Full-time staff vs contractors: The top 5 reasons you should consider working with a BPO

Outsourcing to the Philippines can look very different for each business, and can take on many shapes and forms in terms of the role, how you manage the work and the person you employ to complete the tasks.

If you choose to directly employ a Philippine-based contractor, you’re likely to achieve not just significant savings when compared to employing locally, but the best price available in the market. However, as we often find out, in business and in life, price isn’t always the only aspect to consider. So before you go down the path of employing an offshore contractor, let’s take a look at some of the benefits of employing a full-time, managed staff member via a provider such as MicroSourcing.

First, let’s get the cost issue out of the way.

You can expect to save up to 70% of staff costs when employing a full-time Philippines-based staff member compared to someone within your local market. It might not be as much of a saving as you would achieve if you engaged a contractor, but this does include a monthly management fee and all the associated employee overheads such as office space, internet connectivity, computer equipment, recruitment and HR. But, what about the rest of the story? What benefits can you expect from engaging with a provider to employ a full-time staff member?

The benefits of employing full-time Philippine-based staff vs contractors

1. Data security

   One of the chief concerns held by companies as they begin their offshoring process, data security and, unless you have expertise in the area, it’s likely to be a point of concern with a contractor. Outsourcing providers take this issue very seriously and will have multiple levels of security in place, including:

   • Physical access restrictions - Security personnel, swipe cards and biometric security to ensure only authorized staff enter the building
   • Mobile phones and devices - Secured in lockers for the time staff are working
   • USB disabled - All computer ports disabled to prevent storage devices from being accessed
   • Single sign-on - Via portal and accessible only within the building, with set IP addresses, machines and time restrictions. The staff member has no knowledge of access codes
   • Restricted activity - Access only to required pages and programs with all activity monitored and time-stamped.

2. Technology

   In a central BPO location, staff have access to not only state-of-the-art machines and technology but also the best internet connection available. This is something that can’t be assured of with contractors who rely on residential internet access and potentially slower, out-of-date technology.
   
   

3. Reliability

   Unfortunately we’ve heard lots of nightmare stories about amazing, productive contractors who worked fantastically well for a company over a month or two who then just disappeared without a trace. And there’s not much you can do when this happens. A professional BPO provider ensures you’ll always have a reliable staff member and, if they do move on, we’ve got the procedures in place to recruit and train a new team member with little or no downtime for your business.
   
   

4. Productivity

   Performance management is what BPO’s do best. In discussion with our clients, we’ll get a clear idea of what a role entails and the productivity expectations. You manage the tasks and quality of work required and we’ll ensure your team is meeting those targets. And with time-stamped tracking and limited online access, you will know that when they’re in the office, your staff really are focused on the job at hand.
   
   

5. Downtime

   If for any reason your contractor doesn’t work out (or they drop off the edge of the planet) you face a long road back to being productive again - with recruitment, onboarding and then training - and every moment of downtime is costing you dearly. By using a BPO you avoid much of this pain. It’s our responsibility to keep a productive employee in your organization. If anything does happen to them, we’ve got potential recruits ready to work and the procedures in place to train them quickly. And, more importantly, we do the recruiting and training for you, while you continue to do what you do best within your business.

Cost saving is only ever one part of any business decision, and offshore outsourcing is no different. The benefits of working with a provider such as MicroSourcing adds real value to your business in terms of productivity, security and reliability. If you’d like to learn more about the innovative use of outsourcing in business, download our whitepaper.