Case Study: How flexhive use remote staffing

The Company
flexhive by Hudson is an on-demand talent platform that provides contingent and permanent recruitment solutions. With more than 100 staff, it helps businesses fill temporary and permanent positions at speed and scale from pre-qualified talent pools in Australia, New Zealand and offshore. Specialising in verticals such as administration, office support, contact centre, claims and data entry, flexhive by Hudson is powered by Hudson, APAC’s largest privately owned recruitment agency.

The Challenge
flexhive by Hudson is no different to its clients when it comes to the challenges of scaling. Growth ambitions must be managed effectively, efficiently and at low cost margins, and a tightening labour market in Australia and New Zealand means quality staff have rarely been harder to find and, as a result, increasingly expensive. To counter this, flexhive by Hudson had invested heavily in automation in recent years but the strategy was starting to result in diminishing returns. The company was therefore motivated to seek lower-cost staffing options without sacrificing quality, which resulted in a bid to further scale using offshore remote staffing.

The Solution
flexhive by Hudson knows better than anyone that a successful offshoring strategy requires staff buy-in. Introducing the concept to in-house team members was critical, especially those who would be responsible for managing new recruits. This included outlining the business need for the strategy, with detailed insights into benefits such as cost savings and increased efficiencies. The company was also aided by a test-and-learn workplace culture, with staff regularly reminded of the importance of experimentation and being willing to fail in the pursuit of innovation.

After team members were briefed on the vision, the focus turned to trialling the concept in smaller numbers. By starting with just one or two offshore recruits and targeting roles and tasks likely to result in quick wins, the strategy gained early support and inspired confidence among team members. flexhive by Hudson’s expertise in managing payments, compliance and data security also played a key role in the successful roll-out of the program.

The Result
The remote staffing solution has allowed flexhive by Hudson to realign activities so tasks that require higher value and more interaction with customers are allocated to onshore staff and more repetitive and time-consuming back-office activities are handled offshore. This has resulted in the company not only yielding a higher return on investment from more costly onshore staff but creating more motivated team members as they are working on higher-value tasks.

The remote staffing program has grown to include 35 offshore staff and, crucially, there has been zero turnover in 18 months. By utilising an offshore workforce, the business has realised cost savings of more than $2 million per year, which can be redeployed to other capital projects and growth initiatives.

Key Learnings

By navigating the process for itself, flexhive by Hudson gained invaluable insights into the concept and is better positioned than ever to help customers do the same. These include:

Start small – rather than going all-in from day one, trial remote staffing incrementally. By recruiting one or two offshore team members, as opposed to an entire team, businesses can test their processes and learn what works and what doesn’t. For the uninitiated, get a taste for remote staffing by making your next hire an offshore one.

Get leaders onboard – change can be daunting for any business, which is why it pays to have positive voices on the side of change. Ensure team leaders and managers are involved from the outset. Socialise the idea widely, including business rationale, objectives, potential pain points and how the business will overcome them together.

Choose the right roles – early wins help build momentum so target tasks that will deliver them quickly. Activities and processes that are repeatable and require easily transferable skills are ideal. Think accounts receivable, payroll, administrative support, data entry and talent sourcing. Roles with limited customer interaction and lower-risk failure points are another good place to start. That said, the likes of Pakistan and the Philippines are hot spots for remote workers well-versed in dealing with customers from Western nations in voice and non-voice contact centre roles.

Be inclusive – team culture should not end onshore. From onboarding and training to celebrating wins and paying on time, treat your remote staff like their in-house colleagues from day one and the rewards will come via increased productivity, more enthusiastic workers and longer tenures.

Pay well – as the saying goes, you get what you pay for and that is why you should consider offering above market rates when recruiting remote talent. A 20-30% hike is often not a lot in offshore local currencies but can make a huge impact on candidate quality, faster recruitment and higher staff retention.

Go truly remote – offshore staff are no different to many Westerners in preferring to work from home. This is particularly so in larger cities such as Manila and Karachi where commuting to overcrowded offices can be time-consuming, emotionally draining and even dangerous depending on the time of day or night. Allowing remote staff to work from home will not only increase your talent pool but give them a big reason to remain loyal.

Be cyber safe – this is non-negotiable. In a world where so much work is done online, it is critical the workstations of remote staff are secure and monitored as heavily as those located onshore. Invest in secure remote desktop solutions to ensure data and files are protected against cyber criminals and potential misuse.

Use ‘time’ wisely – employing staff in different time zones can be a huge advantage (eg: 24/7 customer support) but do not be afraid to align remote teams to your onshore business hours if that works best. Any transition to remote workers will consume enough bandwidth without needing to consider asynchronous work practices as well.

If you want to know more you can book a call with Dean (COO, flexhive) and he will be more than happy to answer any questions you might have. Please click here to book a cal.