5 Beginner Outsourcing Mistakes

Setting up your company’s offshore office can be a difficult operation with plenty of traps for new players. By avoiding these beginner outsourcing mistakes, you can maximise the benefits your business stands to gain and get your office running smoothly as quickly as possible.

Beginner outsourcing mistakes:

Not monitoring performance

Putting processes in place to monitor your remote staff’s performance is a vital part of setting up your offshore back office. Not having a proper metric by which to compare the cost of remote staffing versus the performance can create a situation where you think the return on your outsourcing investment is lower than it actually is.
Monitoring individual staff performance as well as overall team performance is a good way to engage with your remote staff and shows them that you are invested in their development as an employee.

Not being an active participant in the process

Outsourcing is a process which can have great benefits for your business. But to fully realise those benefits, you need to be part of that process. Along with not monitoring performance, it also does no good if you monitor performance but don’t use it to guide alterations and improvements. By not engaging, you also lose the chance to be proactive with your offshore staffing, which means you might miss out on additional advantages from making changes early.

Waiting too long to start

The best time to make changes to your business is when things are stable and going well. If you wait until things are in a crisis to begin outsourcing, you risk further destabilisation. Outsourcing takes time to begin producing results, and trying to rush those by cutting corners may help in the short-term, but in the long-term things will likely fall apart.
Start remote staffing when you have time to be fully part of recruitment and onboarding for our offshore employees, not when you’re already trying to fight fires locally.

Underestimating the importance of communication

Any problems caused by lack of communication in an office is doubled when you introduce distance. Good communication is the backbone of good outsourcing, and it’s important to establish this early on. This can mean it takes longer than you think it will to properly detail a task or job to your remote team. But if you rush this part of offshore staff management you greatly increase the likelihood that you will get a sub-optimal result. Over time your remote employees will get more on your wavelength and you will be able to communicate less frequently and build trust. Remember, in the initial stages it is better to over-explain the details than leave anyone involved with lingering questions or a lack of understanding.

Not making the effort to engage employees

Some employers come into the outsourcing process with the attitude that their new remote employees are lucky to work for them. That kind of attitude is a good way to alienate staff, increase turnover, and scupper the chances of outsourcing success.
It’s important to treat your remote employees just like your local ones – which means taking an interest in them and their wellbeing. Recognising and rewarding your remote staff for their contributions, as well as getting to know them as people with lives outside the office, leads to staff who are willing to go the extra mile to get great results for your business.

When you outsource with Deployed you get a partner who can help you to avoid the difficulties that companies face when they begin remote staffing. We can guide you through the outsourcing process from our initial meeting right through to onboarding your offshore staff and beyond.