Outsourcing is a popular method to redistribute work when demands are too high in the office or when cheaper or more professional labour is available elsewhere. In a world full of digital nomads and remote workers, outsourcing is becoming more available and popular and workers are easier locate. Here are some of the pros and cons of outsourcing your work.
Pros
First and foremost from a business perspective, the US labour market is high in price in comparison to other countries with skilled professionals in every field. By outsourcing, you are able to cut some of the running costs of your company and to provide an income to people in potentially much poorer conditions, and means you will be getting the best quality work for the lowest price. Not only will you be able to save your business money on wages, but also by not having to provide your outsourcing staff with an office to work in, you will be saving on electricity bills, rent and all the costs that accumulate when running an office of workers. When your company is under pressure, you will not have to hire more staff to cover shortcomings, which saves you more money on benefits, training and wages.
Sometimes, staff elsewhere are more skilled than your own. By outsourcing, you are able to pool the skills and knowledge of multiple people from potentially multiple countries which can have a benefit to your productivity and outcome. It gives you access to thought processes and ideas that otherwise would be untouched by your business, and more options are seldom a bad thing.
By designating some of the smaller tasks elsewhere, you are able to free up more time within your own business to develop and to grow, or to focus on some of the more demanding tasks instead of wasting time on some of the more tedious ones. This can increase staff morale and happiness, and allow people to think more creatively when not cluttered with all of the small tasks that can be completed elsewhere, optimising your resource utilisation and the potential of your staff.
Cons
When you designate work outside of your company, you also lose an element of control and add more variables into the mix. While this can be controlled to a certain degree with the contract you provide with the work, you can't be sure that the company that will be completing the task will hold the same values, passion and levels of quality as you and your staff.
You also need to be aware of all of the costs from the start. As well as the contract you provide, there will be costs involving legal fees to look at the contracts and the time involved in actually designating the work elsewhere alongside other potential fees that could pop up after the contract has been signed.
There is also a threat to any confidential information as you will be exposing your documents and security to more people. If confidentially is a value that you hold high in your company values, maybe it is better to complete your work in house. There is also a larger threat of interception as you transfer documents electronically between different companies, so email security is something worth evaluating before you start outsourcing your work.
Outsourcing is also a debated topic, and some people focus on the negativity and potential morale implications. Outsourcing can provide jobs for people where they are needed, but the transfer of work from a local source can also bring up job losses in the local community. There is also the question of whether it is fair to pay somebody working abroad a lower wage for the same work as you would pay your own staff and other morale implications that can weigh heavily on your company's reputation.
In conclusion, outsourcing is a way to maximise your quality for value correlation and to free up a lot of time for you and your staff, but the threat of security breaches, lower standards and additional hidden costs as well as the potential moral implications can be problematic for you and you and your business. Depending on the values you prioritise, it be damaging or it can be very very effective, so weigh up your options carefully.