The transcript of the video:

WHAT ARE THE CONS OF OUTSOURCING?

Hello and welcome, David Judge from Affordable Staff and today I’m going to share the cons of outsourcing.

Now this is coming from a person that has over 460,000 hours of outsourcing, employing over 500 people in the last 6 years across places like the Philippines, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, America and Europe to name a few.

So, let’s delve down deep and share some areas you may or may not have thought of and how to overcome those cons.

Con 1 – Theft and Intellectual Property

What if they steal my information, Intellectual Property or my clients information?

Concerns with security and loss of IP are very serious and can be a real problem if they’re not addressed properly.

In reality, this is an issue when you employ people locally or outsource overseas, and in many ways, when you employ offshore staff, if set up properly, you would have more measures in place than employing a person in your own country.

So if you’re outsourcing, you need your team to sign a legally binding NDA (non disclosure agreement) meaning they can be prosecuted legally if we were to discover the theft of any knowledge or property. There is a trick to this and whether the NDA you have your offshore staff signing is actually legally binding.

As we primarily employ offshore staff in the Philippines we’ve put in place the right measures to ensure we have this set up the right way.

You should have a fairly specific recruitment process that checks key attributes of a potential staff member, including their:

  • work history
  • psychological profile

to identify any potential issues at the beginning.

We understand the importance of establishing a secure foundation and approach security with a focus of prevention.

Whilst we’ve never had any issues we understand the importance of establishing a secure foundation and approach security with a focus of prevention.

Con 2 – Power and Internet

What About Power and Internet Connectivity Issues?

If you have staff working from home then you should invest in a backup generator that is connected to the mains switch.


For internet, this is a different issue. Some areas just have bad Internet and is one of several reasons we leased and moved to a professional office. Our staff were originally working from home and it just wasn’t reliable enough to run as a real business.

Our staff were originally working from home and it just wasn’t reliable enough to run as a real business.

In my opinion, if you are working with offshore staff then this is always the best option as you will have:

  • a professional work environment
  • he stability of a leased internet line

Whilst we still have occasional issues with power, we also have a commercial generator and backup power supplies to prevent any disruption to work.

Con 3 – Competence of Offshore Staff

Is My Outsourcer Doing The Right Job?

It’s very common for people that outsource to have difficulty in understanding if their offshore staff are actually doing the job.

There are a few measures we’ve put in place to monitor our staff:

1. time and task tracking

2. random computer screenshots

3. on-site supervisors that communicate with Australian account managers

These allow you to quickly identify the issue be it the staff member, the process or another factor and to correct the problem.

Con 4 – Training the Offshore Staff

I Have To Take the Time to Train My Offshore Staff?

Yes, you do have to invest the time to train a offshore staff in the smaller details on how your business operates and any special tasks.

Like anything in business Change Requires Commitment, and if you are looking at outsourced staff for the first time (just as you would a local employee) you need to invest the time to ensure they fit inline with your business.

Change requires commitment.

This may also include the creation of systems and processes that show another person ‘How To’ complete a task.

This is really easy to use and can be used to train additional local and offshore staff as they come into your business.

We also have highly experienced local account managers that can guide you along this process.

Con 5 – Adjusting Your Business Model

Perfect Execution Doesn’t Exist

You may come across teething issues and you may need to adjust components of your business model. You may also think you need to make those adjustments before you start the outsourcing process.

In reality if you are considering outsourcing for your business then like any new change, it’s important to acknowledge it may take time for a person to integrate into your business and rather than waiting for it to be perfect you may just need to take the plunge and utilise the outsourced staff to help implement that change.

It may take time for a person to integrate into your business.

Ok, that’s it. Please be sure to check out the Pro’s video where I cover the good point around outsourcing.

This is David Judge from Affordable Staff showing Australian businesses how to succeed with outsourcing