Outsourcing Begins with Strong Recruitment & HR Principles – with Angela McDonald of Deployed

In this week’s episode of the Outsource Accelerator Podcast, Derek spoke with Angela McDonald, Deployed’s Chief Commercial Officer (CCO).

Derek and Angela discussed using AI for job descriptions, managing client and employee expectations, and why AI will not replace human employees.

About Deployed

Deployed is an outsourcing firm founded in 2014. Currently, the firm has about 650 staff members in the Philippines, working exclusively for clients in Australia, New Zealand, the US, and the UK.

According to Angela, Deployed has “got three service offices in the central business districts… We provide HR, payroll, office services, IT, recruitment, and legal compliance, employer of record [services] for the staff in the Philippines.”

Deployed ensures “that our clients are fine, getting access to good talent, setting them up remotely, and hoping it’s a marriage made in heaven.”

As a New Zealand-owned company, Deployed’s early days were focused on the New Zealand Market. A decade into the business, the firm now works with Australian, UK, and US markets.

“It makes it very diverse… That’s what I really love because the opportunities are limitless in this sort of business,” said Angela.

Further, Deployed doesn’t want to be seen as a service provider. “As soon as we’re seen as a service provider, the staff start feeling like products of our service, which isn’t the case.”

Did you know? Angela and Derek go way back – with the former being Guest #4 of the OA Podcast in 2017. (See: Angela McDonald’s Expert Insight for an Effective Recruitment Strategy). 

Using AI in job descriptions: Yay or nay?

Recruitment is at the forefront of offshore staffing – and job descriptions have the power to attract or steer away the right candidates.

“Job description is the first part [of the recruitment process]. It’s really important that you nail that,” said Angela.

“I’m seeing a lot of people firing over job descriptions right now that have just been generated through AI, which is a great tool, by the way. I love it. But it doesn’t always capture the reality of a situation when you’re discussing it…

It doesn’t necessarily get the results that we want. I think it’s very important that when you are looking for a new hire, we get the basics of the job description.”

In a competitive market, Angela says that when a job description is generated by AI, you can tell that it’s made by an AI. Thankfully, this is not how Deployed’s recruitment process works at all.

“We really spend time with the recruitment team, have a call with them. When we’re speaking with our clients, we get a better idea of their personality fit as well.”

“Even for job descriptions, we use AI in our business. [But] it’s certainly not going to replace the recruitment team because there has to be conversations with a human at the end of the day.”

Moreover, Angela believes that AI is only here to complement employees, not replace them. “In fact, we’ve had an increase of people actually wanting the humans back on the other side.

We’ve been hiring more customer service roles, where people just want to speak to someone or have a chat box where it’s actually a live agent and not an AI tool.”

Managing client expectations

Different clients have different needs and demands. How do Angela and the Deployed team set these expectations?

It all boils down to honesty. Angela said, “We’ve just really got to be really honest. What is essential? What is the critical need? And what is nice to have from there? We discuss the market.”

The Deployed CCO cited an example. “In the old days, marketing profiles like content, social media, websites, and all the rest of it could all be done by one generalist. But now the marketing specialties have kind of split a little bit…

So we have to be realistic about what the market is. You might get a diamond, but if you get a diamond, you’re going to pay a little bit more for it.”

Angela also noted the importance of documenting expectations. “From what I found in the Philippines is you really need to have clear KPIs in the documentation of what that role is. That will be your staff’s Bible. That’s what they were referred back to. Get the details in there.”

Managing employee responsibilities

“In the initial stages during probation, you will have a couple of check-ins to ensure somebody’s moving in the right direction.”

Talk about “very basic things like what they’re doing well, what they’re not doing so well, what to expect over the next couple of months. That’s typically a good way to go.”

Angela added, “I think communication has to be quite consistent in the early days with the staff. They need to know if they’re doing it right or wrong. [It’s also important to] document those conversations.

If there are any issues, the first thing HR is going to ask for is, “Do you have any documentation for it?”” 

Deployed encourages clients to speak with employees directly for the latter’s performance review and salary. However, “If [the client is] not comfortable with that, we will do it. We will speak to [the employee/s] about the details.”

The Deployed CCO also acknowledged the importance of providing positive feedback. “People want to know if they’re performing well. Praise in public…

People get really chuffed when they’re praised in public… Obviously, if things aren’t going so well, do that privately, not in a group setting.”

For more information about Deployed and its services, feel free to email Angela at [email protected] or visit their website at https://deployedstaff.com/.