Are you ready to Get Started? Offshoring with Agility is as easy as 1-2-3-4. Or if you’re still in the planning stage of your journey, check out our tips to build a successful offshore team below!
It starts with your CEO, C-Suite, and senior management. Confirm your intention to add staff or move jobs offshore.
Educate the remainder of your staff on the “why”. Are you expanding and the talent you need is not available locally? Are you facing margin pressure and need to reduce costs to remain competitive? Involve all your employees so you can move forward as one team.
Choose a provider that aligns with your values and operates to the same high standards as your business.
The biggest mistake that you can make is choosing a provider only on price. There’s an old adage that you get what you pay for. The lower the price, the less people are getting paid, the less that can be put into providing a great work environment and rewarding staff. Lowest price = highest churn. High churn = a poor customer experience.
If you are moving jobs to the Philippines, plan to keep at least 20% of your staff ultimately in the US. Identify your senior managers or other employee experts that hold your institutional knowledge, these will become your trainers.
Start with a pilot of 5 or 10 offshore employees in the area that is the biggest pain point for you. Get some experience, get the team settled, make sure you are happy with your vendor, then build out from there. Within three months you’ll be able to identify potential leaders, these will become your Team Leads and Operational Managers, and the start of your offshore management structure.
We strongly advocate for clients to send their senior managers or other employee experts to the Philippines for 1-2 weeks to train their offshore team. Your offshore employees are like me and you, human beings with our own strengths, weaknesses, and idiosyncrasies. Sending your onshore staff to train on your processes, impart institutional knowledge, and form relationships helps ensure your offshore program is a success.
The strongest teams form a corporate culture which celebrates both your onshore and offshore employees as one. This can be achieved through in-person training, regular communication, video meetings, and you could even do as we did in our first offshore program – install reciprocal cameras and screens in a common area so staff can have casual daily interactions.
Some BPOs rotate staff between client accounts without notice – we do not do this. The staff hired on your account remain your staff, allowing you to build long-term relationships and knowledge.
You have successfully expanded your business (or survived in a competitive market)! Once you experience how hard-working and happy your offshore team is – and how significant the cost savings are – think about what you can do next. The talent pool here in the Philippines is as big as your dreams for your business.
