Hiring offshore workers to complete menial and\/or routine tasks such as data entry, telemarketing and basic coding is becoming increasingly popular among Singaporean companies.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
COVID-19 has actually accelerated this trend, as even the smallest companies have to implement remote working measures and manage their teams from their homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Backed by local demand, many recruitment firms specialising in offshore hires are popping up to fulfil the gap, while existing firms with presence overseas are ramping up their regional HR management capabilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By hiring cheaper and\/or specialised talent from neighbouring countries, Singapore business owners have more time to focus on value-creating tasks and remove majority of the lower-value mundane tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While your local workforce will be kept on their toes, that isn\u2019t actually a primary benefit of making offshore hires. In fact, you can better utilise local workers with higher-value tasks. At the same time, you can better engage your local workforce to ensure that they continue to upskill and provide greater value to your business. This should improve your productivity overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, one of the major draws of hiring from our neighbours and beyond is that they are relatively cheaper job markets. Beyond that, you also don\u2019t have to incur higher costs such as CPF contributions<\/a> or foreign worker levy<\/a> for your foreign workforce if they are based in their home countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, all that glitters is not gold. Offshore hiring may lower your costs in the short run but may cost you more in the long run if not done right. As you expand, you may also find yourself having to manage a large base of foreign employees, as well as possibly being acquainted with labour laws of many different countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are 6 questions to ask yourself before making your offshore hires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a business owner, it is important to have strong communication skills to lead your team effectively and even more so for so offshore hires. Being an effective communicator means you should be culturally aware and sensitive to foreign cultures to avoid gaffes when speaking to your foreign staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Any misunderstanding or breakdowns in communication can potentially cause major rifts between you and the hire, made worse by the fact that you are not able to physically meet up with the person or team to clear the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Singaporean way of speaking (direct and to the point) might cause your offshore hires to take offence, especially since they are also from different cultures. It might be tempting to get impatient and cut them off but being a little extra polite and patient will go a long way to save \u201cface\u201d for the other party and avoid any misunderstandings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read Also: 5 Questions With\u2026Colin Goh, Founder and Marketing Strategist of Learns Marketing<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When hiring offshore workers, you typically need to pay them in their local currency or USD. This means any change in foreign currencies can impact how much your foreign workforce costs you. If you\u2019re managing a large enough foreign workforce, this can become tricky to forecast or budget for since you don\u2019t actually operate in those countries or collect revenue in those countries to naturally mitigate this risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not only are you exposed to forex risks, but you also need to fork out another few percentage points to the payment processor (either using PayPal, Wise, or inter-bank fees). <\/p>\n\n\n\n At times like these, when markets are volatile and global trade and supply chains are disrupted, currencies may move quickly in one direction or the other according to which way the winds seem to be blowing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you can set the currency in your contract with the offshore hire in SGD, that would be ideal. If not, figure out a way to reduce your forex risk exposure by exchanging SGD for foreign currency when it favours you and keep it in escrow, or your digital payment options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read Also: 3 Reasons The Revolut Card Is Perfect For Digital Nomads<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Being in another country may mean working from different time zones and having meetings during odd hours. For business owners who like to retain normal working hours, this can prove tricky when making offshore hires. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, when you encounter urgent problems and they\u2019re the only ones who can help, it can be frustrating to wait an entire day (or night) to get a response. If you\u2019re hiring from neighbouring countries, you\u2019ll usually be working during the same hours, but it can still take time for urgent work to be resolved in the shortest possible time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus, you may want to consider making offshore hires for types of support that are not critical to the day-to-day functioning of your business. That should be left to your local team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are hiring offshore telemarketers to do sales for you, it can be easy to give them a bunch of leads and ask them to dial for their lives. However, if you are not careful, you may get complaints or unhappy customers bemoaning the hardball tactics that aggressive telemarketers may use against your potential customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, if you\u2019re hiring for client servicing and support, you just cannot be sure that they\u2019re representing your business well unless you actually build out an entire offshore team \u2013 with local workspace, trainers and managers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Client-facing roles should be carefully processed to ensure that there is no damage done to your business\u2019s image in the process of outsourcing to offshore hires. You may need to perform reference checks of recruitment firms or freelancers to understand the quality of the workforce you are hiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, you should also consider if you are putting your offshore team in the best possible position to succeed within certain roles. They may require more local support than just access to you and your team in Singapore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read Also: <\/em><\/strong>Pros And Cons Of Full-Time Employees Versus Freelancers For Your Company<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n To hire offshore workers means you are more exposed to the risk of confidential data being leaked. This may prove to be an Achilles\u2019 Heel especially if your business deals with sensitive data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even after signing a non-disclosure agreement, you can\u2019t be sure how the offshore freelancer or team will deal with confidential information. Furthermore, you may not have the legal channels to press your case across jurisdictions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As great as it might be to have an offshore worker that costs half of a Singaporean worker doing the same work, security concerns should be factored in when calculating the potential liabilities <\/strong><\/em>that may befall you when such a breach happens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Read Also: <\/em><\/strong>[2021 Edition] 4 Best Business Bank Accounts In Singapore For New Business Owners<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hiring an offshore employee or team does not mean you distance yourself from hard decisions such as keeping them through thick and thin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example is when COVID-19 hit local businesses in 2020. The Singapore government provided swift support with their measures to save jobs through the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS)<\/a>. Over the years, the Singapore government also provides payouts to offset pay raises for your local employees through scheme such as the Wage Credit Scheme<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hiring offshore workers, you will unlikely be provided such swift support, nor any co-sharing in offshore employee wages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although lower labour costs might be the first thing that comes to your mind when hiring offshore staff, be wary of the risks that often stay nested under the attractiveness of lower price tags. For the additional layer of security and peace of mind, it may be better to just stick to hiring in Singapore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Outsourcing to \u201ccheap foreign labour\u201d may not be as easy as it seems.\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":7048,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[93],"tags":[127,639,137,262,1006],"yoast_head":"\n#1 Can You Communicate Across Cultures?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
#2 You Are Taking On Some Currency Risk<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
#3 Can You Work While They Sleep (and vice versa)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
#4 Are You Certain That They Represent Your Business Well?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
#5 How Vulnerable Are You To Confidentiality Breaches?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
#6 Can You Keep Your Offshore Team Through Downturns<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n