Whether you own a company that had to downsize due to COVID-19 or a startup amid immense growth, you understand that it’s impossible to do everything by yourself. In fact, trying to do everything with your small team would only result in lessened efficiency, affecting your company’s bottom line.
This lack of efficiency is one of the primary reasons why it’s worth employing the services of outsourcing firms. You understand that one of the biggest benefits of outsourcing is how it can help lessen your team’s workload and enable you to focus on things that you’re good at.
However, it’s unavoidable that there will be instances when the coordination between your in-house employees and your outsourced team is challenged. Whether it’s due to cultural differences or communication issues, these misunderstandings can also disrupt your business from functioning smoothly.
Prevent this scenario from happening by managing your in-house employees to work effectively with your offshore team. This piece will provide pointers that can help you bridge the gap between your two teams. While it’s important to note that each company has a unique situation, these pointers will point you in the right direction towards total unity between your two teams.
Be transparent with your objectives
Before you decide to tap an outsourcing company to help your business, it’s important to let your in-house team know that there’ll be an offshore team that will take over some of their responsibilities. Make it clear about your reasons for hiring them and which tasks they’ll be turning over to the offshore team.
Taking the time to talk to your team about this will make things clear and prevent any redundancy between your local and offshore teams. It also helps improve the morale of your in-house employees as they are kept in the loop.
Learn about your offshore team’s culture
Take the time to learn about the work culture of the country your offshore team is coming from. Read up about the country’s current affairs, working holidays, and culture. If possible, coordinate with your offshore team to learn specific things that a quick Google search doesn’t cover.
The reason for this is to help you understand why they work a certain way. It also gives you an idea of which days they would probably take breaks on. Conveying your learnings with your team will also help bridge the cultural gap.
Maximize overlapping hours
The usual setup with a local team and an outsourced team is that they only get to coordinate for a couple of hours. These overlapping hours will be crucial since this period is where the task turnover or most communication happens.
Make sure that both your teams are optimized to work at full steam around these changes. Set your workflow to have a seamless interaction between the in-house and offshore teams. Another way to address this is by adjusting the shifts of either or both teams to have longer overlapping hours.
Communicate frequently
Whether it’s during the overlapping hours or the offshore team’s off-hours, it’s important to maintain a clear and proper line of communication. Since there’s no means to meet with your offshore team in person, ensure that your correspondence with the team is clear and concise.
Make use of the available technology for remote working to communicate what you expect the outsourced team to achieve during the day. A clear paper trail will ensure accountability between the two teams should any problem arise along the way.
Treat your offshore team as partners
It’s easy to think of your outsourced team as assets that you can push to the limit. However, the better approach to getting the most out of your offshore workers is to treat them as partners for your business’ growth.
Acknowledge and reward the offshore team alongside your local employees whenever you hit a target. Get to know the people working for you beyond the correspondences. Foster an environment where both your local and offshore workers will be motivated to produce results.
Conclusion
Your offshore team helps your in-house employees focus on things they’re good at, allowing your company to grow. By treating both your local and offshore employees fairly, you can have a healthy working environment that will help your business succeed.
