5 Jobs You Should (and Should Never) Outsource

Outsourcing enables companies to save costs and time. Entrepreneurs can focus on expanding their business instead of spending much time on tedious tasks. Outsourcing is a great idea for startups with limited capital. However, not all operations in a business can be outsourced. Below is a list of things a business should and should never outsource.

5 Jobs You Should Outsource

Social Media:

You can reach millions of potential customers on social media. However, it takes many hours in a day to respond to comments from followers and look for engaging content. The best approach is to get an assistant or company to maintain your social media accounts.

Communication:

Responding to emails, phone calls, and chats is tedious. If you have a large customer database, you may spend all day responding to inquiries and complaints. This is why hiring a virtual assistant at the very least would help lessen the burden for you and your employees.

Website Design and Maintenance:

Your website gives potential customers the first impression of your business. Developing and designing a good company website takes time. Most small businesses do not have a well-equipped IT department. Instead of burdening the few IT experts in the company, ask for help from the best virtual web designers.

However, if you have a solid background in IT or have enough basic programming knowledge to design mockups, you should use that to your advantage.

Payroll and Filing Taxes:

Payroll and tax duties recur every month. Establishing and maintaining a payroll department is expensive. The department is likely to spend the whole month calculating benefits, overtime compensation, and preparing tax forms. Consulting firms that specialize in preparing payroll and taxation will save your business time and money.

Search Engine Optimization:

Developing a good website is not enough. The website should rank high in search engines to be visible to potential customers.

Search engine optimization helps you improve your website’s ranking. The process takes long hours of content management and link building among other strategies to give results. You are recommended to outsource your SEO services.

5 Jobs You Should Never Outsource

Employee Development:

Employee training and development is critical to the success of any business. Development programs should be in line with the company’s goals and objectives. Outsourcing this task is risky because employees may get general skills instead of the skills your business requires to grow.

Organizational culture:

Your organizational culture is unique to your business. The culture should develop within the company. Consultants and virtual assistants may not understand all the aspects of the corporate culture that you are trying to build in your firm.

Security:

You may have a security firm guarding your business premises but you cannot outsource data security to third parties. Very few employees should have access to confidential business and customer data.

Termination:

A recruitment firm can help you hire the best talent in the market. The firm will advertise the positions, shortlist candidates, conduct interviews, and pick the best candidate. However, you cannot outsource termination management. Dismissals must be done internally and respectfully.

Succession:

While you can outsource employee recruitment, succession planning must be conducted within the organization. The leadership team should own the vision and mission of the company. Top leaders should pick the individuals that should be promoted to senior positions.

Conclusion

Outsourcing helps entrepreneurs and their employees to focus on the core functions of the company. Some of the operations that a business can outsource include communication with customers, web design, social media management, and filing taxes. Some of the tasks that business should never outsource include developing the corporate culture, employee development, security, and termination.