How to motivate your employees to work with outsourced agents?

It can be difficult for a company’s employees to get used to the idea of collaborating with agents from an outsourcing company. Indeed, the news can be destabilising, especially when it generates the fear of job loss. If used well, outsourcing is a solution, a modern tool for the company. To ensure that it can reap all the benefits, it must be handled fluidly to reassure internal teams.

What does the labour law say about dismissal on economic grounds?

It is a good idea to remind employees of French companies that “A dismissal for economic reasons must result either from the abolition or transformation of the employee’s employment, or from the modification, that is not accepted by the employee, of an essential element of his employment contract. That is, economic difficulties, necessary reorganisation to preserve competitiveness, the introduction of new technologies or the termination of the enterprise’s activity constitute an economic cause of dismissal only if they lead to the termination of the employee’s employment or the modification of his employment contract”. (Texts: C. trav., S. L. 1222-6; C. trav., Art. L. 1233-3; Ord. No. 2017-1385, 22 Sept. 2017, OJ 23 Sep.).

Two theories about job cuts

The post and its corresponding tasks disappear: In case of cessation of activity of the enterprise, all jobs are eliminated. Similarly, in the event of a partial cessation of activity or outsourcing of one of the company’s activities (without the conditions for applying Article L. 1224-1 of the Labour Code being met), the corresponding tasks and jobs disappear. A job position and the corresponding tasks can also disappear without there being a total or partial cessation of activity of the company. This is the case, for example, when the employer decides to review the workforce to match the decline in activity of the enterprise.

Example: a sales department is oversized in view of its declining activity for several years. The employer decides to remove certain positions from this service.

When the company decides to close one of its establishments and to transfer its activity and the corresponding jobs to another establishment or to relocate its activity to another country, are there any job losses or a simple change in the place of performance of the work entailing a change in the employment contract? According to the Court of Cassation, the reality of job loss must be assessed at company level: the relocation of the activity from one establishment to another company of the group established abroad entails the elimination of jobs from this establishment (Cass. soc., 5 Apr. 1995, No. 93-42.690). On the other hand, the transfer of the activity from one establishment and the corresponding jobs to another establishment of the company does not entail the abolition of these jobs.

The position disappears, but the corresponding tasks are still there. – There is also the deletion of a job post when a position is eliminated and the corresponding tasks are either taken over by a volunteer employee (most often, a member of the employer’s family: Cass. soc., 20 Jan. 1998, No. 94-45.094), or distributed among several employees already present in the company (Cass. soc., June 2, 1993, No. 90-44.956), or entrusted to a single other employee who was already working at the enterprise, in addition to his initial duties (Cass. soc., July 21. 1994, No. 92-44.870).

IMPORTANT NOTE: in both cases, a job loss does not necessarily mean a decrease in the company’s workforce. Indeed, the abolition of certain jobs may be accompanied by the creation of new jobs which entails different tasks. The reclassification of employees whose posts have been abolished should be considered in these new jobs, provided that they have the appropriate qualifications. (see No. 170-25).

(Source: 170-15 Quelles conséquences la cause économique de licenciement doit-elle avoir sur l’emploi ? – liaisons-sociales.fr)

Outsourcing is not synonymous with offshoring

It is essential to make and understand the difference between outsourcing and offshoring.

• In the case of outsourcing, the company simply transfers certain business operations to third parties.
• In the case of offshoring, the company transfers its activities to any other country where the cost of managing these activities is lower than that of the country of origin.

How is outsourcing likely to affect an employee’s motivation?

While it is highly unlikely that outsourcing will take over the tasks and responsibilities of an employee internally, it can create a feeling of frustration, and therefore destroy his motivation, loyalty and satisfaction with the company employing him. This phenomenon is often noticeable at the level of basic job positions, but also among those located higher in the organisational chart. Let’s add to this that the Covid-19 pandemic and the health crisis are not fixing the situation.

As a result, when outsourcing is mentioned, companies must prepare for a wave of resignation, unless they take the problem seriously.

How to prepare internal teams for outsourcing?

To be successful, outsourcing must have a strong following within the company. A prepared meeting, with clear words and numbers can help the company convince its human resources of the relevance of such a choice. Here are 3 important points to implement:

The benefits of outsourcing for employees:

• Outsourcing has built its reputation on its ability to reduce the workload of internal teams;
• It makes it possible to better distribute the work between each resource;
• It helps to drastically reduce the stress level;
• It offers a better work-life balance.

Team introductions

After the first step, introduce the internal teams to the outsourced agents and explain clearly that these agents will take over, for example:

• Telephone reception
• Remote secretary services
• Studies, research, satisfaction surveys
• Remote marketing and prospecting (making appointments, prospecting …)
• File classification
• Database management and enrichment
• Customer loyalty
• Technical assistance (hotline, webhelp, technical support)
• After-sales service, customer service
• B2B/ B2C Prospecting
• Customer relations
• CRM tool and CRM software
• Satisfaction surveys
• Human resources
• Digital outsourcing

These are the offers set up by ProContact.

Once the outsourcing process is up and running:

Set calendar meetings according to which your internal and outsourced teams can exchange regularly.

Organise a hybrid Zoom meeting with internal and outsourced teams in one room.

Contact us!

Outsourcing is our business! At ProContact, we closely accompany you in the inclusion of this solution in your business strategy. We offer you without delay an unprecedented adaptation of your way of working thanks to the arrival of resources located elsewhere, without wasting time and money and without compromising on quality.

ProContact is more than a contact center. Thanks to trained, qualified, handpicked and multilingual agents, we allow companies that choose us to gain credibility and above all to satisfy their customers, regardless of the situation and in complete transparency.

Outsourcing has become a tangible and concrete business strategy for the development of the company. To find out more about our services or for a quality partnership, click on our contact form, send us an e-mail or call us at (+33) 1 77 75 04 50.