IT SupportImagine this:

You’ve been an employee working loyally for your company for years. Now, after all this hard work, you hear that your company is going to start looking at outsourcing options.

Your personal position at work may not be impacted at all by outsourcing. However, your employee’s minds will be flooded with fears. Primarily, they’ll be worried about their job security.

Employees worried about their job security may check out mentally, no longer doing a good job for you. Or, they might find another position quickly and leave. Finally, they might just tolerate the situation until its bitter end, but they’ll be so frightened all the way through that they make more mistakes.

And if you do hire an outsourced IT support team, your existing employees may do nothing to help them because they don’t want to lose their own positions.

So how do you build bridges between the two, so that your current employees feel comfortable with your outsourced IT team?

Here’s what to do:

    1. Be Honest: If you’re going to replace some employees with an outsourced IT team, be honest and do it right away. Don’t mince words. Your employees will trust your actions more than anything. Do what you say you are going to do.
    2. For the Employees You Keep, Let Them Know Their Positions are Secure:Every human being craves absolute security. They can never have that, but the more you can give to them, the better. Tell the employees you are not going to let go that they are going to remain with you, and give them strong reasons why.
    3. Discuss that the Goal is a Partnership:If the remaining employees believe they are secure in their positions, they will be much more likely to work their hardest for your company. If you give them even a small reason to doubt this is true, they won’t help your outsourced IT team at all. To clarify how the partnership works, identify the strengths of your IT team. Also, take note of the weaknesses, and show how the outsourced IT support team will shore up the weaknesses.  It makes the most business sense because long-term workplace studies have shown employees are more effective when they use their strengths, rather than improving their weak points.
    4. Allow Employees to Ask Questions: Establish an open dialogue throughout the process. Be honest and transparent. Let your employees share their questions and concerns. Answer them as best as you can. This alleviates stress for your employees and builds trust….if you’re consistent and confident with your questions and answers.
    5. Do this Consistently and You Will Succeed: When it comes to computer service support and repair, this is how you build a successful partnership between your own employees and outside vendors. When you make this happen, you can rapidly scale your business.

Learn more about the author Bob Martin