Have you or someone you know lost a job due to outsourcing? Are you worried your company may ship your job overseas? Has your company mentioned outsourcing and you’re wondering how to stay employed? These are common concerns in the 21st century as more and more companies are looking at outsourcing to cut costs. While protectionism often comes up when debating outsourcing, a full 33% of companies are expecting to increase their outsourcing in 2009. This phenomenal growth in companies offshoring is expected to continue for years to come and has become much more prominent with the current economic climate.

What does this mean for you? The first thing to do would be to take a personal inventory of your current job to better understand exactly what can be outsourced and what can’t. Here are some signs that your job may be outsourced:

1. Your job is repeatable. If your day consists of performing repetitive tasks for your boss or company you probably have more to worry about than outsourcing. As companies continue to look for ways to cut costs, automation becomes the key. If your job requires heavy data entry, metrics, emails, etc. it may make sense for your company to automate those tasks and cut your hours. If your job is repetitive but REQUIRES a human touch, your job is perfect for an outsourcing company to take.

2. Your job is not local service related. With the economy as it is many companies are limiting expense reports, dropping flights from business to cattle class, etc. As more and more meetings go virtual, businesses are finding that they can do some of those same jobs virtually and cut the costs. Why send Mike out to meet the clients and get them to re-order when we can have our engineers build an API in that automatically re-orders to meet their needs upon approval? I can then consolidate several Account Execs into a Director position that will do the meet and greets. That being said, Ramesh in Bangalore isn’t going to be fixing my drain any time soon and Rivera in Manila isn’t going to be changing my oil.

3. You’re a one-trick pony. Companies in today’s marketplace are looking for dynamic, capable employees. Gone are the days when having few abilities is considered acceptable. Aside from very specific professional service positions, companies now want employees that are dynamic, nimble, and can step in and take on alternate projects when needed. When it comes down to deciding which employees you keep as outsourcing options are considered, those that are able to adapt and meet new/different challenges are marked as premium. Untrainable employees are especially vulnerable to having their jobs outsourced.

4. You’re not a leader. When companies are considering outsourcing projects, it’s imperative that they have someone at corporate that runs the projects that are going offshore. (See our article on outsourcing secrets.) Your company will need someone that is directing the operation that knows the mission and goals of your company and that can articulate that to the offshore team. If you’re capable, you might have a Project Manager promotion in the near future.

5. You’re overpaid. This is particularly significant if you’re known as the person that can balance and complete lots of different tasks, but none of them take a particular skillset. While it may take 4-5 outsourced personnel to complete your tasks, your over-inflated salary makes it easy to still save money. When it comes to cutting costs, management has to look at each and every position and see if your work justifies your salary. Make sure that you’re not counting on that additional pay from simply a task-based perspective.

Of course, these are not always signs that your position may be in trouble when it comes to outsourcing at your company, but if they are considering increasing their outsourcing budget these are things to look out for. As always, we’re interested to hear your comments or concerns and you can contact TryBPO here.

Outsourcing your business overseas can bring much value to your business in terms of cost savings and additional revenue realized. Most of our information focuses on how to bring value to your organization, but in this post we thought it would be useful to present you with a few of the problems that can stand in your way to achieving the desired success. We’re bringing you three main points to be aware of BEFORE you decide to outsource:

#1 – Negative Customer and Employee Perception

No matter how smooth the accent or how quality the workmanship, there will be some that take issue with the fact that your company has chosen to outsource. Some companies try to hide the fact that they outsource by only allowing the outsourcers to work in non customer-facing positions. Others choose not to include employees in the outsourcing plans until the last minute. Accounting for this confidence loss should be taken into account when determining a true cost-savings benefit to your business.

Solution:

Any outsourcing solution should be tested in a Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, etc. release. You can couple a limited Phase 1 with customer satisfaction surveys designed specifically to test the overall reaction from your customer and employee base. Careful monitoring customer and employee reaction will help you to initiate Phase 2 much more smoothly. Additionally, open communication with employees as to a change in their roles is key. In most cases, you’ll need your team to work closely with the offshore team and establishing a good, healthy relationship early should be a priority.

#2 – Cultural misunderstanding can result in increased costs and a loss of productivity

Do you know the expected holidays for employees in the country you’re planning on outsourcing to? Did you know that in the Philippines a 13th paid month is expected for most permanent employees? Do you know what motivates employees in your intended country besides money? Not having the answers to this questions can prove costly at crucial times for your company.

Solution:

If you’re planning to outsource on your own, doing some reading on the cultural differences between your country and your hosting country can prove useful. You can also join groups and follow blogs that update you on local culture, requirements, etc. (Try LinkedIn and Twitter for some great information) If you’re using a 3rd party, make sure to ask what their plan is to cover local holidays and make sure you have a SLA that covers who’s responsible for additional costs.

#3 – Management Difficulties

Managing employees well is a crucial piece of any successful business. The lack of face time provided with offshoring and the time difference can easily create miscommunication, delays, and a lack of trust between your onshore and offshore teams.

Solution:

Determining service and efficiency standards from the start will help your offshore team with creating and hitting milestones and project deadlines. Breaking projects up and keeping your Project Managers in-house allow for clear communication to the managers and allow the managers a smaller, intimate team to work with to hit their goals. Having more points of communication with the offshore team help to make sure they’re receiving information from multiple people and perspectives.

I hope you’ve found this helpful as you move toward making a decision to outsource some of your work. Feel free to email us any questions you might have and we’d love to share more thoughts, help you come to a decision, etc.