In dire times you can turn to offshore staff leasing to reduce labor costs. Outsourcing and staff leasing prove to be the next logical step to closing shop. With a leased staff, your company can concentrate on core company operations without focusing so much on the peripherals. While it might mean letting go of some people, off shoring and staff leasing polishes and fine-tunes your operations. Under pressure of cost-cutting, you can maximize every buck of your capital.

Offshore and staff leased work rival and often outperform on-site work. While your costs have been cut by close to half, you still get the same quality — and at times better — output than having an on-site staff do it, so you still get a grip on quality control. Off shore and staff leasing keeps your operations going with little or no supervision. Then again, if you’re not quite happy with the outcome you can switch off staff leasing services any time without going beyond your means. Since the offshore and staff leasing industry is very competitive, you can take advantage of this by being able to choose from so many excellent service providers. It’s a win-win cycle: you benefit from them, and they benefit from you.

Offshore and staff leasing services work best for small and medium companies. During difficult times and with limited resources, small- to medium-size companies turn to outsourcing and staff leasing to cushion a possible financial backlash. This system allows medium companies to run like regular companies without the risk of getting into deep financial losses. With a lower labor cost but equally good service, medium-size companies can avoid overshooting their investments.

Offshore and staff leasing gives you the upper hand. As a client of an offshore and staff leasing company, you essentially call the shots. Short of demanding absolute perfection, you can exert pressure on the offshore and leased staff to produce high quality work. In reality you and your offshore company work in sync to keep track of the project at hand starting from day one, so the margin of error is kept to a minimum or is erased altogether.

More importantly, you don’t get your hands “dirty.” It’s your offshore and staff leasing company that will take care of such things as quality control, cost analysis, management, and so on. You just expect to get the finished product.

Offshore and staff leasing create more jobs. At the height of the economic crisis the number of workers who are engaged in outsourcing and staff leasing in the Philippines has grown by 40 % (300, 000 workers to date). Because of the economic crisis, American companies turn to offshore and staff lease work to maximize productivity and efficiency. So while the number of on-site workers thin out, that of offshore and leased staff balloons. This cycle takes on a poetic meaning when you examine it closely. The more offshore and leased staff deals get underway, the more windows of opportunity open at the on-shore counterpart.

Offshore and staff leasing companies are indirectly hit by the economic crisis. The one thing that keeps the outsourcing and staff leasing industry going strong is that it is not directly hit by the economic crisis. Insiders even say off shore and staff leasing operations are not effected by it in the least. The other side of the equation shows you that as huge companies cut costs, offshore and staff leasing companies expand services to answer cost cutting needs. Offshore and staff leasing companies are only too glad to work for you.

Competitive offshore and staff leasing industry results in high quality, area-specific work. Because there’s a bigger need for more specialized functions, offshore and staff leasing companies view the economic crisis as an opportunity to offer area-specific services from which you can benefit. New lines of work and new infrastructure crop up to address these needs, so you end up getting high quality work for a very affordable rate.

Little by little the American economy is inching away from the deep economic ditch it has been stalled in while the whole world watches. Meanwhile, offshore and staff leasing-driven economies remain stable and in good shape.

• You get what you pay for, which is usually low. Getting an offshore and leased project means you want to make every buck work. That’s just what you get for an offshore and leased agent. Established vendors suggest would-be clients exercise caution in choosing the right offshore and staff leasing company because there are certain risks involved. For example, one concern might be about maintaining excellent product quality. A leased agent cannot get too far with innovation because he is under order to conform to set instructions.

• An offshore leased agent has his own specialty. An offshoring client has no way of knowing whether his leased agent is doing what he likes and what he specializes in, so at times it’s difficult to maintain quality control because the quality of work might change with the project. Some leased teams are very good at one project and can be poor at another. As a client, you have to know which offshore and leased team meets your needs.

