Face to Face Matters

When you have a workforce based in a corporate location, matters of employee connectivity and motivation are addressed with a number of in-house perks and continuous team building events. Even things like the boss’s birthday party in the conference room and the company branded coffee cups are all unplanned locations for corporate cultural exchange.

When your workforce is externally-based or in a remote location, your company needs to employ other methods to ensure that teams remain connected to the company’s goals, the same esprit de corps is in the hallways and your people are positively driven to complete their tasks in a way that is consistent with that founders vision. You can read our blog post How To Keep Your Outsourced Workforce Motivated

Therefore, one thing to keep in mind when outsourcing your workforce is the importance of on-site visits. While these days it is easy to find platforms – beyond Skype – that can facilitate conversations, there is no replacement for face to face interactions.  Personal interactions allow individuals to create stronger social bonds, understand that importance of corporate culture and what actions reflect the core values of the your business.  In return, this fosters trust and longevity with your team. The importance of building personal relationships within business settings cannot be overlooked.

For this reason, nearshore outsourcing opportunities are ideal. Having your outsourced team just a few hour’s flight away allows easier access to personal meetings. Like us, we are located in El Salvador, just two hours flight from Miami.  El Salvador’s International Airport is regarded as one of the most modern and safest in Central America, the Central American hub for Avianca and is served by other major airlines such as Delta, American, United, Copa, Spirit and Aeroméxico. In addition, it stands to reason that physical proximity raises the likelihood of cultural ties between the location of your business and the location of your workers.

Of course, the idea that face to face connections are necessary for productivity may seem  to counter the overall purpose of outsourcing. However, it is not the case that visits need to happen frequently. Consider the same actions that you would undertake with a team was located on an opposite coast on in the Midwest. Simply, it’s a matter of strategically coordinating visits with good people management motivation practices.

With this in mind, the question is: when is the most ideal moment to plan a visit? Most would agree that the ideal time is at the beginning of a project. This time is crucial to communicate demands and expectations and to make sure that they are being clearly understood. At the beginning of a project, employers can discover the best way to communicate with their outsourced team. Similarly, the team in question will be able to function better once they can build a sense of familiarity with the company through a personal connection.

Of course, another option is to invite members of your outsourced team to visit your company’s headquarters. Extending the invitation for a visit will also provide the outsourced team with the opportunity to learn how professionals work in your own country, hence making it easier for them to adapt their approach to your expectations. A nearshore based team makes this option more realistic and is generally more budget friendly.

Ultimately, it is important to keep in mind that outsourcing your business tasks, whether core or non-core, is not just a simple transaction. You are building what are, hopefully, lasting business connections and work relationships that will set your outsourced service apart from the ones that universally loathed as “outsourcing”