Should You Hire a HR Employee or Outsource HR?

Published:
28
August
2025

So, you’ve decided it’s time to get someone to take care of your HR. But should you hire them as an in-house employee or consider outsourcing?

If you’re hiring your first HR resource, filling a short-term gap (like parental leave cover), or looking to add specialist knowledge to support your existing HR team, outsourcing could be a great solution. HR consultants can bring a flexible and cost-effective option especially when your needs might change.  

Both in-house and outsourcing options have their perks! Here’s some of the pros and cons for to help you decide what might be best for your business right now.

Pros: HR employee  

  • Full control of who you hire to work with your team.
  • More face-to-face time with your team, making them more visible and available.
  • Fully immersed with sole focus on your business.

Pros: Outsourced HR  

  • Get started right away (and skip recruiting and onboarding hassles) ‍

Hiring can be tough, with around one in three businesses saying they find recruitment and attracting candidates difficult. Recruitment also takes time, and even once you’ve found the right person, there’s often a notice period before they start. With outsourcing, you can access immediate support.  

  • One less direct report

We become a HR partner and objective advisor to your business, rather than another employee to manage.

  • Flexibility to increase monthly hours or dial things back if you need.

With an in-house hire, it’s harder to dial things back if your HR needs change. If the level of support you need (or your budget) shifts, outsourcing gives you the freedom to scale support up or down as needed. Whether you need 8 hours or 45+ per month.

  • Your finance manager will thank you

An early career HR Manager salary will start around $120k+! Depending on the HR support you need per month, the cost of outsourcing can be much lower, anywhere from $15k to $90k if you’re needing senior-level support to fill the role entirely.

  • You get the brain power of a whole team

It’s rare to find one person who ticks all the boxes and skills you need. When you outsource, you get access to senior expertise, a range of specialist skills and the diverse experience of a whole team.

  • We’ve pretty much seen (and solved) it all

HR consultants bring a whole heap of insights gained from working across many businesses at once. They’re exposed to a huge range of industries and business types and the HR solutions they come up with are just as diverse of the businesses they work with.  

Cons: HR Employee  

  • Bigger price tag overall: Salary + Super + Leave + Benefits = $$$ (likely costs: min $80k for a HR Coordinator, min $120k+ for a HR Manager).  
  • Less scalability. One person might not have all the skills you need, especially if your team is growing quickly.  
  • Less flexability: It’s tough to dial things back if your needs change and you need less HR support.  

Cons: Outsourced HR

  • Less in-person time: We won’t be in the office every day. Your outsourced HR partner can be on-site weekly, fortnightly, monthly, or just on an as-needed basis.
  • It might take a little longer to fully integrate into the team if you’re not used to having hybrid or remote working team members.

At the end of the day, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Whether you’re thinking about outsourcing HR entirely or using it alongside your existing team, we can talk through what options might be best for your business.

Curious about outsourcing HR or want to chat pricing? Get in touch with our team of resourceful humans or book a free call to talk through how we can support you.

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