Outsourcing has become a key strategy for entrepreneurs who want to outdo their competitors. But it doesn’t always succeed.

It’s usually because businesspeople commit critical errors when contracting out work.

To form and manage a cohesive and capable remote team, you need to know what these outsourcing mistakes are so you can avoid them. We list a few of the most common ones.

Getting the cheapest option

The top reason to outsource is to reduce overhead. Unfortunately, entrepreneurs usually hone in on the price tag and not the value that a quality candidate provides.

Yes, it’s smart to always keep an eye on how much something costs (it’s why you’re outsourcing in the first place). But this becomes a crucial mistake when price is your main driver and you automatically go for the applicant with the lowest rate.

Here’s the problem: the cheapest option frequently comes at a price – lower quality. Remember, you’re outsourcing to save money, but don’t be stingy.

Instead, set a reasonable budget and get the best talent. This is especially important for small companies with limited funds. Hiring the best will help your business rise above the competition.

Micromanaging

A certain degree of control is helpful when outsourcing one of your company’s processes to a remote team. But you need to keep this control in check; otherwise you’ll end up micromanaging, which is bad for business.

Here are a few reasons why you shouldn’t micromanage:

• It fosters a stressful work environment.
• It demotivates your employees, lowers their productivity, and pushes them to quit.
• It makes your employees more dependent on you.
• It’ll burn you out with all the work.
• It discourages innovation.

Rather than obsessing over every detail of your employees’ work, make an effort to develop trust in your organisation. It increases speed and lowers business cost.

Not hiring the right amount of staff

Here’s something tricky: how many should you hire in your outsourced team? Not hiring enough people could overwhelm your staff. But doubling their size won’t necessarily double their output.

The solution is to forecast how many employees you need. You need to look at the following:

• Production time required = future business volume + output of an average employee
• Non-productive hours = planned off time (e.g. breaks, meetings, training, holidays) + unplanned off time (e.g. unscheduled breaks, sick days)

You also need to consider several other factors such as:

• Your company’s seasonal peaks and valleys
• Ready-to-serve time to ensure an employee is available so that customers won’t have to wait long
• Idle time while employees are ready to serve

Outsourcing your core competency

“Core competency” is your company’s defining strength. It’s what makes you stand out from competitors. You should never outsource it, no matter how exceptional your outsourced staff are.

Why? Because it’s your business and it’s what you do best. Your staff won’t dedicate the same amount of energy and determination as you do.

Besides, you shouldn’t let someone else create your company’s core for you.

But what if you’re passionate about a concept but don’t have the technical skills to carry it out? Have someone internally (like a co-founder or trusted employee) who can execute your vision and knows the process inside out.

If you don’t, you might end up losing control of the business to someone who knows it better than you do.

Not participating in recruitment

Yes, delegating is key to growing your organisation. Otherwise, every little detail has to go through you, and this will bog down your business.

Then again, you shouldn’t let your business hire key roles without you contributing to the screening process. Your recruiters will test a candidate’s knowledge and experience, but you also need to see if the applicant fits your company culture.

Before deciding to hire someone, see if you can imagine that person as part of your core team. You reacting positively is an sign that the candidate is suitable.

Prioritising technical skills over people skills

Your company’s success depends on the communication between its employees. It’s especially when employees work remotely; online communication is susceptible to misunderstanding.

This is where the need for people skills come in: to work effectively as a unit, your team should know how to communicate and act accordingly. But if you give more importance to technical skills over people skills, you’ll run into communication issues regularly.

So what are these valuable people skills that your employees should have? Here are some of the essentials:

• Strong communication skills
• Active listening skills
• Empathy
• Negotiation skills
• Being respectful of and patient with others
• Awareness of non-verbal cues
• Good manners
• Being open to feedback

Treating your outsourced team like outsiders

It’s been a common concern among remote workers to feel shunned and left out, especially compared to traditional employees. After all, if someone’s out of sight, they’re also out of mind. Unfortunately, this would hurt your business.

• If your outsourced team misses out on key information, their contributions would likely be inadequate.
• Because your remote assistants feel left out, their morale and motivation suffer. This, in turn, would hurt their productivity.

The solution is to treat your outsourced team like how you would your regular employees:

• Check in with your remote employees frequently.
• Include them in team-building activities.
• Be available for them via various channels (e.g. IM, email, phone).
• Make your expectations clear.
• Visit them at least once per year.

Relying on your provider in security concerns

One of the chief concerns when outsourcing work to a remote team is exposing one’s data to security risks. If your data is stolen, you’ll sustain damage to your brand and incur legal costs.

Here’s the thing: outsourcing providers won’t be able to protect you from a security breach and its subsequent liabilities. You’ll have to establish your own security measures.

Here are a few ways you can better protect your data as you outsource to a remote team:

• Hold regular security audits.
• Have your team use a password manager.
• Control access to files.
• Train your remote employees to establish security habits.

Hire and work with the right talent

To minimise the chances of making these outsourcing mistakes, team up with Remote Workmate. We’ll do all the heavy lifting for you. This includes (but isn’t limited to):

• Helping you define what roles you need.
• Screening job applications.
• Evaluating each applicant’s suitability.
• Endorsing the best candidates.
• Onboarding your remote employees.
• Providing ongoing success management support.

Finding the ideal talent has become so much easier.

You can actually choose from our pool of top candidates right away. Simply click the button below to browse a wide range of profiles on our Hotlist page.