Outsourcing will fail without support from your Danish employees
29. January 2015
If you plan to outsource a part of your software development, it is bound to fail, if you don’t involve your organisation.
When you fail to involve the rest of your organisation and forces outsourcing on your employees, you will most likely experience fear and reluctance, which in worst case can result in your employees thwarting your plans.
Simplify your outsourcing plan
An unconfirmed rumour about outsourcing can easily create a negative atmosphere in the company. Most people know that outsourcing brings changes in some form to the company. The word “change” can often make people uneasy, simply because change involves something “unknown“.
Therefore, it is important to involve everyone in the company at an early stage, tell them what you want to accomplish by outsourcing and present the employees for the reality ahead. By doing this, you simplify your outsourcing plan, because your employees know what to expect. And remember to inform everyone in the company, not only the developers, as outsourcing can result in new routines in all departments.
What will you accomplish by outsourcing?
The first thought in the minds of your developers might be that they could be replaced by cheaper manpower. What about their job security? Is it difficult to work with outsourced developers? In most cases, their fear and insecurities are unfounded. In our experience, companies rarely choose to outsource part of their development because they want to get rid of their current developers. They outsource because they want to bid on a big project that requires extra manpower, or because they want to develop more, without their costs increasing equivalently. Remember to emphasise this point to your organisation. When everyone understand why outsourcing is a positive development and that it will benefit everyone – they will not work against you.
Show the developers their new reality
In addition to telling what the company accomplishes by outsourcing, you should also visualise the benefits for the developers. If they can see that outsourcing will benefit them on a daily basis, they will become motivated for the plan. When you start to outsource – it often opens up for new possibilities – and maybe more challenging assignments – for the current Danish developers. By getting new colleagues in Vietnam, Ukraine or India, there will be possibilities for job related travel activities or some of the Danish developers will get managerial responsibilities, if they are interested.
Successful outsourcing
If you manage to explain your reasons for outsourcing and provide your employees with a clear and realistic picture of the new daily life for your developers, you are one step closer to internal support and making your outsourcing successful!
