HR as a Service · Outsourced HR in Israel
An external HR manager who owns the people side of your company, at the scale you need: fixed days a week, full time, as cover for a defined period, or for a single project. All the work is done and recorded in one HR system, included in the service. For any organisation, of any size, in any industry.
The service is provided by the HRBP team of Merav HR, led by Merav Sella, formerly VP of HR in organizations of thousands of employees · Updated
Definition
Outsourced HR is a service in which an external HR professional runs a company’s HR function: recruiting, onboarding, attendance, leave, employee relations and manager development. It can be ongoing, part-time or full-time, or temporary, as maternity leave cover or to bridge a gap between hires.
Also called: HR outsourcing, fractional HR, an external or part-time HR manager, an outsourced HRBP, HR as a Service.
What separates this service from a consultant who visits once a month is ongoing ownership: someone holds the processes every week, not just answers questions. What separates it from most of the market is the system: the team works inside one HR system, so every hire, signature, approval and task stays with you and is visible to management, even after the service ends.
| Outsourced HR | Recruitment agency | Payroll bureau | In-house HR manager | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | Day-to-day running of the whole HR function | A candidate for one role | Payroll calculation and payslips | Day-to-day running, full ownership |
| Pricing | Retainer, fixed term or project | Placement fee per role | Per payslip | Salary and employer cost |
| Cover during vacation and illness | A team behind them | Not applicable | Not applicable | Depends on one person |
| Fits when the company | Has grown without HR, or is in transition | Is hiring for a specific role | Any size, alongside HR | Holds a full HR role |
| HR system | Included in the service | — | Payroll system only | Bought separately |
The tracks
The track depends on what you are missing: a permanent person who owns the function, someone to stand in for the person who owns it today, or one project that needs to be closed. You can move between tracks as the company changes.
Your HR manager on fixed days each week, and reachable by phone and in the system in between. Scope is set by company size and need.
A stand-in for your HR manager for a defined period, with a handover before she leaves and an orderly hand-back when she returns.
An HRBP who sits with you permanently, backed by a professional team and a single system.
One piece of work with a start and an end: setting up an HR function, volume hiring, a hearing, policies or a system migration.
What it costs
The price of outsourced HR follows the track: a monthly retainer by days of work per week, a fixed term for leave cover, or a fixed price for a project. You pay for the scope you actually need, not for a full-time position, and the HR system is included. A written proposal follows a short discovery call.
Headcount, the number of sites and branches, hiring pace, and shift or field work that needs close attendance follow-up.
Processes that are already written, managers who manage, and a system in which employees report and sign on their own, so the team handles exceptions rather than forms.
The system, a digital file for every employee, a monthly picture for management, and a professional team behind your contact when they are on leave or ill.
The right comparison is not an hourly consultant rate, but the employer cost of a full-time HR position, plus a system bought separately, plus the time the CEO and finance spend today managing people on top of their own jobs.
What the service covers
Every area has two parts: what the team does, and what remains in the system once it is done. The second part is what makes a service you can check, rather than one you have to take on trust.
In the system: Branded careers page, an inbox per role and CV scoring · see how (Hebrew)
In the system: Onboarding with identity verification and e-signature · see how (Hebrew)
In the system: Clock in from the portal, the mobile app, WhatsApp or a terminal; manual entries need a second approver · see how (Hebrew)
In the system: A file in the format your payroll bureau imports · see how (Hebrew)
In the system: Structured hearing process with participant-level confidentiality · see how (Hebrew)
In the system: Review cycles and measurable goals · see how (Hebrew)
In the system: Budget by category: committed vs. paid · see how (Hebrew)
In the system: Digital employee file, licence expiry alerts and an audit log · see how (Hebrew)
In the system: Item-by-item return list and a full record · see how (Hebrew)
In the system: One management board that updates itself · see how (Hebrew)
Maternity leave cover
When the HR manager goes on maternity leave, a company is usually left with two poor options: hire a replacement for six months, a process that takes months in itself, or spread the function across the CEO, finance and line managers. This track is a third option: a professional stand-in who starts with a handover, runs the function for the whole period, and hands it back in order.
Meetings with managers, mapping open processes and key contacts.
What is open, with whom, and by when. Procedures go into the system, not a notebook.
Hiring, onboarding, attendance and payroll inputs. Every action is logged in the file and in tasks.
What changed, which decisions were made, and what is waiting for her.
A few days side by side, then release. Continuity lives in the system.
Length of maternity leave for an employee who has worked at least 12 months for the same employer. Otherwise: 15 weeks.
Maternity pay comes from the National Insurance Institute, not the employer, based on the employee’s insurance period. The remaining weeks are unpaid leave.
Dismissal during maternity leave is prohibited. For the 60 days after it, a permit from the Ministry of Labor’s commissioner is required, granted only in narrow cases, such as when the business has ceased operating.
Sources: National Insurance Institute, maternity leave eligibility (Hebrew) · National Insurance Institute, maternity pay conditions (Hebrew) · Ministry of Labor, dismissal permits under the Employment of Women Law (Hebrew). General information, not legal advice.
The same track fits other extended absences: illness, long reserve duty, or a gap of a few months between an HR manager who left and the one who has yet to arrive.
Any industry
The service is not built for one industry. What changes between industries is the emphasis: where hiring is hard, where the law is strict, and where managers need tools. A few examples:
Competitive engineering hiring, stock options and NDAs, hybrid work, and remote onboarding with e-signature. In growth stages: structure, levels and review processes.
Shifts across many branches, high turnover, fast onboarding, youth employment, overtime and Shabbat work under the law, and branch managers who need tools rather than more forms.
