Does offshore labour hire take jobs away from locals, or does it actually help create more job opportunities for locals in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the USA?

In this article, we debunk common misconceptions surrounding offshoring, dispelling doubts from a bygone era when offshoring jobs were viewed as a threat to local employment and livelihoods.

• FALSE – Business offshoring is only about cost cutting 

Business offshoring goes beyond mere cost cutting. At Deployed, we believe in a strategic approach that doesn’t involve replacing an entire local staff with an offshore team. Instead, we focus on identifying non-core tasks and transitioning them to offshore positions. This allows businesses to free up time for working on the business rather than just in it. Our aim is to create an offshore team that complements and supports our clients’ onshore staff, ensuring overall success.

Consider this scenario: If your company is approaching capacity and hesitant to take on new business due to cost constraints, offshoring can be a valuable strategy. With Deployed and our offshore hiring solutions, you can hire highly skilled talent at approximately 75% lower cost than local hiring. This enables you to handle overflow work and seize new business opportunities, fostering business growth and local success.

By utilising this business model, you effectively supplement your local teams, freeing up their time to focus on revenue-generating tasks. For example, in an accounting firm, your accountants may be overwhelmed with time-consuming activities like managing emails, meetings, and reports, preventing them from concentrating on impactful tasks like business advisory. Offshoring provides a solution by freeing up their time. Your offshore staff can handle low-impact tasks such as bookkeeping, tax preparation, and administrative duties, allowing your local staff to focus on data analysis and providing valuable financial advice to clients. They can now allocate more time to face-to-face meetings.

Offshoring not only offers cost-cutting benefits but also enhances local efforts by optimising resource allocation. It enables local teams to concentrate on high-impact tasks that drive business growth and cultivate strong client relationships, resulting in overall business success. Having an offshore team also  allows you to have round-the-clock operations. If your business is based in Australia or the UK, leveraging the time difference of 4-10 hours can provide you with extended operational hours. Similarly, if your business is based in the US, you can have an on-site or onshore team handling the day shift, while the offshore team in the Philippines works at night. This arrangement enhances your business’s ability to address customer needs promptly and handle operations more effectively.

• False – Offshore labour hire takes jobs away from local

It is a common misconception that offshoring is detrimental to the local economy as it supposedly takes away jobs from locals and transfers them to individuals in another country. This notion is often cited as a contributing factor to unemployment.

In Australia, 45% of organisations outsource certain business processes. We are witnessing both large corporations and small to medium enterprises embracing offshoring solutions not merely as a temporary fix, but as part of their long-term business plans to foster growth.

Contrary to the belief that offshoring has a negative impact on local employment, the experience in Australia reveals that offshore labour hire actually leads to an increase in local jobs while improving local opportunities.

As businesses thrive through offshoring and generate greater profits, they contribute to job creation. While some roles may not be suitable for offshoring and will be filled by local professionals, the cost savings from offshore labour hire for essential staff members enable businesses to allocate resources to hire more locally based staff, often in higher-skilled roles. This not only enhances the competitiveness of the business but also supports the local workforce. The increased demand for goods and services leads to the creation of more local jobs, contributing to increased tax revenue for the local government, which can be reinvested in community development and infrastructure.

• False – Staff working overseas are in sweatshops receiving lower pay

There is a common stereotype that offshore workers are typically paid a lower hourly rate compared to local workers performing the same job. This stereotype implies that offshoring equates to cheaper labour without considering the quality of work. However, this is not necessarily true. The pay rate for offshore workers is aligned with the local standards in their home country. In fact, offshore staff enjoy the same standard of living that local staff in Australia or New Zealand would expect, and they receive the same working conditions, such as appropriate access to internet and office facilities.

At Deployed, we prioritise ensuring that our salary rates are in line with industry standards and reflect the current market value of the role. We take into account the skills, experience, and niche expertise of the workers, recognising that these factors can add significant value to businesses. When you partner with us to hire offshore talent, our main goal is to support you in retaining your offshore staff by providing them with the best on-the-ground experiences. Whether these benefits are something we charge you for or shoulder as an expense ourselves, we are committed to offering a fantastic working environment, equitable salaries, health and wellness benefits, engagement activities and other programs, all of which are part of our retention strategies aimed at ensuring your staff’s work satisfaction and remarkable experiences.

Deployed also spares no expense in ensuring that staff are comfortable and able to perform their work effectively and efficiently. Our state-of-the-art offices are located in business districts and operate 24 hours a day, allowing us to service clients from different time zones and provide great experiences for their staff working onsite in the Philippines. Our offices feature recreational areas, small and large meeting rooms, spacious pantries, conference rooms, and complimentary coffee to keep everyone alert and productive.

Conclusion

Offshoring provides businesses with opportunities to improve productivity, enhance efficiency, and ultimately drive success. By scaling up, companies can also improve their local teams.

Contrary to popular fears, offshoring does not strip local professionals of jobs. In fact, offshoring has been proven to have positive effects on the economy, supported by data.

The bottom line is, as firms expand through offshoring, they hire more people both onshore and offshore, creating a win-win situation for everyone involved.

If you’re a business seeking the right offshore partner, Deployed is here to support you. With over 8 years of experience in the offshore staffing industry, we have built remote teams in the Philippines for clients in various industries such as Accounting, Engineering & Construction, Digital Marketing, IT & Technology, and more. Businesses are turning to Deployed to help solve their hiring challenges.

Discover how Deployed can benefit your business needs. Schedule a discovery call with us today.