The risks and rewards of not offshoring call center staffing

This article is a submission by Resolv Global. Resolv Global delivers exceptional multilingual contact center solutions across seven countries, specializing in providing skilled agents—even for small businesses needing just a few seats.

Navigating staffing challenges in the U.S. call centers

With consumers being online and “plugged in” 24/7/365, businesses are increasingly faced with the challenge of maintaining efficient and effective customer service operations.

One of the most pressing issues for U.S. call centers is the struggle to find and keep qualified staff to maintain client satisfaction and prevent the snowballing of negative reviews.

This dilemma raises the question: should companies offshore their call center staffing, should they continue to rely on domestic employees or is the answer a hybrid model?

This article explores the risks and rewards associated with not offshoring call center staffing, providing a comprehensive analysis of the current landscape and the implications for U.S. businesses for not considering, at a minimum a hybrid model as a Customer Satisfaction DRP Plan.

Understanding the current landscape

Call centers are the frontline for many businesses when it relates to first impressions, customer retention, and customer satisfaction. However, U.S. call centers are experiencing significant challenges in staffing, leading to increased attrition rates and difficulties in maintaining a stable workforce.

In short, the degeneration of human capital.

According to industry statistics, the attrition rate for U.S. call centers averages around 30-45% annually, with some centers experiencing even higher turnover.

This high rate of attrition is influenced chiefly by factors such as job stress, low wages or minimum wages, and limited career advancement opportunities.

Average tenure and recruitment challenges

One of the critical aspects of the staffing issue is the average tenure of call center employees in the U.S. compared to regions such as Africa and Asia, where call center employees have notably longer tenures.

In the U.S., the average tenure for call center employees is approximately 13 months, whereas in countries like South Africa, and Colombia, employees tend to stay in their positions for 3-5 years.

This disparity in tenure can be attributed to differences in job satisfaction, cultural attitudes towards work, and economic conditions. South Africa, currently has an unemployment rate of approximately 45% for possible employees aged between 18 and 35.

One call center advert in the local media can easily attract over 1 000 applications from suitable candidates. Therefore, a work-hungry, totally committed, and talented pool of resources available within days.

Recruiting and training call center staff in the U.S. is also a time-consuming and costly process.

On average, it takes about 6-8 weeks to recruit and onboard a new call center employee. This period includes the time required to advertise the position, screen candidates, conduct interviews, and sometime exclude the training and nesting period.

In contrast, countries with established call center industries can provide highly experienced staff in less than 5 days.

De-marketing by employees

Another significant risk is the potential for de-marketing by disgruntled employees. De-marketing refers to the actions taken by employees to deliberately reduce the attractiveness of a company’s products or services.

This can occur when employees feel undervalued, overworked, or dissatisfied with their job conditions.

In call centers, de-marketing can manifest through poor customer service, negative interactions with customers, and even spreading negative information about the company.

This risk is heightened in environments with high turnover and low employee morale.

Perceived rewards of not offshoring call center staffing

Quality control and cultural alignment

ARGUMENT: One of the primary advantages perceived of staying onshore is the ability to maintain stricter quality control and ensure cultural alignment with customers.

It is assumed that domestic call center staff are more likely to understand the cultural nuances and expectations of U.S. customers, leading to better customer experiences and higher satisfaction rates.

ANOTHER VIEW: The use of AI especially for Quality Assurance, knowledge management, and training, removes the historical barriers of in-person micro-management.

Moreover, tools such as desktop monitoring and remote management software, have made the management of teams seamless.

Brand integrity and customer trust

ARGUMENT: Keeping call center operations within the U.S. can also reinforce brand integrity and customer trust. Customers often prefer interacting with representatives who are familiar with their local context and can communicate effectively.

By employing domestic staff, businesses can enhance their reputation for quality service and build stronger relationships with their customers.

ANOTHER VIEW: Similar brand integrity is easier to obtain with staff longevity, as opposed to high turnover in staffing environments.

In a vote of confidence to remote reputation management, we have seen brands such as Amazon, Visa, T-Mobile, DHL, Mastercard,  Lufthansa, Spirit, Bank of America and Virgin Airlines trusting their brand to offshore partners.

Moreover, South Africa already have multinational call centers such as WNS, Sutherland, Webhelp and Telus setting up their solutions offshore to diversity risk and broaden the employment talent pool.

Economic contribution

ARGUMENT: Onshoring call center staffing is the economic contribution to the local community. By providing jobs within the U.S., businesses can support local economies, create employment opportunities, and contribute to economic growth.

This positive impact can enhance the company’s image and foster goodwill among customers and stakeholders.

ANOTHER VIEW: By offshoring high turnover positions or routine positions, companies can grow their business as opposed to just maintaining the status quo. It allows business to scale up or down in days, as opposed to be being caught up in a extended recruitment, hiring, training cycle.

It allows to scale at very affordable rates. By building a strong offshore team, business essentially secure the job security of their onshore staff through growth and sustainability.

Take a chance with offshore staffing

There is risk and reward in every business decision, and offshoring is no different than any other strategic business decision.  The major success factor in choosing your offshore partner lies in the assimilation of company culture and the matching of operational, business culture, and ethical values.

Trust must be the underlying value in choosing the partner who will protect your brand with the same intensity as you.  As a US business, it is important to support and communicate with your offshore staff in the same way you would have supported the onshore staff.

The cost of not offshoring is measurable in the obvious – the added cost of employment in the US, but the cost that is difficult to measure – is the opportunity cost of not growing your business and securing business sustainability.