Night shifts, licence and certification expiry, equipment and safety, and attendance recorded at a terminal or on a phone.
Law firms, accountants, architects and agencies: small teams with individual pay and terms, confidentiality agreements, and reviews that must be fair and documented.
Valid certifications and licences, shifts and part-time positions, turnover, and onboarding of employees for whom Hebrew is not a first language.
Budgets by project, volunteers alongside employees, reporting to funders, and procedures that must be written down because the team changes.
Moving from managing by personal acquaintance to written procedures without losing the character, with sensitive processes handled discreetly.
The company has passed 25 employees, the CEO still manages the people, and it is time for someone to own the function before it owns you.
Even with an HR manager in place: cover for a period, an extra pair of hands in a hiring wave, or a project that has no room in the regular week, such as writing policies or moving to a new system.
How to start
A short call with management: headcount, pain points, what is urgent and what already exists.
A review of contracts, attendance, policies and the obligations that apply at your size, ending in a written list of gaps by urgency.
Track, scope and price in writing. The agreement defines what the service covers, who approves what, and what happens at the end.
Employees are imported from a file, the document kit is created, and modules are switched on as needed. A day of work, not a project.
Fixed days, availability in between, and a monthly picture for management: hires, onboarding, absence, turnover and what is waiting for a decision.
The system in the service
An external HR service is usually judged by feel. Here it is judged by the record: every task opened and closed, every document sent and signed, and every approval given, with identity and time. You log in each morning and see the same board the team works from.
Who is at work today, what is stuck, what is waiting for your signature, and what is coming next week.
Full page (Hebrew) →Branded careers page, an inbox per role and CV scoring. The decision stays with a person.
Full page (Hebrew) →A document kit with identity verification and a full record of every signature. Form 101 is completed and declared in the portal.
Full page (Hebrew) →Clock-in from the portal, the mobile app, WhatsApp or a terminal, Amendment 24, and a shift roster under the Hours of Work and Rest Law.
Full page (Hebrew) →Accrual by seniority, receipts by WhatsApp, and a monthly report for your payroll bureau.
Full page (Hebrew) →Reviews, lawful hearings and protected groups, as structured steps.
Full page (Hebrew) →Want only the system, without the service? Packages and modules (Hebrew) · How the data is stored and who owns it: Security (Hebrew)
For small and growing companies
What Israeli law requires
This is a summary, not an exhaustive list. It is general information based on Israeli government sites and the Book of Laws, not legal advice.
Frequently asked
A service in which an external HR professional runs the HR function of a company: recruiting, onboarding, attendance, leave, employee relations and manager development. It can be ongoing, part-time or full-time, or temporary, for example as maternity leave cover. At HRAI the service also includes the HR system in which the work is done and recorded.
A recruitment agency fills one role and charges a placement fee. Outsourced HR runs the whole HR function on an ongoing basis, from hiring to offboarding, including attendance, policies, manager support and the payroll interface. Recruiting is one area out of ten.
The whole employee lifecycle, in ten areas: recruiting, onboarding and the employee file, attendance, shifts and leave, the payroll interface, employee relations and hearings, manager development and reviews, welfare and culture, compliance, offboarding, and management reporting. In every area there is what the team does and what stays recorded in the system, and the system itself is included.
Pricing depends on the track and scope: a monthly retainer by days per week, a fixed term for leave cover, or a fixed price for a project. What moves the scope: headcount, number of sites, hiring pace, and how much of your process is already written down. You pay for the scope you actually need rather than a full-time position, and the HR system is included. A written proposal follows a short discovery call.
The scope is set in the discovery call from headcount, number of sites and hiring pace, and it is revised as the company grows. On the fixed days the team is with you; between them it is available by phone and in the system, so an employee who needs a signature or a manager who needs an answer does not wait for next week.
When the workload does not justify a full-time position, outsourcing gives you the same role part-time, with a team behind it for holidays and sick days and with the system included. When the company grows enough to justify a full-time hire, you can recruit an in-house manager and keep the system and the records you already have, or move to the embedded full-time track. The question is revisited at every growth stage.
There is no single number. The sign is that the CEO or finance team is managing people on top of their own job, and things start to slip. Israeli law also gives markers: an employer with more than 25 employees must have a sexual-harassment prevention policy, and in the private sector, above 100 employees, a disability-representation target and a designated responsible person apply.
Yes, it is one of the four tracks. The engagement is set in advance for the length of the leave, with a few weeks of handover before she leaves, full day-to-day HR during the leave, and a written hand-back file before she returns. According to the National Insurance Institute, maternity leave in Israel is 26 weeks for an employee who has worked at least 12 months for the employer, and 15 weeks otherwise.
Under the Employment of Women Law, an employee may not be dismissed during maternity leave, and for the 60 days after it a permit from the Ministry of Labor’s commissioner is required, which is granted only in narrow cases. Maternity pay is paid by the National Insurance Institute, not by the employer. This is general information based on Ministry of Labor and National Insurance sites, not legal advice.
The law distinguishes between supplying workers to an employer’s ongoing operation and providing a defined service, and the distinction is judged by the substance of the arrangement, not its name. That is why the structure of each engagement is set separately for every client, in a written agreement that defines the service, the reporting lines and the responsibilities.
Included. The HR team works inside the system: employee files, signatures, attendance, tasks and approvals. Management sees what was done without asking for a report, and the knowledge stays in the company after the service ends.
They are yours. Employee files, signed documents and their full records can be exported at any time, and you can keep using the system on your own with an in-house HR manager you hire.
Your payroll department or payroll bureau keeps calculating it. The service prepares what goes into the calculation, approved attendance, leave, changes to terms and Form 101, and delivers it in a file in the format your bureau imports.
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