HR management services refer to the professional support businesses receive in handling their people-related functions.
A business can outsource its HR activities either partially or fully to a qualified third party.
This third party can be an individual, but it’s usually a company that specializes in managing employees, policies, and compliance.
Now, you may be thinking: “Isn’t it risky to put your HR in the hands of another company?”
HR touches sensitive parts of your business, so giving that responsibility to an outside company can no doubt make you feel uneasy.
However, with a vetted and certified provider, outsourcing becomes less about risk and more about staying compliant and supporting your people.
In the next few sections, we’ll show you:
- How outsourced HR management works
- Which HR services you can outsource in Kenya
- How Bridge Talent Management (BTM) helps businesses like yours simplify HR and stay compliant.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
First, what services are usually included in outsourced HR management?
Types of HR Management Services You Can Outsource in Kenya
Every HR management service will touch one of these three areas:
- Your people – hiring them, developing them, and keeping them productive.
- Compliance – making sure contracts, payroll, and policies align with Kenyan labor and tax laws.
- Business growth – building systems that allow you to scale without HR becoming a bottleneck.
Most companies begin with payroll and compliance since these areas demand accuracy and carry significant legal obligations.
Later, businesses often add other functions such as recruitment, training, or performance management as their workforce increases.
Of course, the services you outsource will depend on the gaps in your business, size, and growth stage.
These are the five most common HR services businesses in Kenya choose to outsource.
1. Recruitment and Staffing
If you’ve tried hiring for entry-level positions in Kenya recently, you know it’s not a walk in the park.
One job posting can attract hundreds of applicants. In fact, reports show that every year, half a million young Kenyans enter the job market, yet only a fraction secure stable or satisfying jobs.
So, while the talent pool is wide, finding candidates who are the right fit for a specific role will take more time than you anticipate.
Now imagine being a business founder who is already the strategy lead, part-time marketer, and full-time CEO, and then adding the responsibility of sifting through hundreds of CVs, shortlisting, and conducting rounds of interviews until you find a good fit.
It is time-consuming and expensive, especially when you get it wrong.
On the upside, when you’re outsourcing this service to an HR management service, they will:
- Refine your job descriptions
- Advice on competitive salary ranges,
- Source the right candidates
- And line up interviews with your decision makers.
Recruitment will also go faster when you work with an HR partner.
On average, an unplanned in-house hire can take up to 11 weeks to complete. In contrast, outsourcing to a recruitment firm often reduces that timeline to just about 3 weeks.
The quality of candidates also improves because HR firms are constantly building and maintaining talent pipelines.
For example, if you’re hiring for senior or executive roles, HR firms often have access to curated networks and databases of professionals.
They can tap into these pools quickly and connect you with top-level candidates you might not reach on your own.
The people you hire shape your culture, productivity, and ultimately your bottom line.
Companies that excel at recruitment tend to grow much faster and generate over 3X the revenue and about twice the profit margin compared to those that struggle to hire effectively.
Outsourcing recruitment puts you in the same camp as these companies, which grow faster and stay more profitable because they consistently hire the right people.
2. Payroll and Compliance
Payroll processing in Kenya requires employers to walk through a web of government requirements, tax obligations, and statutory deductions that can trip up even experienced business owners.
For instance, regardless of the size of your business, Kenyan labor and tax laws expect businesses to:
- Remit PAYE for every employee
- Remit SHIF, AHL, and NSSF payments
- Deduct HELB and remit to the Higher Education Loans Board
Each of these remittances follows a strict timeline.
If not followed, it can cost your business up to KSh 500,000 in fines for NSSF, SHIF, and PAYE non-compliance.
It’s no wonder then that 70% of small businesses say payroll taxes are a significant burden for them.
The stakes get even higher when you consider the error rates.
Studies show that payroll mistakes happen twice as often when done in-house. In fact, 53% of companies have faced payroll penalties in the last five years because of such errors.
When you’re working with an HR consultancy firm, these payroll and compliance issues are no longer problems to worry about.
Your HR partner will keep a pulse on deadlines and ensure you file all forms and remittances expected by the Kenyan government.
For example, at Bridge Talent Management, we use integrated systems that handle everything from payroll processing to real-time leave tracking.
Your business, therefore, gets a single dashboard where all your HR data lives and updates automatically.
In turn, you avoid all the costly penalties, your employees get paid accurately and on time, and you can concentrate on growing. It’s essentially buying yourself peace of mind while ensuring your people’s operations run like clockwork.
3. Employee Training & Development
Your competition for top talent is no longer salary alone.
Lack of growth opportunities is now the second most common reason why employees leave.
In a recent study, 67% of employees admitted that they would stay in a company that gave them advancement and upskilling opportunities.
An HR management service can help you equip your team with the skills they require to perform best in their roles and remain engaged.
The kind of employee training offered will differ from one company to another. For example, here at BTM, we offer:
- Leadership Development
- Customer Service Excellence
- Technical Skills (Industry-Specific)
- Stress Management & Emotional Intelligence
We are also open to creating custom training plans to fit your organization’s needs. Book a free consultation to learn more.
4. Performance Management
Performance management is all about helping a business get the best out of its employees in a structured, measurable, and fair way.
Unfortunately, in our experience, it’s one of the most overlooked.
When outsourced to an HR firm, performance management usually involves setting up the systems, tools, and processes that a company might not have the capacity to build on its own.
According to a 2024 Gallup report, 75% of sub-Saharan African employees are either looking for new opportunities or actively applying elsewhere.
Many factors contribute to this, but if we were to sum it up in three words, we’d use poor performance management.
