Conversations with your team are one of the most important elements of running a firm that values collaboration and success, especially when introducing outsourcing as a tool. Finding the solution for longer hours spent working overtime, client management issues, and lack of growth within the firm are all issues that need to be addressed,but if your team isn’t on board with how to solve them, it can be a challenge. 

Jump to:

• Brief your team before you decide officially
• Lead with the benefits for the team, rather than the firm
• Address concerns about quality control
• Help your team communicate the change to clients with confidence

When introducing outsourcing as a helping hand to the team, the key is to brief them properly as to why it’s being introduced, how it will help them, and when the change will take effect. Some common concerns from your staff that can arise are around job security, losing quality of work, or simply feeling replaced within the team. You may need to dislodge prior misconceptions, reassure their position within the team, and inform them on how to make outsourcing work for their taskload. Here’s how to have that conversation successfully:

Brief your team before you decide officially

Although the decision to outsource sits firmly within the strategic decision making of senior staff, it can help to check-in with your team before deciding officially. Floating the concept of outsourcing is a beneficial way to gauge attitudes toward the notion and work together on how to dispel preconceived misconceptions. This also allows your staff to feel as though they are part of the decision process. 

Share what you’re considering and why. Ask them about their impression of outsourcing and what it would mean to their workload. Invite conversations about concerns they share around the concept of outsourcing so those feelings can be addressed rather than suppressed. Gain insight into what elements of their workflow need the most urgent attention, helping you zero in on the best tasks to outsource first.

Lead with the benefits for the team, rather than the firm

While staff want to see the success of the firm overall, the best place to start this transition is by highlighting how outsourcing can benefit each individual accountant and collectively as a team. Some benefits to highlight could be:

• Solving capacity problems where staff have felt overwhelmed by compliance tasks that pile up, especially around tax time
• Highlight the opportunity for certain team members who are looking to progress their career into business strategy or advisory services
• The opportunity for consistency with task demands will become a reality, balancing the workload during quiet versus busy times of the year
• The firm will become more financially sustainable, promoting stronger job security
• More time to work on skills that aren’t utilised when dealing with high-volume, repetitive tasks
• Senior staff will be able to focus on the work that they are trained for, rather than junior tasks that can take up more time and prove to be less valuable over the course of a firm’s life
• Better quality client management when the team has the headspace and preparation to treat each individual client with a clear mind

Address concerns about quality control

All accountants understand what is at stake when dealing with sensitive financial information and the bodies they report to. A mistake in a business activity statement or an error on an end-of-year-tax return can spell even more work. Quality can be a major concern when deciding to outsource and great team members flag this with you early on. Showing your staff that you take quality control seriously benefits the workplace overall.

Walk your team through the quality control framework and who will be responsible for checking the tasks they receive back. Identify how the work will be checked, who reports mistakes or communicates feedback, and what the escalation process will be. Give your team the opportunity to hear how professional standards will be upheld and bring confidence to your staff when using outsourcing as a collaborative element to your in-house team.

Help your team communicate the change to clients with confidence

Each firm has the right to decide if they would like to disclose they are using an outsourcing partner to their clients. If your firm decides to share this information, your team will want to know just how much and how to communicate this change with confidence. An impactful roadmap on how to implement this would be:

• Start with developing a clear, agreed upon position statement if the topic comes up with a client. This doesn’t need to be a script. Just something that communicates that the firm is working alongside a highly-regarded, secure outsourcing partner who handles the preparation of certain work that allows the firm more time to work on their file with high-quality preparedness. Communicate clearly and confidently while ensuring the client knows you are still working within your professional standards
• Prepare your team to field questions that may arise, calmly and with up-to-date information. Clients may ask if their data is safe, which tasks are being outsourced, and if the outsourcing team knows enough about Australian tax requirements. Practice the answers with your team, reducing the need for improvisation or miscommunication
• Make sure your team knows they can escalate concerns if the client has queries that they aren’t equipped to answer. Inform your team of the clear escalation path so they won’t be left wondering who to forward concerns on to. 

When deciding to outsource, your team is one of the most integral elements to ensure the transition is a success. Briefing them doesn’t just mean communicating a change, instead it allows them to become part of the decision. Keep the conversation alive during the process too. Check in regularly, acknowledge what’s working, and be honest about what isn’t. The firms that get outsourcing right are almost always the ones that brought their people along for the entire journey.