• An offshore and leased agent needs hands-on management for maximum results. You have a project manager who’s in charge of overseeing the assignment, but you need to be “there” at the time you’re needed by your leased team the most. Keep in mind that a number of offshore staff leasing companies work for many clients at once. So to avoid glitches, let them know you’re constantly monitoring their work so they’re aware that you’re on top of things, too.

• Offshore and leased agents know nothing about you– well, almost. This happens because most offshore and staff leasing specialists don’t see a need (and they’re avoiding unlikely things like “pirating” and “under the table” transactions). So while they may be turning out excellent work, they are left guessing as to who you are. This may work in your favor in that they may be intimidated, but studies show that workers who know who they’re working for fare better than those who don’t. It’s a lot easier to give and receive instructions when you know where they’re coming from.

• Expect occasional cultural and language issues with an offshore and leased agent. Since you don’t share the same geography, values, and language, there will be times you’ll have a verbal disconnect. An agent may take your words in a different context (And vice-versa!) given the linguistic and cultural barrier between the two of you. To avoid this, you should have as much background information about your offshore and leased agent as possible. Research the offshore and staff leasing company’s location, geography, culture, values, etc. If that doesn’t resolve your issues, go back to an offshore and staff leasing company you’ve worked with before.

Whatever the issue, offshore and staff leasing is a lucrative business these days, and staff leasing is the panacea to the ongoing economic crisis. Offshore or staff leasing continues to impress clients because it’s smart and sassy.

• Worry-free management. If you go the way of offshoring and offshore staff leasing, you unload yourself of office quirks such as payroll, hiring, petty cash, and full time staff maintenance. Your chosen offshore and staff lease company will do all of that for you. Your offshore and leased staff company assumes the role of office manager, accountant, human resources, and IT specialists. The off shore and staff leasing company takes care of you office tools, too. They provide a package that includes a computer monitor, Internet connection, ergonomic chairs, and tables.

• Cost effective. Partnering with an offshore and leased staff company saves you cash. You’re a business person, so you know the difference every single dollar makes. With offshore and leased staff working for you, your hard-earned capital is put to maximum use. Offshore and leased staff service gives you fewer financial worries because you know you’re working with experts, which naturally translates into added revenue.

• Customer care comes in handy. Unlike an 8-5 office operation, your offshore and leased staff works anytime you want things done. This gives you confidence that everything is well underway. And if you suddenly realize there’s something you want changed or done right away, your offshore and leased staff is simply a click away. You don’t have that freedom with on-site operation. In fact, with an offshore and leased staff for a team, you can set the working hours yourself and get to work with flexible people.

• More thinking heads are better than one. Your offshore and leased staff doesn’t just work for you like machines. They work for you and with you: Any time you feel like getting an objective third person’s advice, your leased staff will be on hand to share it with you. Offshore and leased staff work in concert with you, so you literally get involved in a project’s creative and production process. The only difference is that the whole thing doesn’t stress you much as an on-site set up does.

• There are a lot good offshore and staff leasing firms to choose from, but Webagentspro is one of the best. Because the offshore and staff leasing industry is getting very competitive, you can be certain that each one tries to outdo each other with superior service. That can only bode well for you and your business. For excellent service at an affordable rate, your choice ends with Webagentspro. It is home to creative and results-oriented people.

The kind of offshore and leased staff service you need depends on your demands. But keep in mind that online business is still about people, and people work well when they understand each other well. Webagentspro treats you like a real person, not just like a cash-conscious client.

While thousands leave for work abroad everyday, an equal number of Filipinos are hired by foreign companies operating locally. It’ s ironic, but it’s true. This highlights the fact that in spite of a slow-moving economy, the Philippines has an ace up her sleeve. And that’s because of the Filipino’s natural talent. If the Philippines has not yet reached Asian Tiger status, it has certainly earned the Top Outsourcing Destination moniker.

