Outsourced contact centers could save you 20% or more on what you’re currently paying for customer service. But even that level of savings wouldn’t be worth it if you aren’t able to get your employees on board with your outsourcing decision.

That’s why we’ve created this guide. It covers the ins and outs of how outsourcing your contact center could impact employee satisfaction and retention. Keep reading to learn the good and the bad and to find our top tips for a smoother transition.

How outsourced contact centers work

Before diving into how outsourced contact centers impact employee morale, it’s worth first quickly reviewing how they work.

Outsourced contact centers are independent BPOs that work in partnership with your company. Your employees may interact with them some, depending on the nature of your customer service needs. But it’s often managers and executives who spend the most time working with outsourced teams.

This matters from a perspective of employee satisfaction because it shapes the kinds of things you need to focus on in order to ensure your current team is as happy as possible with your decision to outsource. We’ll provide more context throughout the following sections.

How outsourced contact centers impact employee satisfaction rates

Outsourcing can be a divisive issue among employees. Some won’t have a strong opinion on it either way, while others will be positively or negatively impacted more severely.

In this section, we take a look at three positive ways that outsourcing can impact your employees and three negative ones. We hope this provides a comprehensive overview of what outsourcing could do to employee satisfaction and retention at your company.

Pro: Employees will have more time to focus on what they do best

One of the biggest benefits of outsourcing is that you can hand off an entire segment of your business to an external group. This is beneficial for employees because it ensures they won’t have to pick up the slack themselves.

For example, an employee in your accounting department won’t ever have to worry about you asking them for help with direct customer service. This will give them more time to focus on the core components of their job and help them feel less busy in the process.

The net result is that your employees will get to focus on the things you hired them to do and won’t have to worry about anything else.

Pro: Employee training and development can become a priority

When you outsource your contact center, it frees up time for both you as a manager and your employees. This opens the door to making training and professional development more of a priority.

For example, instead of using an employee’s free time to ask for help with customer service, you’ll be able to spend that time working with them and helping them take the next steps in their career.

Prioritizing this kind of development can significantly increase employee satisfaction rates and long-term retention

Pro: Employees could have access to more support

Next up – employees who work for companies that outsource may also receive more support as they do their jobs.

For example, employees working in sales may start noticing that they have more help with responding to customer inquiries and keeping relationships positive. If an employee’s job becomes easier as a result of your decision to outsource, they’re absolutely going to feel positively about it.

Con: Some employees may worry about their own jobs being outsourced

Outsourcing offers some great benefits to employees. But there are also some potential downsides that you should be aware of before making the decision to hire an external contact center. The first of these is that some employees could begin wondering whether their jobs will be outsourced next.

When employees start worrying that their jobs may be gone soon, they tend to get proactive and look for alternative employment situations. There are steps you can take to reduce the risk of having this happen, but some employees could feel this way no matter what you do.

Con: A loss of control could impact quality and frustrate employees

When you outsource parts of your business, it takes control of those tasks outside of your offices. That can create a situation in which your employees no longer feel like they have as much control over customer relationships as they did previously.

This is mostly a problem that arises when things are going poorly. If your customer satisfaction rates aren’t where you want them to be, that can get taken out on in-house employees even when the problems are actually being caused by the external team.

Once again, there are strategies you can use to avoid this problem. But it’s a risk, and not all of your managers will be on the same page about it unless you have a great communication strategy.

Con: Security risks can put employees in the crossfire

Finally, there are also new security challenges to consider when dealing with an outsourced contact center. These external employees will need to have access to your internal systems and files, which can make it easier for those systems to be breached.

Your employees will also get put in a tricky situation. They may not know everyone working on the outsourced team and could inadvertently give access to private files, systems, and documents to actors who would seek to abuse that access.

The bottom line is that you need to be careful about security when working with an outsourced team. If you have an issue and start blaming in-house workers for it, that could lead to a serious decline in employee satisfaction.

What this means for keeping employees satisfied at your company

Okay – now that we’ve covered some pros and cons of outsourcing as it relates to employee satisfaction, let’s look at some strategies you can use to enjoy the benefits of this business strategy without suffering from the potential downsides.

Communication is everything

The first thing to note is that you really need to be proactive about communicating with your existing employees. Let them know that their jobs aren’t at risk in any way, and tell them that you’re going to be on their side throughout the transition.

Simply being proactive and talking about these issues can help employees feel better about your outsourcing decision. They may only begin worrying about their job safety if you don’t talk about it with them.

Encourage collaboration

Next, try to encourage early collaboration between your in-house employees and the new external contact center. This can help to show your in-house employees the value that they’ll get from your outsourcing decision. It will also help your employees get to know the outsourced team, so they don’t feel as strange about working with people from another country.

Use your cost and time savings to support employees

The immediate benefits of outsourcing are highly beneficial to companies but may have little impact on the average employee. If you want your workers to feel as good about outsourcing as you do, it’ll be important to share some of those benefits with them.

One of the best ways to do that is by using some of the savings in cost and time that you receive to help your employees. You can invest in better technology for them, spend more labor hours on training, and even solicit their input to see where the funds would be best spent.

How to find the best outsourced contact centers solution for your needs

The bottom line is that there’s no reason why an outsourced contact center needs to be threatening to your employees or damage their morale. But you’ll still need to find the right fit to keep your workers happy.

With that in mind, here are a few strategies to keep in mind while you search for your company’s ideal outsourced contact center solution.

Research multiple options

First – make sure that you’re researching multiple options and not just hiring the first outsourcing company you come across. There can vast differences between choices, and you should understand your options fully before committing.

Enlist the help of your employees

You can also enlist the help of your employees while making your outsourcing decision. Send out a survey and ask what matters to them in an outsourcing solution. This will help to make them feel like they’re involved in the decision-making process and could make it easier to keep them happy once the outsourced team begins.

Don’t be afraid to ask for references

It’s also a great idea to ask for references before hiring an outsourcing company. Any reputable business will be happy to provide them. If a provider you reach out to doesn’t want to provide references, that’s a major red flag and the company should be avoided.

Contact The Cattalyst

Finally, you can also reach out to The Cattalyst if you’d like to get free personalized advice about your contact center outsourcing decision.

We have decades of outsourcing experience and will help you find the best fit for your company based on its unique needs. Get in touch today for a free consultation to learn more about how we can help.