When people don’t receive clear expectations, ongoing feedback, or recognition for their work, they disengage and start looking for roles where they’ll feel more valued.
That’s why effective performance management systems are critical.
So, what does outsourcing performance management look like in practice?
- Outlined job roles, KPIs, and performance standards so your employees know what’s expected of them.
- Structured processes for regular performance reviews, feedback sessions, and progress tracking.
- Guidance on linking performance to promotions, bonuses, or recognition programs.
- Fair and legally sound frameworks for addressing poor performance.
However, note that it’s better to keep the implementation in-house.
For example, an HR firm can help you draft frameworks for dealing with underperformance, but your management team is positioned better to hold the conversations, apply the policies fairly, and make decisions that reflect your company culture.
5. HR Policies and Documentation
HR policies and documentation are the heartbeat of any HR function in a business.
These two ensure there are clear-cut step-by-step processes for how your business responds to certain events.
For example:
- If an employee is underperforming and you need to let them go, do you have a fair, documented process that won’t land you in legal trouble?
- What if an employee experiences sexual harassment at work? How would your manager handle that?
- And when you onboard a new employee, do they have all the documents they need to perform their best?
- What if the tax authorities came knocking? Would you have all the legally required documents, like employment history and performance reviews?
For many businesses, these are usually an afterthought after legal trouble has already struck.
Rather than waiting for trouble, you can work with an HR firm like BTM to create legally sound documentation that covers every aspect of your HR processes and policies.
Employees understand what’s expected of them, and your business is protected legally should issues arise in the future.
Are There Any HR Outsourcing Benefits for SMEs
We’ve already shown you what happens when HR isn’t a priority:
- Over half of companies end up with payroll penalties
- Payroll non-compliance fines can reach KSh 500,000
- Three-quarters of employees are job hunting because they feel undervalued
- Hiring the wrong way takes nearly three times longer and costs you top talent
But you can avoid all that by working with a certified HR firm.
Here’s how a few companies we’ve worked with benefited from HR managed services:
1. Clarity and structure for people operations
Close the Gap Kenya was able to streamline its HR systems and ease leadership workload.
“Bridge Talent came in at a time when we really needed to get our HR in order. As a co-CEO, juggling everything was a lot; people issues, payroll, contracts, sick leave, mental health… it can get overwhelming. But with Bridge, it felt like we suddenly had a partner who just got it. They helped us put systems in place, made sure we were compliant, and honestly, gave me peace of mind.” — Debbie Co-CEO, Close the Gap Kenya.
2. Access to the right talent, right when you need it
Ufanisi Digital reduced hiring stress by outsourcing project-based staffing needs.
“As a marketing company, we run various activations or campaigns based on client needs. Bridge Talent helps us outsource and contract our employees based on the scope of the campaign. We appreciate their high level of professionalism, which has made our business successful.” — Kelvin Micheni, Lead Digital Manager, Ufanisi Digital.
3. Payroll streamlining for employees in multiple regions
Tujitech scaled faster by outsourcing payroll for developers across countries.
“We run a technology company, and our key focus is innovation. Bridge Talent is very helpful in outsourcing and running payroll services for all our developers in various countries.” —Dennis Guantai, Co-Founder, Tujitech.
4. Structured HR processes that protect your business
Wild Waters gained structure and compliance with employee records and processes.
“Bridge Talent Management has been such a steady partner for us. Their team is not only professional and responsive, but also understands HR. They helped us bring structure where we needed it most, from auditing our processes to making sure all our employee records were properly set up. What stood out to me was how quickly they jumped in and just got things done.” — Management, Wild Waters.
A 3-Step Guide to Choosing the Right HR Management Services in Kenya
Your outsourced HR partner should at the very least tick these three boxes.
1. Are they a legally registered business?
HR services are sensitive, and you need a credible, compliant, and upstanding company in every way.
2. Are they certified?
Check whether their experts are certified by the Human Resource Management Professionals Examinations Board (HRMPEB).
3. Do they have proven experience?
Look for firms that can point to companies they’ve successfully worked with before. At the very least, you should be able to access one or two client reviews.
Choose Bridge Talent Management for HR Management Services
Bridge Talent Management is a full-scale provider of talent solutions for high-growth companies. We offer HR consultancy, talent outsourcing, and HR personnel services backed by over 15 years of experience and access to elite candidate networks.
We work with SMEs, corporates, startups, and companies expanding into Kenya.
Here’s how we typically work with clients:
- We sit with your leadership team to reveal your biggest HR pain points. Is it sourcing the right talent, implementing custom policies, succession planning, or payroll processing?
- We then audit your current systems to identify gaps and improvements, while ensuring your team isn’t overloaded with extra tasks.
- With data and context in hand, we design processes that run smoothly in the background. However, you still stay informed and in control, so you always know where things stand.
Even if you’re still weighing the pros and cons of contracting HR management services, there’s no pressure to decide right away.
Book a free, no-strings-attached consultation with one of our HR experts to explore what could work best for your business.
FAQs
What are human resource management services?
These are professional services that help businesses handle people-related functions like recruitment, payroll, compliance, and training. In short, you outsource some or all of your HR tasks to a qualified firm so you can stay compliant and focus on growth.
How much do HR management services cost?
HR management services pricing depends on the services you need and the size of your business. Most HR firms customize their packages, so you only pay for what fits your company.
What’s the difference between HR outsourcing and HR consultancy?
Outsourcing happens when you hand over specific HR functions, like payroll or recruitment, to a third party to run on your behalf. Consultancy is more about expert advice and frameworks, while your in-house team handles the implementation.
Book your free HR consultation today with the HR experts at Bridge Talent Management.
