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The 2000's were a turbulent period across the Indian subcontinent. During this decade, PhoenixHR LLC helped two of its major technology clients transition their HR functions from the United States to offshore teams in India and Pakistan. Despite many geopolitical and other challenges, these offshore teams emerged as sustainable models of optimized HR offshoring....here's a quick look at the top 5 elements behind their success:
1. Staff
It all starts here. Fill every offshore HR job as if it were a US job...in other words, hire the very best and most qualified candidates you can find and afford. Don't settle. Make sure your recruiter clearly understands what HR tasks are being outsourced and what level of HR experience is needed to do those tasks successfully. Remember that while many general HR practices (hiring, termination, benefits, etc.) are globally understood, specific US employment law is not as familiar to an offshore audience. So be prepared to look for candidates with "translatable" HR education and skills that can be molded to support US needs through teaching.
It all starts here. Fill every offshore HR job as if it were a US job...in other words, hire the very best and most qualified candidates you can find and afford. Don't settle. Make sure your recruiter clearly understands what HR tasks are being outsourced and what level of HR experience is needed to do those tasks successfully. Remember that while many general HR practices (hiring, termination, benefits, etc.) are globally understood, specific US employment law is not as familiar to an offshore audience. So be prepared to look for candidates with "translatable" HR education and skills that can be molded to support US needs through teaching.
| 2. Learn Don't just plunge into managing your offshore HR staff. Take the time to learn about your offshore team...not as business resources, but as human beings. Educate yourself about their culture, their values and what's important to them. You'll find that typically, your offshore team will welcome and appreciate your genuine interest and be very forthright and sharing. And the insight and knowledge you gain will make you a better manager. For example, in the Indian subcontinent, you will find that education and family are highly valued, and may sometimes take precedence over continuity of employment. Learn the values of your offshore team and respect those values, and you will rewarded with respect, loyalty and hard work in return many times over. |  |
 | 3. Teach Teaching is an essential and constant requirement, especially when offshoring the HR function. Since US employment law changes frequent;y, your offshore team needs regular updating and guidance. Local HR practices offshore will often be very different from the same HR practices in the US, so never assume that your team "already knows". Especially at the start of offshoring implementation, start with the basics of US HR and as time goes on and their knowledge base increases, you can adjust your content. If these offshore positions were staffed correctly, you will quickly find that team members are highly educated, quick studies that are always thirsty for knowledge. Need proof of the talent which originates in the Asian peninsula? The US need look no further than its own backyard to the new heads of Microsoft (Satya Nadella) and Google (Sundar Pichai). |
| 4. Communicate Your offshore employees are no different from virtual employees in the US....all remote employees need to "feel connected to the mother-ship" and all remote employees thrive on clear - and constant - communication. Not just specific to their assigned work, but on developments with their employer and the business they are supporting. Maintain a mix of structured and informal communications: have weekly staffs meeting that your offshore resources can count on as a forum to address work issues as a group, as well as cultivating an open door policy where they feel comfortable contacting you individually with questions on work tasks. Regularly reiterate core-concepts to ingrain behavior, such as the HR function's ongoing need for complete confidentiality and your best practices for securely managing HR data. Equally important, remember to dispense earnest praise for a job well-done and use emotional intelligence when addressing any problems with work performance. |  |
 | 5. Trust Remember that your company implemented offshoring for a reason: it wanted to successfully move the work so that US resources could be redeployed in other activities which support the needs of the business. It can be tough to "let go", especially when dealing with a function as sensitive, regulated and complex as human resources. Offshoring the HR function is *not* a set-it-and-forget it" proposition....it requires constant diligence. But if the above 4 success elements suggested above are in place, then trusting and letting go so that your offshore resources can show their stuff and shine is the last step to make the offshoring of HR successful. To paraphrase Dr. McCoy's advice to Captain Kirk in one of the original Star Trek episodes, "Relax, Jim...your people know their jobs." |
If you are implementing offshoring or seek other HR management consulting services, PhoenixHR LLC can help. Click here to review our HR services, or contact us by Live Chat, email or phone today...we're happy to help.
