For many years big business has been taking advantage of offshoring to reduce their costs and to improve productivity.
So how can smaller businesses take advantage of employing staff overseas as part of their sustainable growth strategy?
By choosing to employ a staffing solutions company recruiting staff in a location like Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam where there is a highly skilled workforce at your disposal for a fraction of the cost of employing a domestic one makes incredible sense as this can be achieved as an economy of scale by moving resources to the areas of your business that actually generate revenue and reducing the cost of administrative and functional aspects of your business this is an essential part of any businesses growth platform from a start-up to an established small business looking to expand or increase growth.
Offshoring is up-skilling as well as cost-cutting.
Take as an example a small technology company who is unable to afford to employ local coding talent. This can lead to their in-house developer and key staff performing basic tasks and other processes rather than taking charge of their project’s creative and strategic requirements. Offshore staffing services providers, who specialise in recruiting of highly skilled developers, software engineers and others with specialised technical skills, can make those extra staff available. The cost advantage equation is simple, hiring a whole team at the cost of one individual local member of staff. Or, it can provide the opportunity for a company to employ staff with extra talent with unique skill sets previously unaffordable.
Offshoring doesn’t mean you need to have a big offshore team working for you either if an unique opportunity arises and you don’t have the capacity to take on more staff this can be the best short term solution for the duration of the project not only reducing the cost of the project and enabling competitively but making the recruitment and HR side comparatively simple as the staff outsourcing company looks after that side of the process.
It is important to remember however, that when you have a company department based overseas you shouldn’t think out of sight out of mind. They are just as part of your business as the staff in your local office down the passage. It is important to engage a professional staffing solutions company as a partner so they can maintain and manage communications and the day to day running of the office but you need to engage directly with your offshore staff to retain control and direction.
Offshoring does not essentially mean that there is a reduction in the local workforce. The savings made quite often grow the business and therefore employment opportunities so it is very important to explain this carefully to your staff to ensure against anxiety and job dissatisfaction. Up to 80% of businesses that use offshore resources reported that they had retained or actually increased their local staff, the average increase in the company’s domestic workforce was more than 200%.
Cost cutting is actually not the main factor in offshoring for many companies. The main objective was to expand their overall team and many saw it as the ability to access specific knowledge and skills, extend their reach globally, and have the ability to scale up quickly as new business presents itself.
So something that was once regarded as accessible only to large corporations is now available to all. Offshoring can be a game changer for your business and not only ensure that you can remain competitive, but allow you to grow sustainably towards future prosperity.