In-House or Outsource? How to Make This Decision Easier

When starting a new project, improving your business operations, or expanding your capabilities, you’re likely to have to make an essential decision: Do you hire new people to work for you in-house, or should you outsource to a firm that does this professionally?

Each choice has advantages and disadvantages, and some of them change depending on what type of person you seek to hire and why you want to hire someone.

No matter what your situation is, it can be difficult to juggle the various relevant factors. So how can you make the decision easier?

The Advantages of In-House

Handling matters in-house can have several benefits, including:

· Greater control. Usually, if you hire someone in-house, you’ll have more control over what they work on and how they work. Independent contractors and agencies will still have to follow your direction, but you won’t necessarily be able to control their schedule, and they may have a different work philosophy from yours.

· More transparency. Hiring in-house also gives you more transparency. An agency might give you an update once a week. A freelancer might deliver a product or service when it’s finished. But when you work with someone internally, they’ll attend the meetings, provide updates, and answer questions throughout the process.

· Collaboration and camaraderie. Some business owners like to work with people in-house because of the potential for collaboration and camaraderie. This is a new member of your team, and part of your organizational culture. They can cross-train other people, build relationships with their peers, and ultimately make your workplace better for everyone.

· Loyalty and focus. Though not always an iron rule, in-house employees tend to be more loyal and focused on your specific work. Agencies and freelancers probably have an array of clients they work for, and they won’t necessarily have a reason to prioritize your work over jobs for anyone else (at least by default).

The Advantages of Outsourcing

There are many advantages of outsourcing, however.

·   Lower costs. Many business leaders are drawn to outsourcing because of the lower costs associated with it. Hiring someone to work for you in-house can be considerably more costly, especially if you require someone who has substantial ability or experience. If you’re hiring a full team, outsourcing is almost certainly going to be less expensive.

·   Access to experts. Sometimes, you need a full team of specialists with a diverse range of experience. If you attempt to hire a troupe like that in-house, you’ll have to shoulder enormous costs and recruiting difficulties. On the other hand, if you choose to work with an agency, or a network of contractors, you could obtain immediate access to all the experts you need in one place.

·   Flexibility. Generally, outsourcing gives you more flexibility. Maybe you’re not sure how much help you’ll need, or which specific experts the project will require. Maybe you ought to dabble at first and possibly expand later. If you outsource, you can choose to hire many different types of people, and generally select particular plans or service tiers on which you may capitalize. Hiring a full-time worker would be more rigid.

·   Scalability. Outsourcing is also excellent for scalability. If you want to grow with in-house workers, you’ll have to hire someone every time you want to expand. But if you work with a firm or agency, a bit of extra money will usually entitle you to more resources.

How to Make the Decision Easier

So how do you make this decision easier, once you’re more familiar with the advantages of each approach?

· Establish your biggest priorities. Before you start weighing your options, identify your priorities. Is it more important to save money, or retain loyal talent? Is it preferable to maintain flexibility, or bring on a permanent member to your team? What specific needs are you trying to fulfill?

· Set a firm budget. You should also design a solid budget. You may discover you lack the funds to hire all the in-house people you’d like, or that you would be limited with regard to the types of people you can hire. This immediately makes the decision easier.

· Define success. How would you define success in this area? What does it mean to succeed with one of these options over another? Is it only a matter of productivity? Does a specific project need to be executed perfectly?

· Experiment with both. Finally, if you can, get experience using both so you can see which option you generally prefer.

This decision may never be brain-dead easy, but it probably could be easier than you’re making it. Outsourcing has more practical advantages while hiring in-house is more useful if you have specific priorities like building a team or ensuring greater transparency. The more experience you have with both options, the easier your decision will become.