This is best illustrated by traits shared by many Filipinos, including:

1. Filipinos are hard working.

Junior level Filipino workers are most sought after by outsourcing companies because they are easy to train or have had related training before applying for the position. A single, average, junior level IT worker in the Philippines, for instance, can produce work that rivals that of an entire staff of outsourcers. Moreover, when Filipinos work for foreign companies they leave their ego at home; as such, they are very easy to get along with. Filipinos take such pride in their jobs to such an extent that any comment made about their efforts, however remote, will be taken to heart: that’s how attached they are to their jobs. The labor pool in the Philippines has also proved its skill and aptitude in handling the demands of the global business environment. The country has a world-class workforce, be it in the financial, IT, media, and other markets, as well as the health care sector. Filipinos are widely known and admired for their excellent work ethic and talent at delivering the needed results on time and with high quality, even under duress.

2. Filipinos are culturally flexible.

Because the Filipino culture itself is so diverse and has experienced so many foreign influences throughout its history, Filipinos on the whole quickly adapt to marked cultural differences such as manners and habits. Outside North America, the Philippines is perhaps the biggest consumer of American popular culture; in fact, it’s often said that when New York sneezes, Manila catches the flu. For centuries the Philippines was under Spanish rule, followed by the Americans and then the Japanese. You might be surprised to know that a good number of Filipinos — especially those educated in Catholic schools — can speak passable Spanish, Chinese, and Nihonggo/Niponggo (form of Japanese) thanks to the rich cultural heritage.

3. Filipinos speak good English.

It can not be emphasized enough that Filipinos speak and are fluent in English, since it is one of the country’s two official languages. Time and again, Philippine English has been observed to rank high on neutrality and clarity. An American senior operations manager once said that he can’t tell the difference between his Filipino and Kansas agents. English is taught at all Philippine schools from preschool to college, so most professionals study the language for 20 years or more. Moreover, the Philippines is the world’s third-largest English-speaking country.

While other countries are also known for low-cost outsourcing, investors generally agree that professionals in these countries are not as English-equipped as Filipino workers; as such, they prefer to work with Filipinos who have comparable IT skills and better English language readiness.

4. Filipinos are creative and resourceful.

For the most part the Philippine economy is driven by the service sector. The primary reason why outsourcing and staff leasing companies choose the Philippines is that Filipinos are very receptive to learning new skills. Expose a Filipino to a new trick a couple of times ,and he’ll re-invent it. This applies not only to IT and related skills, but also to the arts and entertainment media. At this year’s Cannes, for example, Brillante Medoza may have been the only major winner from a developing country like the Philippines.

At the moment huge outsourcing firms are looking into a massive and untapped outsourced accounting niche in the country. The Philippines has a plethora of accountants who primarily do bookkeeping and cost accounting jobs. There is a small financial outsourced accounting already in place, and the workforce is falling short. The Philippines has a large, untapped pool of accountants. Caltex has a back office accounting set up here. Shell and SPI (Systems Technology institute) are becoming involved in outsourced accounting too.

5. Filipinos are customer-oriented

Owing to the Filipino’s natural propensity to please guests, they hit high on the customer service register. A street vendor, for instance, can offer an unassuming foreigner a running commentary on local politics. So can the taxi driver, barber, and bystander. It’s not entirely unique, but even if Filipinos talk about a tragic event they can do so with a smile at the end. This is apparent in business as well, where Filipino workers strive to be customer-oriented and accommodating.

6. Majority of the Filipino workforce is composed of people below 45

The Filipino workforce is made up primarily of people whose age range is between 21-45. A closer look reveals that these are the most productive years in a professional’s life. Outsourcing and staff leasing companies are reaping the benefits of this phenomenon. The success conversion for most company operations far exceeds expectation, even during this global economic crisis. This explains why new outsourcing companies are being constantly created, many of which are partly owned by Filipino investors. Investors and business people see an upward trajectory and find that in a short time they are able to meet their targets with minimal overhead expense. Thousands of fresh and able Filipino college graduates join the offshore and outsourcing industry every year.

