6^th Feb 2023

Concern #10: Absenteeism and Leaving the Project

This valid concern is based on the presumption that employees at an outsourcing company serving multiple clients and projects, do not value every project equally, and always have another project to escape to.

A great deal depends on the outsourcing provider and the way it cultivates corporate culture and its employees’ attitudes to projects and clients. A company with the right mindset motivates its employees to work for customers long-term rather than jump from one project to another. At reputable companies, an employee who failed at one project shouldn’t be tasked with a new one again and again.

It’s not easy to build a balanced system, where all clients receive maximum attention and swift reaction to their needs. Large outsourcing providers usually have many clients who “compete” for the provider’s resources. Outsourcing providers are often tempted to solve problems of big and attractive clients at the expense of smaller and less promising ones. As a result, the former often receive better service, while the latter have to contend with what is left.

In light of this concern, a relevant issue is the professional growth of the provider’s employees. Long-term projects with unvaried work can be an impediment to professional growth, and the project team members can end up unmotivated or even burnt out. Often, the easiest solution is to reassign such employees to another project for another client. However, the easiest solution is not always the right one.

In situations like this, transparent communication between the provider and the client is crucial. It means the situation with the particular employee can be clarified and together, a workable solution for each party can be found. Answers could include promoting the employee within the same project, involving the employee in more challenging R&D tasks for an innovative product of the client, or even sending the employee on an extra vacation for mental recovery.

Finally, it’s worth to mention the legal aspect and emphasize the relevance of properly drafted contracts. They should clearly specify the procedure for staff replacement, advance notifications, knowledge transfer, and other obligations for both parties. This will come in handy should you encounter a situation requiring emergency staff replacement.

At Solead, we apply every effort needed to address the above-mentioned concern to provide stable and reliable services for our clients:

• We do not move employees between our clients; we value each of our clients and are committed to their business success
• We are transparent with each of our clients regarding their team members, the latter’s mood, satisfaction, and preferences during the project
• We resolve occasional staffing issues in tight cooperation with our clients, taking into account their interests and needs
• We have no multiple account managers creating unhealthy competition for company resources; all our accounts are directly supervised by CTO
• Our employees are obligated to notify Solead in advance about their job change decisions; this ensures smooth staff replacement, if required

Our next post will deal with concerns over poor IT infrastructure.