As the owner of a company, you want to maximise your resources and boost profits, while keeping costs low. One of the strategies you can implement is outsourcing. The latter is a proven strategy that many organisations utilise, especially if their workforce lacks the skills and experience in a particular field. The advantages of outsourcing are useful to all types of businesses regardless of size. You might still have some doubts about outsourcing or hiring in-house staff. The costs, time to train, and your own budget are probably factors in your decision-making process. It takes effort to find the ideal outsourced service provider.

 

Identify and learn more about the advantages of outsourcing and hiring full-time employees.

 

Reason to Hire In-House Employees

A full-time employee has more at stake than an outsourced one. They would want to see your company succeed. They want a promotion and the incentives that come with working in-house. If you offer a competitive compensation package and provide them with opportunities to succeed and climb the corporate ladder, they’ll most likely stay and give extra effort. They want to earn the trust and work you gave to them when you hired them.

An in-house workforce will give their time and skills to your cause. You’ll see your return on investment when you hire full-time employees. When you train them and they acquire new skills or hone their current ones, they can give you a competitive advantage and a creative edge.

A full-time staff allows you to set their schedule. You establish deadlines, phases of a campaign, and number of work hours needed. Your management team can delineate tasks to each employee. Hiring an outsourced service provider means you have to respect the time they allot for your company because they might have other clients or live in another country.

 

Why Avoid Hiring In-House Employees?

A full-time workforce provides your company with a mix of pros and cons like:

 

1. An in-house team costs your organisation more because of the benefits you need to provide. Their compensation includes their salary, paid holidays, performance bonuses, training programs, certifications, and others. These expenses reduce your profits. You also must compensate an in-house employee regardless of a campaign’s outcome.
2. A full-time employee may lack the experience and expertise to fill a current or future need. They might not meet your standards and expectations when you launch a new campaign, develop a new product, or other tasks you might ask of them. You might also have to invest resources and time in training them so they can adjust to your demands and the policies you implement. One of the advantages of outsourcing is that you get someone that’s ready to take on the projects you give them. They already have the experience and expertise you need.
3. Your full-time employees might also feel burn out because of the hours they put in and the demands of a project.
4. Your motivation and engagement levels of your in-house workforce might vary. Some of the factors that affect their work include compensation package, their workload, and stress. On the other hand, one of the advantages of outsourcing work is contract flexibility. The compensation you give the team you hire depends on the hours you agreed upon. You can establish longer work hours as long as you compensate them accordingly.

 

Pros and Cons of Outsourcing

One of the advantages of outsourcing is that it allows you to expand your business effectively. Here are some of its pros:

 

1. Hiring an outsourced service provider is a cost-effective strategy because you can negotiate contract lengths and inclusions. The staff you get from an outsourcing company don’t require the usual benefits of full-time employees such as holidays, insurance, certification programs, and others. Outsourcing enables you to tap into a large pool of talented employees that might have lower rates. You’ll be able to reduce your business expenses and direct resources to other aspects of operations.
2. Outsourcing offers flexibility because you can negotiate work hours based on the needs and demands of a project. If you only need 15 hours for certain tasks, you can establish it in the contract before proceeding. If you need more hours, you can renegotiate or look for another partner.
3. An outsourced company is a viable solution for sales cycle shifts. An outsourced employee can ease the workload of your in-house team. Additional employees allow you to evenly delegate tasks when you get a surge of customers during peak seasons.
4. One of the advantages of outsourcing is that it enables you to identify skilled and experienced employees that might fill your needs. You can find people with expertise in accounting, IT, bookkeeping, IT, finance, marketing, sales, and others you might be looking for. You can hire them on a project-based basis. Outsourced staff can fit seamlessly with your full-time workforce. They can start as soon as you need them to.
5. An outsourced team eases some of the workload of your in-house staff. You can delegate tasks to them while your full-time employees focus on their areas of expertise. You can remove repetitive work that your employees do. Outsourcing eliminates the problem wherein your in-house employees have to perform tasks beyond their skill set.

 

The advantages of outsourcing make it a viable strategy for companies regardless of their size. However, it still comes with a few disadvantages.

 

1. One of the problems of outsourcing you might experience is infrequent communication. An outsourcing partner might have simultaneous clients and can’t frequently provide updates. You might have to email them or schedule a meeting to get an update.
2. You’ll have to provide more flexibility to your outsourced staff because you can’t monitor their tasks all the time. You can establish your expectations, but how they get the job done will be up to them.
3. Hiring an outsourced service provider might disrupt your company’s culture. Your in-house employees might feel that you’re looking for their replacements or they’re unable to do their job. These create a negative working environment that affects everyone’s motivation and productivity.

 

Identifying the disadvantages and advantages of outsourcing allows you to make an informed decision on whether to partner with an outsourced company or not. We at Robookkeeper can assist you whenever you need to update your accounting books. We offer first-rate small business accounting services.