Now the rest of the First World is turning to it for these reasons:

1. Reduced cost

Going into offshore staff leasing cuts your cost in smart ways. With your company’s core functions neatly in place while other matters are run by your leased staff, there’s clear streamlining. Thus, resulting in over-all efficiency.

2. Work that’s on par

Your offshore leased staff are pre-screened. They have been chosen for the excellence they show in their work. They’re already specialists in the field, so there’s little room for errors. Any time you’re not happy about your leased staff’s work, you can have another one on demand.

3. Works best for medium-sized companies

When everyone is hard put not to spend too much, people turn to top small to medium-sized companies for services. This is where offshore staff leasing works perfectly, since the staff can make your company run like a regular big company, without the glitches, plus the lower cost. So you don’t end up overestimating your expenses.

4. You call the shots

Even while your staff is hundreds of miles away, your voice is still the loudest. You get the upper hand all the time. Since each work is tailor-made for you and your expectation, you are at liberty to make changes anytime, every time. This is no time to take advantage of you team, though. Remember that they should be working in concert with you, and you should treat them like your own office staff. Your leased staff takes care of the “greasy details” while you wait for the finished product.

5. Offshore outsourcing means more jobs

On the contrary, staff leasing opens more job opportunities to those who can do little specialists things. Even the local on-site scene is benefiting from outsourcing—more specialized worked is done, more core office functions are well attended to. That means the outsourced workforce can also come locally.

6. Specialist skills result in high quality

Your leased workforce treats their work with specialist passion, which means the quality is very field-specific. So your leased staff isn’t saddled with doing many things all at once. The end result is a product or service that exceeds your expectation.

7. Greater trust between outsourcing company and client.

At the outset the understanding between outsourcing company and client is built on trust, and the more projects get underway that trust grows ever stronger. Both parties share and pass vital information–the finished work validates this trust.

8. Client and outsourcing partner have a better relationship.

The smooth relationship between buyer and vendor is well known in outsourcing. For one thing, the vendor trusts the client just as much as the client trusts the vendor. They share and exchange vital data.

9. Somebody to do your non-core functions

Your offshore leased staff take care of the non-core aspect especially those that take a long time to finish. By having these outsourced, you can save on time, cost, and manpower. In cases where your in-house team can’t do special and technical stuff, your leased staff surely can. This won’t only save you time, it will also contribute to over-all high quality work. Your onsite team then can focus on their own deliverables.

10. Flexibility that works both ways

It’s not only work flexibility but time flexibility as well. Your leased staff can’t compromise quality over trifle things like working hours and frequent changes. So the one thing that keeps them going is the ability to change their mode of attack: they’re quick to address the littlest issues that get in the way of the work, because they can’t afford to let you down: Rest assured they’re tuned in even to your mood.

Because of offshore staff leasing a number of developing countries in Latin America and Asia have gone up a notch higher on the world economy index. As this is written the industry is getting bigger.

Insourcing is simply doing work back at home– getting your own local team to do the job. Outsourcing is having an offshore leased staff to do specific work while you take care of your company’s core functions. This is the academic difference. Today the borders overlap between outsourcing and insourcing. It is so because insourcing has embraced getting a leased staff to do work for your company based on their expertise and that means getting a foreign team to do the job. For example, you get a Filipino back office team to handle your company’s accounting work: It’s insourcing for you but outsourcing for the leased staff from the Philippines.

But insourcing differs mainly from outsourcing when you get a highly skilled team from your own ranks and get them to work on a specific job description. That means they may come from another department but that they’re moved temporarily to troubleshoot another department. So what happens is you get more streamlined work with high quality performance and at a lesser cost—almost like outsourcing except for the local team. Insourcing is outsourcing working backwards.

