The Best Outsourcing Company for You

Choosing the best outsourcing company to work with depends mostly on three factors: competence, culture, and country. Below we outline why.

Competence of the Outsourcing Company and Your Offshore Staff

The most basic requirement you look for is, of course, competence. The outsourcing company you choose should be able to give you what you need and should be able to do that in the best way possible.

If you need an extra person to edit videos for you, you can choose to hire internally and locally or have the position outsourced and offshored.

Outsourcing can be more affordable. But how are you assured that they can do the job?

When checking outsourcing companies, ask:

• Can they find someone to fit your business needs?
• What is their hiring process?
• Do they give you the option of interviewing the candidates yourself before employment?
• Do they have adequate facilities for the person to be able to do the job?
• Is their internet connection fast and stable to ensure good continuous communication with you?

These are just some of the questions you should be asking. The answer, ultimately, should be:

Your outsourcing partner can give you offshore staff who fit your company’s needs and who can bring your business forward.

Company Culture and Productivity

It’s important that aside from finding a person who fits the job, the outsourcing company also has a good culture and exhibits the right values.

Organizational culture is so important that it heavily affects productivity in the workplace. When done right, employees have high morale. They become more engaged and driven. They create high-quality output, and they do that faster. Employees are productive and efficient.

Why is the culture of your outsourcing partner important?

Because it directly affects your offshore staff. You depend on the outsourcing company to make the workplace conducive to your staff’s productivity.

Let’s look at this through the opposite scenario. Say you partner up with a company with a bad culture. The superiors micromanage their employees. Bosses do not empower their people, nor do they care about them. It’s all stressful work, with no appreciation and no fun. And because employees are mere numbers, they are overworked – they get sick and are not compensated adequately.

What happens then?

Micromanaging and lack of support are detrimental to employee morale. Their emotional wellbeing suffers and along with it, their work. They can’t operate at their optimum, and you don’t get the results you should be getting. You’re paying for mediocre work because of bad company culture.

Look for an outsourcing company whose culture can give you productive, efficient, empowered people. Not only will they give you great output, but they will also be easier to work with. And you get the peace of mind knowing that your outsourced team members are in good hands.

Country that Fits with your Business

This seems trivial, but it is also crucial. Laws and regulations vary across countries and they can affect your outsourcing set-up.

It can affect financial matters. You will have to consider the minimum salary, average salary, cost of living, employee contributions, and other things. Will outsourcing keep your financial statements at a desirable net positive?

You also need to know if the country has adequate infrastructure for your offshore staff to be able to work. A strong internet connection, for example, can mean the difference between seamless communication and frustrating miscommunication.

Familiarize yourself with the local culture as well. Are locals known to be driven and hardworking? This may be a generalization because a stereotype doesn’t accurately portray every person within the same culture. But it’s still worth knowing about. You don’t want to invest in something blindly.

Filipinos, for instance, are known for their hospitality and proficiency in the English language. Some have also adopted Western culture and practice. Knowing these gives you a better idea of what it would be like to work with them. Of course, you still do the interviews to get to know applicants before you hire them. You determine whether they truly are like the reputation you hear.

Outsourcing to the Philippines continues to be a growing practice. The country is still the BPO Capital of the World, and English proficiency is just one of the reasons. Clark, specifically, is the city for BPO companies.

Before you commit to an outsourcing company, answer these:

• Can the company give you a person who is competent and who fits your business needs?
• Does the company have a good culture, one conducive to productivity?
• And is the company located in a country that makes sense for your business?