Major risks of the three pillar model

In general:

• Complicated structure: a 3D-matrix
• Low cost expectations might turn out to lead to high cost realities
• Too much HR - internally focused
• Different roles require different skills, meaning different people

At the level of the Corporate HR Competence Centre:

• High in the sky: lack of alignment of local practices and global policies
• Too much HQ driven
• Enemy n° 1 for all decentralised HR offices
• Risk of drying out in the end

At the level of the HR Business Partner:

• Local optimisation: ‘wat we zelf niet uitgevonden hebben kan niet goed zijn.’
• Lack of “cross border” thinking
• The NIH-syndrome: there is always a good reason to be different
• HR takes over the ‘people management role’ of the line people

At the level of the Shared Services Centre:

• Time consuming in the beginning, might take the energy (money) away from the relational contacts
• High potential cost of coordination / integration
• Requires a lot of discipline from the user
• Underestimation of the technical difficulties
• Difficult to have feeling with local knowledge that is needed
• Lack of effective accountability within the HR department