The right time to go into insourcing

The best time to go into insourcing is when you are faced with these situations:

1. You want quick results. Working with your own team allows you to oversee first hand what’s going on and how far they’ve gone with work. While you keep track of their work you also make yourself handy for comments and suggestions.

2. You want closer team supervision. With you around your team gets a boost in self confidence and efficiency. You’ll be able to see the work’s progress every step of the way.

3. You don’t want to spill out an internal company function. Insourcing affords you secrecy in keeping your company’s identity and operations. Especially so in matters relating to money and partnerships, you wouldn’t want to compromise your company’s good standing.

4. You want sustainable cost without risks. Whether you like it or not, insourcing greatly saves your company cash as you’re working with our own team. Outsourcing is pretty much dependent on various market forces for continued growth. Plus, every now and then, outsourcing companies change their client requirements.

5. You want greater customer satisfaction. While outsourcing reduces your company’s cost, it may not guarantee customer satisfaction big time. Working with your own team in an insourced set up promises low if not absent dissatisfaction since you’re practically on hand any time.

Why is outsourcing more popular than insourcing

With all these things coming into play, outsourcing is still the set up of choice by top American and European companies. This goes to show that these reasons are considered self-evident truths by industry experts:

1. Outsourcing is cost effective. You can’t deny the low cost of outsourcing. As such, more work is covered as the vendor can hire more experts, thus raising over-all work efficiency.

2. Your company’s non-core and major functions are well taken care of. Outsourcing takes care of your company’s non-core operations while you get a grip on the vital ones. You end up saving manpower, capital, and time.

3. Special and technical work handled by specialists. Your offshore leased team is made up of experts in their own field, so you need not fret over minor lapses. Instead you are assured of over-all quality work that’s suited to your demand, while your on-site team gets on with theirs.

Outsourcing isn’t poised to put insourcing out of work. On closer inspection, they complement each other.

Outsourcing guarantees you bigger revenue, lower expenses, and a shot at expanding your horizons. Moreover offshore outsourcing allows you access to tap into the skilled staff who meet your company’s demands at a reasonable rate. The beauty of offshore outsourcing is that it allows you free reign over your company’s core functions. In that case you don’t have to worry about other extraneous issues such as HR and workplace concerns.

The Philippines is a force to reckon with

Wherever you may go for outsourcing, you get the above mentioned benefits, but possibly more when you outsource from Philippines. Industry insiders agree the Philippines is a force to reckon with in outsourcing and offshore staff leasing. The reason is pretty obvious: The Philippines competes with the rest of the world in terms of IT and soft skills. Filipinos can match many American IT specialists in programming, web content writing, back office accounting, but all at a very reasonable price. This is done not only in the country’s capital city, but also in other outsourcing cities like Cebu, Iloilo, Davao, and Bacolod. These cities are known for their outsourcing skills readiness and where SEO and link building are done with stiff global competition.

Things to consider when you outsource in the Philippines

The Philippines has reached a high degree of competitiveness in outsourcing and offshore staff leasing. That’s why most of its highly urbanized cities have business processing outsourcing hubs built sorely to cater to outsourcing companies. So any prospective outsourcing investor needs to look into these things to be able to skirt around an unlikely scenario.

This doesn’t mean there are no risks to outsourcing in the Philippines. Risks are an attendant reality wherever you hold business.

1. Study the cost. As is natural, you should know the cost. Keep in mind that the Philippines is a country where fees and prices (even of basic commodities such as rice and instant noodles) are known to change now and then. The country is home to many volatile things including its political situation.

2. When you’re dealing with a Filipino vendor, discus openly what you want and how it’s exactly going to be done. Be as detailed and as exhaustive as possible when talking things over with your Filipino partner. Filipinos are known to be a bit ambivalent and reserved about certain things, especially feelings, so take the lead and tell your Filipino vendor exactly what’s on your mind.

