How the Committee Works

How the Committee Works
As the only independent organization representing all participants in the industry, the HROA acts to improve the practice of HR Transformation by overseeing and accelerating the development and adoption of effective industry standards and practices.  As part of this process, the HROA gathers broad-based input from across the industry and works to develop lasting industry consensus and to arrive at conclusions that balance the various commercial interests of all participants.
The HROA’s Research and Standards Committee of the Board of Trustees has established the following minimum criteria for effective standards.
The HROA works with its members, the experts in their respective fields, to develop industry standards and practices by identifying and classifying practices according to one of three major categories:

How the Program Works
The program is composed of the following phases.
Gathering.  Periodically and an on an ongoing basis, the HROA will canvas its membership for industry practices and/or suggestions for developing new standards and practices.
At any time, anyone (whether or not they are an HROA member) may submit a proposed practice or standard. Click here to learn more.
Initial Ruling.  Once in receipt of standards and/or practices, the Committee will make an initial ruling on the practical use and application of the practices, determine within which category they best fits and determine the next best step for their development.
Public & Member Comment.  Once an initial ruling has been made, the standards or practices will be published in HROA media (including but not limited to the HROA Web site, its newsletter, and special email notifications to members and other interested parties) and made available for public and member comment.
The HROA will gather public and member comment via two methods:
Online Forum.  The HROA has established a public form to accept and publish comments. (HROA Online Comment Forum)
Email Submission.  Anyone may submit comments in writing to the HROA staff via the online for found on the webpages.
In either case, people submitting comments may request to do so with or without attribution, i.e., they may request to either have their names and organizations noted or not.
Reconciliation & Setting.  After the public and member comment period closes, the HROA will reconcile the feedback received and present a final report to the Committee detailing the final standard(s) and practice(s) to be set.  At no time will the HROA staff delete, modify, or append any comments.  They will be forwarded as received in an organized format to aid Committee review.
Final Ruling.  The Committee will review the report and issue a final ruling on any practices and make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees regarding any proposed standards.
Publication.  The HROA will publish in its media the adopted standards and practices in accordance with its Editorial Practices and Guidelines.  The HROA will provide access as deemed appropriate by the Committee to its members and to the general public.
Adoption & Use.  Once approved, members may begin indicating use of the HROA-approved standards and practices.
Maintenance.  The HROA will maintain the standards and practices according to the direction of the Committee and in concert with the membership.
HROA published standards or practices are intended to provide a minimum best practice basis for addressing problems in HR outsourcing, and these standards and practices are not prescriptive or intended to be adopted and used in all situations.  Customization may be necessary or appropriate in any given circumstance.  HROA welcomes feedback and input about its Recommended Practices™.
The HROA is committed to raising awareness for all standards and practices that may be of value to its membership. To this end, the Association maintains a page that lists standards that have been created by various bodies that either impact or are helpful to those planning HR transformation activities.