Last month, we touched on some of the reasons why outsourcing or not can be a great move for business owners. However, companies haven’t ditched in-house hiring just yet. While outsourcing can be a wonderful strategic solution, it’s important to look at the rationale behind hiring in-house.

Investing in Your Employees Makes Happy Employees

Hiring in-house is playing the long game. When you put in the time with your employees, there are a myriad of ways in which you’ll see positive results. From the get-go, the interview process can take nearly a month or longer, as we quoted in our blog post last month. Add a probationary period, a few of months of training, and you’re looking at not only time spent but money spent.

However, what you’re doing is giving your staff the knowledge and expertise to do their job well. You’re building a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship where the obvious is they do you a service, and you pay them a salary. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll see it’s more than a financial transaction. By empowering your staff and investing in their growth and development, you’ll lower employee turnover and increase morale and loyalty. Why does loyalty matter? When you’re looking to build your business, it’s important to have the people you work with on your side, rooting for your company’s success and growth.

When they have a win, you have a win, and that cuts both ways. Think about this when you’re looking to smartify your business.

Build A Foundation From Scratch

This can fall under ‘investing in your employees‘, but frankly, this should come first. When you’re out there searching through dozens or hundreds of resumes or CVs, what you’re looking for are people who not only have the skills to do the job but share the same values you do. If you’re a startup focused on creating bio cosmetics, you’re not going to hire a marketing coordinator that doesn’t care about the environment, are you? How can they convey the reasons and drive behind what you do? Knowledge can be learned but the passion and drive to learn must be instinctively there.

What Time Zone Are You In?

Are you missing a file from Stephanie in the marketing department? Well, it’s a lot easier to walk to her desk than email or call and wait for a response. This gets even more complicated when you start hiring outside your time zone. Need something immediately from your graphic designer? If you’re in Australia and they’re in France, “immediately” might not be an option since 11 am in Melbourne is 3 am in France. Consider how important it is to have face-to-face conversations with your staff. Even if they choose to work remotely twice a week, you’ll always have the option of collaborating face-to-face when they’re back in the office.

Who Are You Delegating Your Customer Service To?

If you’re looking to fill a role that requires speaking or handling clients and customers, outsourcing is a poor choice. How can you expect an employee who isn’t immersed in your company culture to be a representative? A freelancer or contract worker has no vested interest in your business and customers can tell. No one likes to speak to a person who doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Hire an in-house employee that can express your values well.

Now that we’ve broken down the ins and outs of outsourcing and in-house hiring methods, you’ll be well-equipped to deal with both. In fact, a great startup or business will have a healthy balance of both. Each has their merits and with the rise of technology like the cloud and asset tracking via barcodes, a remote worker, whether an in-house employee, freelancer or someone on contract, is all possible.