Let’s say you’re a start-up IT firm in Silicon Valley, or a software development firm trying to grow in Kansas City. Your team is overworked, and your eyebags aren’t getting any smaller either. What can you do to get some rest? Outsource!
Outsourcing opens up funds and reduces attrition rates. Employees engaged in outsourced work can be more productive and less stressed thanks to cutting out the need to commute. Sending work abroad also helps small businesses grow in so many ways. Corporate giants like Alibaba, Google, and Slack have all used it to grow their businesses.
If you’re not sure that outsourcing is for you, here are a few things to consider.
Cost-benefit Analysis
As with any business decision, you have to do a cost-benefit analysis on whether outsourcing will really benefit your workplace. An example of this is an analysis of the benefits of outsourcing at a hospital in Uganda. The study discovered that while their expenses grew slightly, the additional expenditure was more than made up for by the better quality of the service.
Benefits aren’t limited to this one hospital either. A U.S. asset management company noted that outsourcing work allowed their in-house employees to focus better on crucial work, while the business still got quality services from outsourced work.
Company Need
As noted above, companies outsource work to fit their needs. With some asset management companies, outsourcing corporate, fiduciary, and administrative services allows them to put all their efforts into their core tasks. Outsourcing can help you keep your employees focus on their core competencies and leave the rest to professionals who probably have more training than them in that field.
Reputation
When it’s time to choose your outsource service or contractor, look for a contractor you can trust. Outsourcing your services can also mean outsourcing your reputation. Keeping an eye on your supply chain from hiring to actual operations ensures your risk is at the lowest level possible.
It’s also important to maintain a good reputation among contractors. As with local hires, you can’t eschew good manners with talents that you’ll send remote work to. Be polite, use their services consistently, and keep their bottomline protected—and they’ll do the same for you.
Legal Aspects
You’re a law-abiding business—and you’ll definitely make sure that you deal with outsourced work on the same terms. Before entering any contract, you’ll want to review all issues related to third-party work. Read up about U.S. laws on outsourcing work and the laws governing remote and third-party work in the country you plan to create outsourcing arrangements with.
You have to consider the length of your contracts, your outsourcing company’s pending obligations from their previous client, the intellectual property rights and ownership of assets created by your third-party contact, liability, and service levels provided by your service provider.
Thinking ahead helps you stay on top of contract management and in extreme cases, termination and exit options.
While you’re setting up your outsourcing, make sure your in-house employees are happy and productive. Their pay and benefits may be high, but some would argue that what really motivates them is motivation from peers and their bosses recognizing their work. Keeping employees happy rewards you two-fold: seeing happy employees make your customers happy too. Take care of your employees in-house and abroad, and you’re sure to find success.
