There have been discussions regarding the different advantages of working with outsourcing companies and most of them focus on the company who is outsourcing, such as; saving on recruitment fees, reducing overheads, office space, increasing efficiency and profits. These are just to name a few advantages of outsourcing which help small, medium and large businesses around the world to expand and save. People see outsourcing as an alternative to hiring locally because of high salaries. Filipino’s love outsourcing since it provides additional jobs aside from local employment although, outsourcing from the Philippines and pays more than if they are employees locally. Outsourcing has become very “trendy” as they are often managed by foreigners which gives the staff a chance to work under a different style of management. Outsourcing has always looked at from a business’ perspective, so in this blog, we look at outsourcing from the other side and review the benefits of the employees & how it effects the life of the people working in the industry.
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Benefits of working in outsourcing companies from a staff perspective
We asked different employees from the outsourcing industry in an effort to share clear employee advantages of working within an outsourcing company in the Philippines.
Career Development
In the Philippine working hierarchy, an ordinary employee has to go through the working process, which is most commonly known as “rising through the ranks”. Meaning, an employee will have to start as an “intern;” then when they start working in a company after they graduate, they usually work in an “assistant level” position for an average of 1-3 years. These jobs include: office assistants, sales clerk, and other back office support position that provide minimal career advancement. An ordinary employee that is employed locally needs at least 2 years before he/she can move on to an analyst position, then another 2-3 years to advance into an officer position and so on. In short, working locally follows a hierarchy in which career advancement is slowly progressing; and if your target is better career advancement, you need to work for years to earn it. On the other hand, working in an outsourcing company is much different. In countries that require outsourcing services, employers are actually looking for “go getter” individuals who can and want grow with their business. This means, when the offshore business grows, the employee’s rank will rise, followed by promotion and salary increases. The outsourced employee is highly motivated and more operationally efficient than any local employee. Working in an outsourcing company gives the staff the opportunity to maximize their skills as they work with different tasks and projects for their employer. Employees working in outsourcing companies have high work level outputs, improved performance and are faster at accomplishing their tasks. Employees are also encouraged to be proactive, provide solutions and ideas as well as given the chance to learn more. Outsourced employees are actually encouraged to participate and offer ideas, something that is rare to find under local employment.
Work focus and productivity
One famous advantage of working in outsourcing company is the high level of work output. Think about it; locally you have people coming into your office, you have phone ringing, appointments to see, driving time and interruption after interruption. Whereas offshore Employees are sitting behind their desk every day for a full eight hours or more, without distraction which means they are highly productive and can accomplish many tasks in a day. Employees love the fact that they are given responsibility and to a certain extent are self-managed, thus making them achieve more every day. If there’s one thing evident when working locally, is that you will be working hard instead of working smart. This is driven by the Philippine working culture.
When employed locally, every move you make requires the supervisor’s approval and local ideas are often repressed because your manager is scared of losing their job. Outsourcing creates the very opposite and welcome fresh ideas. Working in an outsourcing company allows maximum flexibility since your boss will not literally breathe on your neck while you work. Let’s face it, everyone loves to contribute and feel proud to be part of the collective success. Whenever clients delegate tasks, they will simply assign a time or day of the week for an update and feedback on your work accomplishments. Work flexibility gives the employee control over his time, pace and mood. If you work fast and efficient, you’ll have more time to work on other tasks before submitting reports on the agreed time frame.
Proper Training and Guidelines
Some employees are initially concerned about working for an outsourcing company with a different working environment and culture. The reason being, most outsourcing companies are run by foreigners meaning, it will be a different working environment and culture. But when you get the chance to work in an outsourcing company, you will be quickly and pleasantly surprised by the support and training you’re going to receive. Outsourcing companies work with their employees to ensure they succeed and provide training and guidance in order for the employees to adjust with the new work culture. BPO companies do not recruit with a view to fail, they recruit with a view to “succeed” or “succeed”, these are the only options. It starts by looking for employees who have the right set of skills and most important, the “RIGHT ATTITUDE” that is willing to develop a career and be there long term. Clients will really involve you in the process and will treat you as a partner not as a worker. It is a whole new avenue for growth.
Work-life Balance
Australian companies treat their staff with respect as if you are working in Australia. We work the same 8-hour shift as they do and, in most cases, enjoy the weekends off. And since offshore employees are following the client’s time zone, there is a great work-life balance. Basically, you will be working 40 hours per week. This is one of the best benefits you can get from working for an Australian company, giving you free time to spend during weekends. This means more TV, Facebook, night-outs and quality time with your family, enabling a full recharge before going back to work on Monday. If you calculate it, when working for a local company (Philippines), you are working an average of 206 hours per month compared with working for an outsourcing company in which you are only working 172 hours, plus there is travel time. If you do a simple calculation, that would be a 34 hours difference per month. And compute that “difference” for a year that is 408 hours, equivalent to 48 working days. Because of the benefits of working for an Outsourcing company, work output and accuracy is higher.
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Better Compensation – The Salary
In addition to the work benefits I have mentioned, the compensation package is substantially higher than what a local company would pay. And at the end of the day, we all work to earn money, the work environment enables us to enjoy our work, team, employer and stay committed for a long time. In the Philippines, workers get paid based on the current economy of the city/province, regardless of how difficult or easy the work is. For example, in some companies, the salary of an office assistant is relatively similar to the salary of a sales clerk – different work scope but almost the same compensation. In outsourcing, the pay will depend on the current pay of a certain position; for example, the salary of data entry is relatively different from the pay of a web developer, or Social Media Executive, but in all cases, it’s much higher than what someone would receive locally. Outsourcing allows skilled employees to get paid more than unskilled employees.
Written by: Czarina Quiwa
Co edited by: Tony Godbehere
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