Internal Employees vs. Outsourcing: Which Approach is Best for Your Business?

Internal employees and outsourcing are both approaches to accomplish the company’s goals when it comes to its workforce. Considering the two could be an important step if your business is looking to achieve certain objectives and accomplish several tasks. 

The question is – which of the two approaches should you choose? Read on as we guide you with the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches in different aspects.

Internal Employees vs. Outsourcing

There is no easy answer to this question, as the answer lies with your own needs as a business. You must figure out what you need and what type of constraints you have. Take a look at these aspects you can consider:

Pros and Cons of Internal Employees vs. Outsourcing

Tasks

When you have internal employees, you get their undivided attention. However, outsourcing firms can handle more than just one scope of tasks. You can typically have your all-in-one team.

• Internal Employees  – The primary benefit of an in-house team is that you get undivided attention from them. They’re working for you and only you, so they can focus on your needs, and their loyalty will be to you alone. However, this also means that if you have a project that requires expertise outside of the team’s skill set, such as coding or design work, then you’ll have to bring in another contractor or hire another employee.
• Outsourcing – Because outsourcing firms can handle more than just one scope of tasks, they’re often able to provide an all-in-one team. This makes them ideal for larger companies that need multiple services performed by a single source. You can typically have your all-in-one team without having to bring in additional contractors or employees.

Customer Success Manager (CSM)

When you’re building an in-house team, it’s common to hire and train a dedicated customer success manager per project. However, when you outsource, your outsourcing firm may or may not provide this for you.

• Internal Employees – If you don’t have an existing CSM on staff, they will likely need time off from their regular duties to manage this new account—which means someone else on the team will need to pick up the slack while they’re gone.
• Outsourcing – Many businesses that are just getting started will want to outsource their customer success management. This is a great option for companies that are still building their in-house team and don’t have the resources to hire and train a dedicated customer success manager for each project.

Staff Replacement

When a team member leaves the company or needs time off, it’s always important to immediately have a replacement. If you outsource, this is handled by your outsourcing firm. Depending on the internal employees, you may need to go through recruitment and training processes to find a replacement.

• Internal Employees – Some in-house teams can be more responsive to these types of situations if they have a backup plan in place.
• Outsourcing – You can hire multiple people at once instead of just one at a time, which saves both time and money if you need several replacements at once. Hiring an outsourcing firm also ensures that whenever someone gets sick or is on vacation leave, a backup employee can take over immediately. This means minimized downtime for the business.

Onboarding & Training

During onboarding, you want to make sure that your new employees are trained in all aspects of their job so that they can hit the ground running when they start working with their team.

• Internal Employees – There is a set amount of time it takes for a new internal employee to get up to speed and perform at peak levels.
• Outsourcing – In most cases, when you outsource work, you have a shorter onboarding period since the outsourced company already has some training under its belt.

Expertise

Expertise is a crucial factor when considering the pros and cons of internal employees vs. outsourcing. If you can hire workers who are experts in their fields, they can provide a quicker turnaround time, better quality work, and greater ease of communication.

• Internal Employees – If your company has a lot of experience in a field and wants to keep that knowledge within its walls, then internal employees may be the better option.
• Outsourcing – If your company has never done something before, it might be better off hiring someone who’s done it before.

Key Takeaways

By doing research and getting advice from professionals, you can come to the right decision in regards to whether or not internal employees or outsourcing is best for your company. Every company is different, and the decision to hire an in-house design team or outsource to a third-party company depends on the factors we stated above. If you need help, our experts can do a discovery call with you. Schedule yours today.