Starting a business but not ready for a full-scale in-house team?

Becoming an entrepreneur is no easy feat. Aside from the fact that you’ll be dealing with an enormous ton of competition and spending hours overseeing business operations, starting certain businesses will also require you to put a team together.

But are you really ready to have a full-scale in-house team for your business? If not, what are your alternatives?

Building a full-scale in-house team

Hiring for an in-house team refers to hiring people fully employed by your company, as opposed to outsourcing/getting outside help (more on that later). Typically, when people think about “employees”, they’re thinking of an in-house team. 

Having in-house staff means these employees will truly be a part of your team, working alongside you each day and fully integrating into your company’s culture. The benefits of hiring is that since they’re closer to your business, they’ll likely be easier to communicate with and be more engaged—they’ll also be more invested in seeing your business succeed. That is why it’s better to hire employees if they have a position dealing directly with your business’ competitive advantage or controlling key functions.  

Hiring employees however, can be time-consuming and expensive. For a business that’s just starting out, you may not have the luxury of spending on an employee’s monthly salary, their HMO benefits, bonuses, and more. Not to mention, you’ll have to spend precious resources on recruitment because finding the perfect employee can take months or even years depending on the position.

Outsourcing as an alternative

Businesses that can’t afford to hire in-house employees can look to outsourcing as an alternative. With outsourcing, you hire a party outside of the company itself to fulfill tasks usually done by a company’s staff. Outsourcing has especially picked up with the rise of remote work, when many companies realized that many tasks (such as customer service, accounting, administrative tasks, etc) could be done off-site.

Outsourcing certain tasks frees up your staff to focus on more business-critical tasks. Outsourcing is also a good option if you need to leverage expertise that you can’t get within your team, especially on technical matters. The downside, however, is that many outsourcing arrangements are temporary and since outsourcing firms have to entertain multiple clients, they may not be as engaged as full-time employees. 

Going with the right outsourcing firm can minimize the downsides of outsourcing. Firms such as Q2 HR Solutions, for instance, offer its People 4 People solution that’s designed to take the pain out of the outsourcing process. People 4 People leverages Q2’s team experts to help you determine which tasks can be besst outsourced and where to find the best talent for it. Among the services under the People 4 People include: targeted sourcing, volume recruitment and mass hiring, end-to-end people management, and more.

Solutions such as Q2’s People 4 People service are there to ensure that everything is taken care of in the outsourcing process, from reaching out to potential talent to the day they are onboarded. 

If you’re starting a business and don’t know how exactly to go about building your team, the best thing to do is think carefully about the pros and cons of hiring vs. outsourcing. For some businesses, especially those that cannot afford full-on hiring just yet, outsourcing is the better choice. The good news is that it’s now easier than ever, all businesses have to do is reach out to the firms eager to lend a helping hand.