With the vast array of technological infrastructure available today, many professionals have a sense that things are changing in the landscape of how we do business but might not be sure where to start.
Numerous companies have used offshore outsourcing for years, but most tended to view it as a negative experience until recently. There was a consensus that working with virtual employees from other countries could harm the customer support experience due to language barriers and cultural differences.
However, as our world continues to expand — and we Americans might think only our bubble is doing so — the rest of the world’s knowledge, technology, and infrastructure expands with it. We chatted with Robert Nickell, founder and CEO of Rocket Station, the leading provider of outsourced staffing and process management for the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, to learn more about his field.
A Bit of Background
The foundation of today’s success in building virtually-sourced teams is that better technology is making integrating these teams much more straightforward. By shopping for employees anywhere, the available workforce becomes massive, and you don’t have to expect a lower or worse experience anymore. Especially since there are companies that specialize in finding the right employees for the job, businesses can rest assured that they will find employees that suit their particular needs.
Today, solo entrepreneurs and single-person LLCs can produce high-quality results and output for the customer experience. Before, the overseas pool of available workers was only accessible to Fortune 500 companies, but that isn’t the case anymore.
“Pretty much anything that is typically done by phone or computer, that you are willing to create a structure or system around, can be outsourced,” said Nickell.
What Actually Happens
Creating a solid virtual environment that creates the feeling of a physical office structure creates a community that feels united. This structure also creates accountability among your team. By celebrating work wins, employees are more motivated and excited to do good work that gets them recognized. Executives can glean numbers and statistics about what gets done, how long it takes, what is happening within the company, and which areas need improvement or recognition. It’s all about processes.
You set the system and the method of how things get done. The offshore teams are integrated right into your business, operating on the same software that the rest of your employees use.
First Steps
“If you decide to use an outsourcing recruitment firm, make sure they will go through the procedure of really diving deep into discovering your business needs and your expectations for the job. Rocket Station takes this portion of the hiring process very seriously, and although it comes well before the actual hiring, we consider it the best first step,” Nickell stated. “It matters to us that we seek out the right people for the job so that you – and they – are happy. We select people that are university educated, with impressive resumes and satisfactory background check scores. We spend time with you to find out what success looks like, where you envision your company going, what software you use, and what you are trying to accomplish by hiring more team members.”
Your Preliminary Work
“Document the scope of work for every single task that needs to be accomplished by your new offshore team. Create a roadmap, a path to success, using step-by-step guides for each task. You can do this yourself – but a good recruitment team will do the heavy lifting while you drive the bus,” Nickell said. “We create videos, PDF documents, everything you could need to onboard and thoroughly train a new team member so that we have a clear picture of the type of person we need to hire.”
Superstar Search
Now, go and find the rockstar that fits the bill! Rocket Station likes to find a few for each role. They sift through thousands of resumes and only suggest around two percent. This MILK process, or Motivated Integration of Lucrative Knowledge, ensures that businesses who work with them see a curated selection of talented, college-educated resumes that perfectly fit each role they are looking to fill.
Don’t Forget About Tech
“People do not start businesses to hire people. They start businesses to be in business and to make something great, or bring something new and special to the world. Virtual workers do not have to be intimidating – hey, they do not even have to be human. There are tons of options for software that can help streamline your procedures and make your day-to-day workings so much easier,” Nickell mused. “You have to jump in, be willing to try new things, and be willing to do some research. The beautiful thing is that nailing down your technological systems can give way to expansion and make it easier to hire new employees, in and out of the office, when you are ready. Make working about the work itself again, not about how it gets done.”
Addressing Common Concerns
If you are worried about the level of trust that it seems to take to feel confident in the abilities of virtual employees, think of it this way: It takes just as much faith to work with your in-house team. The only difference is that they might have to be sneakier if they are the types of employees who have something to hide. That said, extensive background checks and systems for checking work are needed in both areas to ensure you hire the right people for the job. If you want results, you have to be willing to work on the front end.
“When the uninitiated hear about virtual teams, they seem to hold a common fear that someone might mess up and the whole company will, metaphorically, burn to the ground,” said Nickell. “But mistakes happen whether they are virtual or not, and we move on. The mistake that your in-house team makes is not any smaller than one your offshore team might make. And you probably do not even think about the small mistakes past the day they happen. That said, recruiting firms like mine are essentially the ‘trust broker’ between companies and their new offshore employees. It is our job to do our due diligence on both fronts.”
Nickell stresses the importance not only of companies treating their offshore employees with the same respect and trust that they offer their in-house teams, but that you have to earn the same treatment. If an employee in the Philippines is going to work for you, often at hours that are much later in their day than yours, they have to respect and trust you too. Benefits, healthcare, and affording the same opportunities (within reason) are crucial to this point and foster success for all parties involved.
“Often, big-hearted business owners assume that virtually-structured environments do not offer a sense of community and culture, but that just is not the case,” he said. “By creating structures and processes that everyone uses, whether they are in the office or not, teammates can get to know each other, communicate, and learn from each other – just like in a physical office. With systems in place, we can throw new people in, management gets easier, we are winning, and company culture gets created on its own.”
If you are worried about company culture or general morale, create that same culture that you would have in an office, such as celebrating birthdays, general wins, and office holiday parties, in the virtual sphere. For example, you can use virtual communication channels like Zoom and Slack to keep a tally of who is ‘in’ the office and who is ‘leaving’ the office. Small things like this have a bigger impact than we realize and decrease feelings of loneliness. It is all about creating in-person feelings over the wi-fi.
By getting current and planning for the future, you open yourself and your business up to a world of possibilities like cost savings, innovation, time savings, and even potential for working in the metaverse – but that is a conversation for another day.
About Robert Nickell
Robert Nickell is the Founder and CEO of Rocket Station, the leading provider of outsourced staffing and process management for the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. Rocket Station helps businesses hire virtual teams with efficiency and profitability. Simplified staffing allows operators to focus on core competencies and outsource the rest. For more information, visit https://rocketstation.com/
