing use of AI and cloud services will bring significant changes in HR advisory services in the coming years.
In March 2020, Aon Plc, a London-based global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resource consulting and outsourcing, acquired Willis Towers Watson (WTW), the UK-based risk management, insurance brokerage, and advisory company, for $30 billion. The acquisition will strengthen Aon Plc's expertise in cybersecurity, intellectual property, climate change, and health solutions. The combined entity would work together in risk, retirement, and health businesses. Willis Towers Watson (WTW) is a London-based company that helps clients around the world in 140 countries in global advisory, HR consulting and software, broking, and other solutions.
The major players covered in the global HR advisory services market are IBM Corporation, Mckesson Corporation, Dell, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Limited, Accenture PLC, Aon, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, The Adecco Group, Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc, Willis Towers Watson, Hay Group, Automatic Data Processing (ADP) Inc., Oracle Corporation, Kronos Incorporated, Randstad. Manpower, Mercer, ManpowerGroup, SYNERGIE, KORN FERRY, KRONOS, ROBERT WALTERS.
The countries covered in the global HR advisory services market are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, UK, USA.
The regions covered in the global HR advisory services market are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, Africa.
The global HR advisory services market is segmented -
1) By Type: Compensation Consulting, Benefits Consulting, Human Resources Management Consulting, Actuarial Consulting, Strategic Consulting, Other
2) By Service: Integration & Deployment, Support & Maintenance, Training & Consulting
3) By End-Use: IT Services, Manufacturing, Financial Services, Mining And Oil & Gas, Construction, Others