Northgate HR and The Newbury Index announce strategic partnership

Northgate HR, the specialist HR, payroll and pensions solutions provider has today announced a strategic partnership with HR consultancy The Newbury Index Ltd. Northgate HRís heritage is in providing tools that enable the effective management of workforce data so that organisations can create value through their people.

The partnership’s objective is to develop a market-leading human capital management (HCM) offering, using Northgate HR’s software development skills and The Newbury Index’s HR consultancy experience. Clients will be able to identify, analyse and monitor the people measures that make a real difference to their bottom line and develop plans to improve them.

The rationale for the partnership stems from the recommendations of the Accounting for People Task Force on Human Capital Management Reporting, chaired by Denise Kingsmill. In its report submitted to Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, in November 2003, the task force asserted that ësound HCM leads to sound performance, and that accountability to stakeholders on HCM will help to drive up standards.í The task force also recommended that company directors producing Business Reviews should include human capital information in the report.

Paul Kearns, founder of the Newbury Index Ltd, said: ìEven some of the UKís largest employers are starting to feel the pain of long-term under-investment in management information systems. This could make it very challenging for them to report adequately on the people assets within their organisation, and could in turn render them unable to meet the recommendations of the Accounting for People HCM Task Force.î

The Newbury Index itself is based on an extensive set of metrics including type of organisational structure, number of process changes, labour turnover, time taken to fill vacancies and analysis of development spend. It produces a rating expressed in three key perspectives:

M - Human capital maturity ñ how long (if at all) has the organisation been using its workforce effectively?
S - Human capital strategy that is directly influencing business strategy
P - People measures linked to value measures

Under each of these headings an organisationís ratings can be assigned to produce an overall score that will look something like ëA B B í. Just as Standard and Poorís Ratings are analyses used to assess the strength of a companyís financial status, or that of its issued stock, the Index is capable of providing a picture of how effectively companies deploy their workforce.

Steve Foster, HR business strategy manager at Northgate HR, said: ìWe believe our partnership with The Newbury Index Ltd will provide a much-needed means for external parties ñ including investors ñ to compare organisations of different sizes and from different industries, based on how effectively they manage their most important asset: their people.î

Organisations interested in how effectively they have deployed and developed their workforces can log on to the Northgate HR Newbury Evaluation Tool ñ a snapshot of the full Newbury Index that allows companies to measure and determine the effectiveness of people policies in their organisation.

Denise Kingsmill believes investors who do take an interest in the longer term are coming increasingly to recognise HCM as a factor to watch. Commenting on the Northgate HR Newbury Evaluation tool, Kingsmill said: ìThis is just what is needed. Iím sure this will prove a really useful tool, with a thoughtful approach.î

To use the Northgate HR Newbury Evaluation Tool log on to www.northgate-is.com/hrs/newbury or Northgate HR on 0800 035 0545 or email hrsolutions@northgate-is.com