Outsourced

Introduce your business and what you do there.
CAC Construction Group is a construction company that does drywall and paints for new residential builders primarily on the East Coast. My role in the company has changed multiple times over the years. I’m currently straddling two roles — one as an administrative officer for a specific region and another as the HR manager for the company as a whole. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Outsourced?
I use Outsourced for one staff member, who handles administrative tasks for our Richmond office. 

What was the scope of their involvement?
We were looking for an administrative assistant when we engaged Outsourced. It didn’t matter to me what the schedule was as long as they could do the tasks and follow standards. The team brought us various candidates to interview, and since this happened right after the COVID-19 pandemic, we did the interviews via Zoom and Google Meet. They gave us the candidates’ CVs and showed us their qualifications. We determined who we’d like to meet.
 
We hired one candidate from there, but she only lasted for a couple of months. For context, our processes were quite redundant for many people — it was boring — and that was why we had a hard time filling the position. It required a lot of data entry, and a lot of mistakes could happen with data entry. In the end, I didn’t foresee any issues, but Outsourced reached out to me and said that the resource decided the job wasn’t the right fit for her. We needed to find new candidates.
 
Since then, we’ve hired another person from Outsourced, and she’s been with us for about two years. She’s based in the Philippines and works in Outsourced’s office. We’ve purchased a couple of things for the resource through Outsourced. For instance, they’ve set up a computer system that the resource needs to log in to our software. They’ve also whitelisted her IP address, and their IT department takes care of the computer specifications she needs to have.
What is the team composition?
I mainly work with one teammate from Outsourced. I might get emails from a couple of team members, but I mostly deal with one person whenever I have questions. I’ve had a different contact person in the beginning, but she’s changed her position within Outsourced. My current main point of contact is Christopher (Client Success Officer).
How did you come to work with Outsourced?
My brother used Outsourced for his company. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it wasn’t easy to find and interview candidates. I needed somebody who could work remotely and had the qualifications we needed, but I also didn’t want to do the recruitment process myself. It was a more daunting task than I had the time for, so I needed an external team. My brother mentioned Outsourced to me, and I reached out to them.
How much have you invested with them?
I spend roughly $1,500 per month for my administrative assistant from Outsourced.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with Outsourced in October 2020, and the partnership is ongoing. 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Our administrative assistant from Outsourced has been engaging, energetic, and communicative. She’s extremely responsive, attentive, and accountable when it comes to issues. She’s the first to tell us when she’s underperforming; we work through the issues, and I have no problem with that. Again, the tasks are boring.
 
I love that she’s asked me what to do when certain things happen. I’ve asked her to do that because everything we do is job-costed. If something doesn’t go into our system or if our system flags something, it’s crucial for the resource to ask us. With that in mind, my resource is great at letting me know when things don’t go as planned — I absolutely love this.
 
Now, we’ve gotten to a point where we hardly have to communicate because of her proactive communication. I don’t have to micromanage her. Once she has tools in place and understands the job and the parameters we require, she can work on her own. So far, she’s been able to do everything we need her to do, and it’s amazing.
How did Outsourced perform from a project management standpoint?
In terms of budget, Outsourced has different rates for a resource who works during Philippine time versus somebody who works US time. Our resource has worked on US time for a long time, meaning she’s worked during Philippine nights. That’s for a higher rate, which is understandable since doing so is going above and beyond for somebody on the other side of the world.
 
After a year, my resource has swapped her schedule to a day schedule, which I’ve immediately approved. She’s done everything she needs to familiarize herself with her tasks and checks in with me through Google Chat and email. We have an email account for her through our company; she does have an email address with Outsourced, but we don’t use that.
 
Meanwhile, the team at Outsourced ensures she has a VPN for her internet, and their IT department fixes internet issues right away. They’re quick and responsive, which has been truly helpful for us. Their availability when we need to address issues has been phenomenal. That alone is well worth the engagement.
 
Moreover, the Outsourced team does monthly check-ins. If we want greater accountability from the resource, they can implement recording functions to help us monitor what the person is doing while they’re clocked in for the day. I’ve never utilized this because I never feel the need for it — if the job is done, the job is done. I don’t need to know what the resource is doing minute by minute.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I’m impressed with Outsourced’s communication skills. They communicate well, and they’re not the badgering type of communicators. For instance, I’ve slacked off on my monthly reviews for the administrative assistant, and Christopher is great at reminding me about it at the end of every month. If I fail to do it, he lets it go and just reminds me again the next month.
 
Moreover, we know that the Philippine weather is significantly different from ours, and we often know if any major storms or events might impact our resource’s availability. If my administrative assistant is unable to communicate, the Outsourced team is miraculously able to connect with us. That’s truly reassuring. They let us know in advance about any major issues, so we always know the reason if we don’t hear from the resource during the day.
 
For holidays, they give me a list of holidays, and we have the option to decide if our resource should work on a holiday. If so, it will be a paid holiday. I always let my administrative assistant make that choice herself. If she wants to work, she can. If she doesn’t have to, I’d prefer she take the holiday — everybody needs a break.
 
Overall, Outsourced leaves no stone unturned and ensures that we understand the contract by walking us through the aspects of the client relationship. On top of that, they boost their teammates’ morale. They do company outings and have a baseball team.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, there aren’t any.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Ensure you have the right processes in place, or at least have an understanding of the processes you need to put together for somebody to work remotely for you. Be prepared to train resources remotely, and know there will be cultural differences. My administrative assistant and I have developed a good relationship in terms of our back-and-forths, but this doesn’t happen immediately. Training somebody remotely takes time, but if you have processes for that, you’ll be fine. 

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2-5 Employees

My Outsourced team is tasked to deliver a suite of time-sensitive products everyday, guided by how-to documents that list steps in great detail. My team is also tasked to communicate directly with internal personnel when necessary.

Outsourced has successfully found talent that I needed, and has stayed for over 3 years - something virtually unheard of within our company.

They’re highly communicative, responsive, and knowledgeable in HR practices in the Philippines.

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Its people.

In the last 12 months, there has been a revolving door of account managers, but Michelle has personally seen to it that she is in touch regularly, and has been transparent about the changes occurring within her team.