Outsourcing Alternatives.

Why a Serviced Office rather than home based or contract worker?

Let’s face it, if you are going to step outside your comfort zone and embrace the Outsourcing advantages, you want to ensure a long term, sustainable working relationship with your recruit.

Contract Workers

You may have considered odesk or freelancer as an alternative. Yes, these are viable options for single tasks but if you are looking for a real team member, there is no guarantee that short term contractors will meet your deadlines or be available for your next assignment. You have to manage the process, chase the work and deal with the issues if  your expectations aren’t met.  All to save a dollar!  Well, cheapest isn’t always the best solution if you want a long term team member. If your goal is to  invest time and money into someone that will  represent your business culture, offer quality service for your customers and seek to improve your business processes – our experience shows that short term contract workers are not the solution.

Home Based Employees

Yes, this can work too but certainly has higher risks associated. Revisit your objective and your reasons for outsourcing. If it is a long term solution and a reliable team member, then take into account these risks:

• Power outages – the Philippines is a developing country  and as such power supply is often unreliable and low quality, no power, no work!
• No high speed Internet -very few locations offer reliable internet – no mind about  high speed  lines. There is nothing more frustrating for you or the recruit to be constantly facing communication challenges and wasting time offline when your ultimate goal is create a cloud based online working environment. So your time is wasted – stress rises and the challenge sets in.
• Trust Factor – research shows that overseas contractors can feel very  vulnerable when working directly with international clients. There is the feeling of isolation. There is an insecurity as to whether the client will pay?  Will the client turn out to be unscrupulous  and take advantage of them?  The lack of a support and understanding locally and other trust related issues can impact on the contractor’s confidence in sustaining a long-term relationship with an international client. Together with the doubt as to whether this will be a long term career opportunity for them.
• No local management – The challenges are no different if you have staff working from home in Australia – so don’t expect that having a home based Filipino is going to make any difference. Can you work effectively from home? How do you manage your time when facing disruptions, distractions  and temptations?

Well let’s set the scene- most Filipinos live in a multi shared environment with extended family members, in small homes or apartments. The outside air temperature is generally very hot and humid and few homes are air conditioned. Computers and internet are a luxury item and shared between the household. Natural light isn’t guaranteed and a quiet dedicated work  area is generally not possible.  So, imagine you are that Filipino working for an Australian Company with deadlines, procedures, routines and an expectation that you will deliver the same result as their Australian team counterparts.

Well, the arrangement may appear satisfactory at the start, but we can almost guarantee that without third person management – small issues escalate into larger ones, productivity slips, cultural misunderstandings need addressing, low speed and unreliable communication becomes a big issue and when you get sick and there is no one to take over in your absence. The streets aren’t as safe as in Australia and the crime rate is high, so your personal safety is at risk, particularly since the word is out that you have this job with an Australian company and earning money ! There can be a temptation to take on a few extra outside offers of work to get extra money, and this builds up. You could get a friend to take some tasks on to help you out. Who would know? Have I said enough?

The alternative is to place your Staff Member in the BMG Outsourcing Offices? There, you know the working environment, the privacy of your information, and you can fully trust the internet, have constant supervision of your  member and there is our  guarantee. Research shows that when offered the opportunity, most Filipinos prefer to work from  a serviced office, to belong to a team and to enjoy the benefits of air conditioning, reliable  internet, sick pay, social security and the possibility of obtaining a home loan. They are being given career opportunities, working under management who can nip small issues in the bud and provide understanding and feedback. And of course, the occasional team bonding lunch!

BMG Outsourcing – Our Modern Serviced Office

Since  you are going to invest your time and resources into the relationship with your new recruit, you have the assurance that BMG is going to support to you in the longer term to make your investment a success.

Support

However, as with any new relationship, it  need times to develop, work policies need to be communicated, cultural differences understood and trust needs time to develop. We offer two levels of support:

• Philippines support : BMG Outsourcing have Filipino management staff onsite in the Philippine Office alongside your recruit to directly address any concerns you may have, and can be contacted via Skype or email during the working day
• Australian support : you can contact our Sydney Office via phone, skype or email  – we are there to support you both in setting up your services and extending those services if you choose to branch out into wider areas. Our customer support service is available and accessible via the phone or online, to assist in any circumstance relating to the following:

1. Access to tools and resources you can utilize to make this remote set up work more efficiently and effectively in your business.
2. Attendance and compliance issues of your staff.
3. Culture and work style differences.
4. Any suggestions and recommendations you feel we may have overlooked.
5. Hiring new a staff member or staff replacement.
6. Extension of hours (if you want your staff extend the agreed hours)
7. Contract cancellations/terminations/Staff replacement guarantee.
8. Payroll, invoicing and accounts

So, now is the time to weigh up the alternatives. Consider your immediate problems, your bottlenecks, your resourcing issues and your finances.  Please don’t take a short sighted approach to resolving any internal issues. Call BMG Outsourcing for a free initial consultation and draw on the benefits of our experiences to establish your position in the long term.