Tweet

8 Warning Signs That an Outsourcing Job is Failing

Written by: Daryl James

Article Overview: While outsourcing specific skills can be a great alternative for businesses, the realities of human resources can still sometimes rear their ugly head. Just as new hires for in-house positions can turn out to be unproductive, outsourcing freelance placements have that same unfortunate potential. Rather than letting these issues scare you away from outsourcing to freelance contractors, use the following tips to help your outsourcing outcomes to be successful. Ultimately, these warning signs are relevant for in-house jobs as well as those jobs which you are outsourcing.

8 Warning Signs That an Outsourcing Job is Failing

While outsourcing specific skills can be a great alternative for businesses, the realities of human resources can still sometimes rear their ugly head. Just as new hires for in-house positions can turn out to be unproductive, outsourcing freelance placements have that same unfortunate potential.

While nobody can ever completely avoid the chance of outsourcing failure, there are plenty of things an outsourcing manager can look for as ‘early warning’ signs in a freelance contractor. If you ignore these outsourcing omens, chances are you’ll soon be throwing good money after bad. However, if you heed these warning signs when you see them, you can adapt quickly and increase your chances of successfully course-correcting with your freelance contractors.

Rather than letting these issues scare you away from outsourcing to freelance contractors, use the following tips to help your outsourcing outcomes to be successful. Ultimately, these warning signs are relevant for in-house jobs as well as those jobs which you are outsourcing.

1 - Slowing response time - It should never take more than 1 business day for a freelance contractor to respond to email regarding their outsourcing assignment. If it suddenly starts to take longer, all is not well on the freelance end. Press the issue with your freelance contractor, find out why the responses are taking longer. Demand a faster response concerning your outsourcing assignments and make sure it’s just a temporary blip.

2 - Hesitation to show work - An outsourcing manager should always be able to see the freelance contractor's work in progress. There’s no such thing as “it’s not ready for you to see yet”. You may be an understanding manager, but you have a right and need to ask to see the freelance work in progress to make sure you like where it’s going.

3 - Missed milestone - While it's not the end of the world, if a milestone is missed, an outsourcing project manager must understand why. Probe into the root cause of the missed freelance deadline. Was it too aggressive? Were new issues or requirements discovered? Were the reasons valid? If an outsourcing deadline is missed, discuss the issue openly with your freelance provider and come to an agreement about why it was missed.

4 - Dramatic increase in hours per day - If the number of freelance hours worked per day increases unexpectedly, it could be a sign of outsourcing trouble. Maybe it’s crunch time and you don’t realize how far behind the development is on the job.

5 - Rapid decrease in hours per day - The same goes for rapid unexpected decreases in freelance hours worked. Is there another outsourcing job or other commitments that your freelance provider has committed to? Inquire. Make sure you know why?

6 - Increases in offline time - If your freelance provide is using a time tracking system, have they been logging all of the time online with detailed work memos? Is this changing suddenly? Do you see more requests for offline freelance time or less detailed work memos. As an outsourcing manager, you should dig in and find out why.

7 - Requests for additional resources - If you're outsourcing work to an IT firm and unexpectedly get a request from the company to add additional freelance resources or change team members (especially the team lead), it's often a bad sign. While their request for additional resources may be necessary to meet deadlines, make sure you know why the initial outsourcing plan isn’t working. If it’s a change in freelance team members, be aware that this could lead to further delays as a result of a new ramp-up time.

8 - Growing tensions - This is possibly the worst warning sign that an outsourcing relationship is not working. Are tensions increasing in your communication with the freelance provider? Are conversations shifting from chat to email to faxed correspondence? Tensions between outsourcing manager and freelance provider can flare up if a job is danger of failing. It’s critical to keep an open line of communication and maintain mutual respect to work together through the outsourcing project issues. If tensions are increasing, course correct immediately.

So, how do you as an outsourcing identify these potential problems? By staying active in managing your freelance team, by being hands-on and scheduling a regular weekly or even daily outsourcing meeting via chat, phone, or web conference. Monitor work, outsourcing progress, and productivity on a regular schedule. Set expectations from day 1 about how you and your freelance providers will work together on an outsourcing project.

Ultimately, when companies fear that things are turning sour with their outsourcing projects, I often tell people to “trust their gut”. If you have that funny feeling that things aren’t going well, investigate and find out what’s going on. If you’re not happy, make the tough decisions quickly rather than waiting and waiting for things to get worse. It's still human resources after all, and the ultimate success of the outsourcing project is the primary and sole objective.

Related Articles
  Expanding your franchise business
  MISSED WARNING SIGNS OF WORKPLACE VIOLENCE IN FORT HOOD AND ORLANDO SHOOTINGS
  Turn the browsers into buyers…
  Truth in Numbers
  An insolvent business is a bomb waiting to explode- how solvent is yours?

Article Tags: blip, business day, early warning signs, failure, freelance contractor, freelance contractors, freelance work, hesitation, human resources, jobs, milestone, new hires, omens, outsourcing project, placements, realities, response time, root cause, ugly head, work in progress



Related Forum Posts
Napoleon on Project Management - Why do I include this in a list of books aimed at female entrepreneurs? Well...in the expectation that there are as many female history buffs as male ones, and in the belief that anyone interested in history will find this book fascinating, while those interested in project management will learn a thing or two. I think this was the first "gimmick" book - an author using a historical figure (usually a male, military figure, it must be admitted) to talk about modern day business management. I refuse to read any of the kind that advocates - even obliquely - the techniques of the Sopranos or the Mossad - but these military ones are pretty fun. Anyway: Only in the understanding of history, Napoleon might say, do we gain an understanding of strategy in the present. In the same spirit, Napoleon on Project Management offers the recipe for successfully managing your commitments using the strategies, tactics and priorities that propelled Napoleon himself to victory. [The book doesn't gloss over how Napolean eventually fell in defeat, of course, and there's lessons to be learned there as well. TOC Foreword by Douglas James Allan (Napoleanic Society of America) 1. The Rise to Power -The Skills to Succeed -A Compelling Vision -Diplomacy and Networking -Lessons from the Great Campaigns 2. Napoleon's 6 Winning Principles -Introduction -Exactitude -Speed -Flexibility -Simplicity -Character -Moral Force 3. The Downfall -What Went Wrong -Lessons from the Russian Invasion and Waterloo -The Four Critical Warning Signs -Napoleon's Legacy
Re: Moderators on vacation - [quote="ideasuniversity":3chelzm3]Some one is advertising nikeeeesshoes consistently here. I did warn but, he or she keeps going on and on.[/quote:3chelzm3] Yep, I have reported those posts many times. Warning spammers does nothing because they don't read them or care anyway. You must delete the posts if you can, report them if you can't, and those with the power need to ban the member doing the spamming.
Re: What is your biggest challenge? Today? - Outsourcing and time management, but I'm continually making progress.
Re: Should a start-up outsource early? - Hello and welcome to the forum! I agree with Ideasuniversity. Outsourcing is a good way to leverage your time, provided you keep within your budget! Best wishes, David H
Re: Using PR in the Franchise Business - Outsourcing in any business can be a good thing, provided you can afford it and do your due diligence on the company that you outsource to. It is very easy to be taken for a ride if you don't know what you are doing. MichelleJ


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Work Life Balance: Adding White Space

Working Across Borders

Remind Me...

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.