There may be something kind of cuddly about the employees walking around in giant felt suits in the shape of numbers, but a pair of TV spots from HR outsourcing specialist Insperity are meant to make a serious point about remembering the “human” in “human resources.”
Based in Houston and formerly known as Adminstaff, Insperity offers everything from recruiting assistance to full-scale human capital management (HCM) software. Its most recent TV commercials, which only run 15 minutes long each, are a reminder about the dangers of treating staff as a set of assets to be quantified.
In a scene that appears to be set some kind of architectural firm, for example, those in the numbers costumes find themselves unable to perform simple tasks like pouring a cup of coffee. Just turning around can threaten to destroy work that took hours to complete:
In the second clip, which features a song by Claude Debussy, the issue is not so much treating employees like numbers but simply spending more time thinking about them than the people who actually create value in an organization. In both cases, passing through a doorway helps illustrate the “before” and “after” effect of working with a firm like Insperity.
Insperity has a history of advertising on TV and radio that goes back several years, with spots that have touched on both its traditional outsourcing services as well as workforce optimization, business performance and even issues like health-care reform in the U.S.
Besides the TV spots and more traditional content like its blog, case studies and eBooks, Insperity also publishes a series of magazines focused on niche topics of interests to its target audience. This includes an ongoing guide to learning and development, another guide to employee benefits, the ups and downs of growing a business and company culture.
