Businesses are currently undergoing tremendous change. Competition from an emerging global economy is increasing rapidly, management is under constant pressure to reduce or control costs, shareholders are demanding more value from their investment and the labor pool of highly qualified business professionals is growing smaller and more expensive. Reengineering, downsizing, rightsizing, partnering and strategic alliances are just a few of the new-age management concepts that have been employed by nearly every company, regardless of size.

One common theme echoing throughout corporate boardrooms is that the most costly aspect of business is the human cost. Costs for salaries, costs for benefits, costs for on-site services, costs for meeting governmental rules and regulations are all eating away at bottom-line performance.