Accenture is the leader in the European Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO) market followed by ExcellerateHRO and Hewitt Associates, according to a recent study by the Everest Research Institute. (See Box for list of top 10)
Out of total 170 HRO contracts inked worldwide until 2006, 33 were signed in Europe. $5.6 billion is the Total Contract Value (TCV) of the top 10 European HRO service providers. Accenture signed 24% (with 48% of TCV) of total outsourcing contracts, ExcellerateHRO signed nine percent (with 16% of TCV) and Hewitt signed six percent (with 15% of TCV) of total outsourcing contracts in the region.
Top 10 European
HRO Providers
| Accenture |
| Excellerate HRO |
| Hewitt Associates |
| Xchanging |
| ARINSO |
| ACS |
| Capita |
| ADP |
| IBM |
| Xansa |
| Source: Everest Research Institute |
In 2006, Accenture won one billion dollar HRO deal with Unilever to provide HR services to the retailer’s 200,000 employees worldwide. The HR services include recruitment, payroll administration, performance management, workforce reporting and third-party provider management. These also provide a range of learning services such as content sourcing and development, program planning and delivery, and learning system hosting.
During the same timeframe, Cardinal Health awarded ExcellerateHRO a seven-year HRO contract worth $250 million to provide services 55,000 employees. Hewitt won a seven and a half year, $75 million HRO agreement with Centrica to cater to its 30,000 staff in the U.K.
A 10-year, $192 million outsourcing deal was inked between Avon and IBM to provide HR services to former’s 40,000 employees. Other major HRO deals were signed between Bank of America and ARINSO, BBC and Capita, Carillion and Accenture, Centrica and Hewitt, and Repsol YPF and ARINSO.
The annual revenue in 2006 for European HRO transactions reached $682 million, according to the study. In 1998, this revenue was only $75 million. The year-on-year annual HRO transactions growth rate stands at 29%.
