In the last few years, software development companies started changing the way they find and recruit employees, using both remote staffing and outsourcing to find qualified developers. Remote staffing is all about recruiting staff from anywhere in the world to work full-time and remotely for a company. Outsourcing, on the other hand, is the delegation of a particular service or task to another company with the qualified people to do it.
Both methods can help businesses get the job done and deliver the software they are working on, but it’s important to understand the differences between remote staffing vs. outsourcing. Whether you go for remote staffing services or outsourcing, the decision will directly impact every aspect of your business.
What is Remote Staffing?
Remote staffing is a process by which a company looks for employees to fill their positions on the global job market, not limiting themselves to their local talent. These employees are like any regular employee with the only difference being that they work remotely.
Remote staffing agencies can also be hired to find potential employees using their recruiters and talent pools according to parameters set out by the hiring company.
What is Outsourcing?
Outsourcing is the practice of hiring services provided by another company when the hiring company needs a particular set of skills that they do not have available in-house. This is usually done when requiring a whole team as opposed to a few people or even a single person. It is not uncommon for companies to outsource their accounting, legal, and marketing departments, among others, to companies that specialize in those fields and already have the needed resources and talent.
What’s the Difference Between Remote Staffing and Outsourcing?
There are a few differences between remote staffing vs outsourcing, but the main one is the type of control and management you have over the people you are hiring. With remote staffing, you’ll be looking for a single person to bolster your ranks and that you can manage directly through your team leads and managers, while with outsourcing you’ll be hiring a team of experts that manage themselves and report back to a project manager within your company.
(Note: All of the following observations are considering the most common use case for these hiring methods. Each case can vary slightly depending on the needs of the hiring company.)
| Parameter | Remote Staffing | Outsourcing |
| Number of people hired (per contract) | One person | A whole team |
| Management | The hiring company directly manages the hired person | Management of the hired team is out of the hiring company’s hands, being directed by a team lead from the outsourcing company instead |
| Onboarding | Requires onboarding of the employee | No onboarding required |
| Hiring period | Long-term | Specific project’s lifespan or long-term |
Advantages and Disadvantages of Both Services
Both remote staffing and outsourcing have their pros and cons, and it’s important to know about the pitfalls of each of them so you can make a better decision about which one to use as your strategy.
Remote Staffing
Advantages
- Flexibility: Since you have a widened talent pool to look and hire from, you can easily find people that fit your company’s culture and work ethics.
- Full control over your projects: You’re hiring full-time staff that will integrate with your teams and work methodologies. You are in full control of the tools and software that can be used to create a process and a better workflow. When changes have to be made, they can be applied almost instantly.
- Increased employee retention and productivity: Since you’re hiring people that fit your company and its values, it’s far more likely that they will be more engaged. This means they will be more productive and stay with the company longer.
Disadvantages
- Staff Management: You’ll have to manage and handle all the information of your employee to set up their payroll and other legal requirements since they will be considered international. This can translate into extra work and costs.
Outsourcing
Advantages
- Focus on core business: By outsourcing your needs to another company, you can focus on your core business and leave more capable teams to deal with areas in which your staff isn’t proficient.
- Lower initial investment: If you’re looking for a whole team ready to work on a particular project or service, outsourcing can be an advantageous solution that can put your projects on track almost immediately. You save time and money in the process.
Disadvantages
- Your company loses on the potential to grow: By hiring a team to take care of a service for you, you miss the opportunity of having people within your company that can do it and help your company grow in the process.
- More back and forth: When you outsource a project to freelancers or consulting service providers, you’re leaving it to them. You might end up with multiple follow ups as a part of your weekly agenda. If you don’t receive the work on time, your business could take a hit, depending on how crucial the project is.
- You lose control over your projects: While outsourcing is inexpensive, it doesn’t mean that the project or assignment will always be of top-notch quality. What you think is coming to you as an inexpensive option could actually become a loss if the work isn’t of the quality that was expected.
Which One is Better
As you can see, remote staffing and outsourcing are good enough options depending on your needs. However, if ‘long term’ is on your mind and you want to scale your business, hiring remote employees is definitely a smarter decision.
When you think long term, you know you need people to work ‘with’ you and not ‘for’ you. That is only possible with remote staffing, where people will become a real part of your team, and you can build a company culture that is aligned with your vision. This leads to individual and cumulative growth for all involved.
With DistantJob being an industry pioneer with over a decade of experience in remote staffing, you’ll have a remote team of talented professionals working on your dream business in no time. These candidates are prescreened, thus reducing the amount of time you need to spend on the hiring process. Once hired, you have complete control over your remote candidate/team and can seamlessly absorb them into your culture. You’ll save on cost, time, overhead, and stress along with hiring the best remote experts for your business.
