You will be surprised that almost 70% of small businesses these days hire offshore employees to save on cost and improve productivity. Remote teams are better than in-house employees for many reasons. One of which is that they are eager to prove themselves. They are also more affordable because you don’t have to compensate them as much as you do with your in-house employees. They get work done at the right pace.
For example, a lot of companies prefer cloud call center software for small businesses because it improves customer experience. It also eliminates the need to house hardware and even people. Those working in your cloud-based call center software may stay at home or work from wherever they want. They are free to live their lives as long as they maintain access to the cloud. They can still check calls, keep up with analytics, and monitor call routings.
But fret not if you’re worried that your offshore employees can be dishonest and clock in work they haven’t done. There are ways to get around these “loopholes.” You can use these various tools, programs, and techniques to make sure that you’re getting value for money.
Consolidated Communication Platforms
Of course, communication platforms will be the first in line when talking about how to manage offshore employees. You have to find the best ways to communicate with them. Are you going to be informal and use Facebook Messenger or Viber? Of course, you shouldn’t. A lot of programs these days are so sophisticated that they will consolidate communication threads in one place.
Time-tracking Software
Valuing honesty in your work culture will bring your company to places. The reason some companies don’t like hiring offshore employees is their dishonesty. Ask them to clock in every time they start a job. How do you know they are doing what they say they are doing? Well, that’s a risk you have to take. Tasks need to be done anyway. If they don’t get done in a day, call the employees’ attention.
Project Management Tool
If you have only enough budget for one tool, this is it. Spend it on a project management tool. This will help you keep up with your employees’ tasks. You will be able to monitor their progress. You can check if they are meeting their deadlines and if they’re moving to the direction that you want the project to take. You can use email as your primary messaging system, but never scrimp on the right project management tool.
Password Management Tool
Giving your offshore employees the password for company files will lead to a disaster. Major data breaches are often the cause of employee negligence. They can misplace their devices or lost their passwords. Fortunately, you can now use a password management tool to pool the workers under one account and give them access to a shareable password.
These tools will help your business become efficient and productive. They will also open you up more to the possibility of offshore employees. The industry, after all, is just beginning. Companies—small, medium, and large—need to adjust as well.
