Six reasons why Aussie businesses should keep their outsourcing local

It doesn’t take a seasoned CEO or manager to see the benefits of outsourcing for business. Outsourcing can expand your talent pool, offer avenues to expand business operations, provide different perspectives, save on costs, and enhance productivity. 

However, outsourcing, like all things, comes with problems of its own. International outsourcing can cause delays, introduce language barriers, and present significant risks. If you’re a small Melbourne-based company looking to enhance your online presence, for example, you might choose to outsource this task.

Deciding to go with an international service might be cheaper, but it also presents the risk that the outsourced company or individual might not understand the cultural relevance of your marketing or design decisions, or there might be a language barrier resulting in work delays. Time zones might also make it difficult to organise meeting times and stay on the same page.

In contrast, you might choose to find local custom web design in Southbank, where your chosen company may be better placed to understand your vision and communicate effectively. 

There are so many reasons businesses should choose to outsource locally. 

1. Support the local economy

Money is valuable when it is moving; that is, when it is spent.

In a world where people outsource offshore, the money continues to move, but it moves in other nations, boosting the economies of other countries while our own country has hundreds of thousands (627,900 as of July 2024) of unemployed citizens, to only a handful of available jobs (352,600 as of May 2024).

When businesses decide to hire or outsource locally or interstate rather than internationally, the result is that money circulates within our nation, building value and helping someone in our nation find a job – something that can be potentially life-saving during these difficult times. 

2. Time zone and culture

Remote and hybrid work has allowed employers to hire from a much-expanded talent pool, and since the COVID-19 pandemic, hybrid work has proven not only the preferred method of employment for workers but is known to have a wide range of benefits for businesses too, such as reduced overheads and better employee engagement.

The reason we bring this up is because the prevalence of hybrid and remote work has allowed business owners the ability to hire overseas, which is part of the reason so many companies are willing to outsource internationally; remote working policies give them access to a global talent pool. However, when hiring internationally, you also open your workplace to the problems and potential conflicts caused by potential language barriers and culture conflicts. 

Outsourcing to someone within your nation eliminates these risks, assuring ease of communication, cultural solidarity, and easier time management due to a more familiar time zone.

3. Assured quality control

There are businesses all over the world, meaning different businesses are governed by different laws. These laws affect how businesses can conduct themselves and contain criteria for things like finances, work hours, quality of product, and workplace conditions. While these laws and regulations have proven conducive to appropriate work conditions and practices in Australia, the same is not true in many other countries. 

Outsourcing to other nations means that you are opening your workforce to people who are used to operating under the legal standards of their own nation, and these standards may be more relaxed, or of lesser quality than the laws of Australia demand.

This can cause several issues, including confusion in business processes, a difference in attitude or perception of urgency of a task, or discrepancies in appropriate workplace interaction. However, if you outsource to local services, then this quality control is likely to be more assured and consistent.

4. Risk mitigation

Let’s say that your business is growing, and as a result, the processes surrounding your human resource operations become strained.

You could spend the time and effort to retrain your HR staff in an updated workflow to address the new dynamic, or you can outsource your operations to a domestic company that has extensive business handling the HR needs of companies like yours.

You can still train your team when the business has more room to breathe, but outsourcing during the stressful period saves some stress.

This means that rather than having your team scramble to learn new processes in little time, you can temporarily outsource the work to a HR team that can take over your HR duties until your existing HR department is brought up to speed.

5. Supplement your workforce

Everyone gets busy from time to time, and for many businesses there are periods of increased demand, however these periods don’t usually represent an ongoing norm, but rather a situation that will peter out gradually as certain business seasons end.

Although not permanent, these periods can represent great profitability for the company, but profits are no reason to overwork your employees. This provides an opportunity to outsource domestically.

Nearly every industry has freelancers that are experts in their field. Recruiting agencies can help companies find freelancers with the suitable skills and experience to help them through these particularly intense times.

6. Culture of continuous improvement

Although this one does carry the risk of getting into toxic territory, there is a lot of good that a culture of continuous improvement can do for a business. People want to be engaged in the work they do and if the job stagnates, so too will the person doing the job.

It is therefore beneficial to both the company and employees to maintain a culture of continuous improvement, that is, the regulated implementation and research of ways that a particular process can be done more efficiently, or that the company can better care for its employees. 

Outsourcing allows employers to do this, as updated training can take place while an outsourced team manages the existing workload of the company. Then when training is complete, your newly trained team can be brought back on properly with their new processes learned, and more engaged in their work. Just make sure you’re not using the “continuous improvement” culture to force unfair workloads or expectations on your employees.

There are many reasons that outsourcing is a valuable option for businesses in need of different services, and there are plenty of reasons that local workers and businesses should be prioritised when looking to outsource.

To help not only the local community, Australia’s economy, and your own business needs, consider outsourcing locally or domestically before looking further.