3. You don’t have to worry much about English and cultural incompatibility. Filipinos are perhaps one of the most flexible peoples in the world, and that’s well known. So is the Filipino’s facility with the English language. American English is widely used (though there are a number of English public school –inspired schools in the National Capital Region), but Filipinos have their own brand of English called “Filipino English.” It has most features of standard American English, except for a number of common expressions that are untranslatable into English, so Filipinos “Americanize” them.

4. Consider infrastructure. While many cities in the Philippines are considered highly urbanized, some suffer from lack of power supply as in the case of Iloilo City where there is frequent power blackouts. This will pose a detriment to your operations. If you’re thinking of putting up an offshore office in one of these cities, look into the power supply, roads, safety, and telecommunications facilities. In most cities, however, these are well in place, but then it pays that you get to see them first hand.

Outsourcing and offshore staff leasing are an exponentially growing industry in the Philippines that the president has created a special body to oversee policies and issues concerning the stakeholders. And the beauty of it is, its spreading democratically across the country.

It’s not a bed of roses for offshore outsourcing all the time, even while you’ve reached the pinnacle of success. But who’s to say offshore outsourcing is done in a perfect world? It’s easier to say “Have a back up plan, then” you just have to admit that there are just rough and low days sometimes.

What do you do, then?

Running an offshore staff leasing company doesn’t go on a one-way street: It involves vendor and client working together. Like school chums, you have good and bad days together and any problem that comes up gets resolved when two heads work together.

1. Assess sources of vendor failure. Ask yourself: Does failure have anything to do with performance? Is it because of high-risk exposure of sensitive company details? In this case a client may consider changing its outsourcing strategy: For example, instead of having one vendor it might get several vendors for maximum performance, or the client might have to outsource everything knowing the vendor has specific skills to cushion setbacks.

2. Make a risk analysis before clinching a deal. It is said offshore staff leasing has grown by 25 % last year (2008), and shows no sign of weakening, in spite of the economic crisis. This is so because in spite perceived differences in culture language, and technology, most other big issues are easily ironed out by careful and well-timed risk analysis. As time goes on these differences are fading away. Not even diminishing local jobs is viewed as a setback (it’s widely thought outsourcing can stop its growth). In fact the demands for more outsourced work keeps on growing alongside local jobs. What is getting rare is a new breed of specialists, which an offshore leased staff can easily fill in.

Reasons for vendor failure

But as all businesses go, there are bound to be glitches somewhere down the road. If they do impact offshore outsourcing vendors and clients, they’re not as bad as how an all local team takes it.

1. Loss of or low vendor accountability. This usually happens when the vendor has many clients doing business all at once. With several projects going on, some things get passed over, so somehow quality suffers. Sometimes it results in blaming. But going up to one vendor is neither a guarantee. What you can do is to merge responsibility for all vendor management and service with an outsourcing partner that has proven track record handling software, hardware, skills, and technology. In dealing with an outsourcing partner then, ask them: “How can you give me high quality service even with several vendors going all at once without sacrificing quality?”

2. Ever changing IT and support needs. In that case, you can’t make up our mind what to outsource and what to do in-house. In choosing your outsourcing partner you’ve considered adaptability, but once in a while your requirements change, depending on the nature of the work on demand. In which case your outsourcing partner should have a support management team to ensure work doesn’t get stalled. The support team should have a customer service function.

3. More vendors means more expenses. For this reason outsourcing thrives because an offshore support team cuts your costs, lessens downtime and failure, plus ensures higher satisfaction quality. But with several outsourcing vendors, you have to make sure that their work is aligned and streamlined. If not, stick to one you’ve worked and grown to trust.

Streamlining support management in an offshore outsourcing set up cuts the risk of vendor failure dramatically. It doesn’t not only save time and cost but also ensures accountability. If it looks like the stall it caused by work overload, you may want to free up tight internal functions. Sure, it’s easy to change a client but doubly hard to find a good one—by your standards, that is.