It takes time

But on the first day of their employment they will not know any more than any other person you hire about the work you personally want to have done, or about the style or priority in which you want things done. They won’t know your personality and preferences, or any of a thousand other things that can only be learned through the training and daily interaction you give them. Obtaining the full benefit from anyone you hire will take time.

You’re still the manager

It’s true that BabbleGlass maintains a lot of management and support. Each staff member has an offshore supervisor, and above that, an offshore manager who are deeply concerned with making sure you are happy with your staff member’s performance, and many other support staff pay attention to making sure that you are happy and that your needs are met.

But they do not know what exactly you want to have done from day to day, or how you want it done. It is still your responsibility to train and manage your staff member, just as it is for anyone else who works for you. You will get out of the relationship what you put in.

Relationships don’t always work

Then there’s the fact that you will not always be satisfied with every single person you hire. It’s true with local staff and just as true with offshore staff. You may not be satisfied with their work, or you may not “click” with your staff member. Sometimes a work relationship just doesn’t — well, work. It occasionally happens in staff you hire locally, and it occasionally happens with staff hired offshore.

As always, there is really no choice but to replace that person with someone else. Locally, you’ll need to start the whole recruiting process all over again. With BabbleGlass, all you need to do is let us know and we’ll replace the person for you quickly and at no cost.

Working with someone remotely takes to time to get used to

You’ll have no trouble seeing your new staff member, or talking to them, or seeing what is on their computers, or in seeing their progress in their work. In fact, there’s a pretty good chance that with our help you’ll have an easier time doing some of these things than you do with your own staff locally.

But, working with someone remotely still takes time to get used to. You can’t just walk by and see them. To succeed with an offshore staff member (or any other staff member working remotely) you need to invest the time to get used to a new way of working with someone.

Culture and language

Last but not least, you’ll need to accept the fact that the person you are hiring is not an American. To your ears they will have an accent, and some of their speech patterns and cultural expectations will be different from your own. We’re not hiring a language specialist for you (unless a customer service or sales staff member), but someone with the skills you actually need.

You’ll have no trouble communicating with your staff, but like a new relationship with anyone from another culture, it will take a little time for you both to get in sync. Don’t expect the people you hire offshore to sound or act like the guy next door.

Offshore staffing is a terrific way to build business capabilities that you could not otherwise afford, and to save more on labor costs than you could achieve in any other way. But it’s not a panacea. You still need to give your new staff time to learn, and you still need to invest time in training and managing them.

You also need to accept that, like any role you’re trying to fill, you might go through a few different people before you find someone you’re completely satisfied with. And there’s a “price” to pay beyond that for the savings you’ll obtain: you’ll need to get used to working with people remotely, and you’ll need to get used to working with staff who are not American. (If you think about it, you probably already do both of those things in your business life.)