When businesses start to use outsourcing, and they start to use it often enough that it takes some work away from current employees, they may experience some discomfort from their team. The main concerns being “why are you taking work from us, are we not doing a good enough job?” and “will we lose our jobs?”
To ease these worries, here are our three tips to get your staff on board with outsourcing.
1. Start small and ease it in
The best way to bring your team on board with outsourcing is to actually show them how it works. Once they see it working and how well it will work, they will be far more willing to accept it.
Rather than subjecting your team to change, if you show them the ropes and how positive it can be, there won’t be as much push back.
2. Find a manager to lead the cause
There will likely be at least one real advocate for outsourcing within your team, one who can see the benefits of embracing it. Find this individual and then train them up to be your go to employee for outsourcing questions and concerns.
Once you have a manager to lead the cause, someone who is involved with the work and the outsourcers, they can assist with getting everyone else on board.
3. Allow staff to fully voice their concerns
You don’t know what is going through your team members’ minds. Maybe they are just concerned about a loss of control, or maybe it goes deeper than that and they are worried about their own job security. Whatever your staffs’ concerns, make sure that they can fully voice them because if you don’t, the resistance will come out in other ways which may potentially sabotage the success of outsourcing the work in the first place as it negatively impacts other aspects of the work.
To help your employees feel heard, take the time to interview them in groups and individually. Then involve them in the process, then emphasise the benefits for them personally. Then give them the opportunity to digest and discuss any problems they may have.
Get your staff on board with outsourcing
As we’ve said, you don’t know what’s on your members’ minds when it comes to outsourcing, but you need to. They need to be involved in the process, listen to and address their concern, and help them see their benefits personally so they can begin to see them in a much more positive light. When you do, you’ll quickly discover that outsourcing frees up your companies to be much more productive and effective in its work.
