Filling Positions Through International Talent Outsourcing: A Labour Shortage Solution

Is your business dealing with a labour shortage?

Business process outsourcing is a strategic and supportive tool that can help meet an organization’s productivity needs and expectations.

Talent outsourcing is a business relationship between two organizations, where one performs specified functions on behalf of the other. The services provided are usually a combination of technology, expert advice and administrative task support.

How does business process outsourcing (BPO) work?

Organizations that choose to outsource first identify business operations and processes that do not involve their core product or service competencies. Then, they outsource them to a third party. Depending on the provider, employers may be able to outsource some of their tasks or an entire project.

Back-office functions

• Human Resources;
• Research;
• Information Technology.

Front-office functions

• Customer Service;
• Marketing;
• Sales;
• Technical Support.

What does an outsourcing firm do?

Outsourcing providers draw on the technology and best practices advice of a team of experts to help employers fill operational gaps.

Some HR processes that can be outsourced are:

• Payroll and tax administration;
• Benefits administration;
• Recruitment;
• Time and attendance;
• Regulatory compliance;
• Employee learning.

What are the benefits of talent outsourcing?

Whether it’s because of a lack of budget, employees or time, HR departments are limited by what they can accomplish independently. With outsourcing, however, they can reach new heights.

Employers can potentially:

• Reduce the cost of the expenditures associated with hiring HR staff and the time required to administer payroll and benefits: Outsourcing can be a more cost-effective way to expand business capacity.
• Improve efficiency and productivity: Outsourcing providers are experts in the services they provide, which means they are often able to perform tasks more quickly and accurately than the client company.
• Become more flexible: When freed from administrative burdens, employers can swiftly reallocate resources in response to market changes or unforeseen disruptions.
• Drive geographic expansion: Outsourcing providers with national and international compliance capabilities can help employers diversify into new geographic regions.
• Stay competitive: Employers that leverage the talent outsourcing solution can typically pursue activities that further their core business objective and increase revenue or growth.

How do you choose a talent outsourcing provider?

Finding the right provider requires extensive research into its capabilities, close scrutiny of its business objectives and collaboration with key stakeholders. Here are some of the basic steps:

• Conduct a needs assessment;
• Identify existing functions that would benefit from outsourcing and those that can be successfully managed in-house;
• Create a request for proposals;
• List the various capabilities—regulatory compliance, industry knowledge, data analysis, and so on—that you expect of a potential provider;
• Assess responses to calls for tenders;
• Weigh the pros and cons of each proposal and ensure that the provider clearly identifies which services are in their area of responsibility and which remain with the client’s business;
• Agree to the terms and conditions;
• Obtain approval from stakeholders and negotiate a contract that documents specific responsibilities, partnership duration and total cost, among other details;
• Begin the transition process;
• Transfer agreed functions from internal HR teams to the BPO provider while ensuring open communication lines between all parties.

How is outsourcing different from a call centre?

Call centres are a type of outsourcing confined to customer support whereas BPO comprises many professional services, such as human resources, payroll, benefits and administration.

How much does an outsourcing provider cost?

Fees vary but providers typically charge based on a company’s number of employees and the services it requires. Employers may want to obtain quotes for comparable offerings.

Why do companies outsource?

Employers outsource to gain more time to focus on their core business functions: they achieve this by handing over some administrative or professional services to a specialist. Additional benefits of BPO include:

• Cost reduction;
• Increased productivity;
• Increased flexibility;
• Increased market presence.

Expert article by Pierrot Ferland, Manager, Client Services, AURAY Sourcing

About AURAY

AURAY Group offers organizations a one-stop shop for all their recruitment needs.

Our services include executive search, professional and foreign worker recruitment, and temporary and permanent immigration.

With a global network of partners and multidisciplinary teams of professionals, we offer turnkey solutions.