Keeping company culture when part of the team is outsourced

Key takeaways

Company culture with an outsourced team is kept by treating culture as a set of behaviours you can describe and teach, not a feeling in the office. Write down how customers are spoken to and how problems are handled, give the outsourced team context and feedback, and treat them as colleagues. Customers feel the difference.

• Culture transfers as behaviours: tone, standards and how problems are handled.
• Context matters: explain why, not only what.
• Include the team in briefings, wins and feedback.
• Stable, fairly treated teams give better service.

What do we mean by culture here?

Company culture is the shared way people in a business behave, decide and treat customers and each other. For practical purposes it shows up as tone of voice, standards of work, how mistakes are handled and what gets praised. Those are the parts a team outside the building can learn.

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• Managing in-house and outsourced teams as one operation

Does outsourcing damage culture?

Outsourcing damages culture when it is done in a way that tells staff routine colleagues are disposable or when the outside team is treated as a faceless supplier. It does not damage culture when the purpose is explained, the in-house team gains better work and the outsourced team is included. The handling matters more than the structure.

• How to tell your team you are outsourcing

How do you pass culture to an outside team?

Pass culture on by making it specific. Give examples of good and poor replies. Explain who your customers are and what they worry about. Share the stories behind your rules. People apply judgement well when they understand the reason for a standard, and poorly when they are only given a script.

• A tone guide with real examples.
• A short introduction to your customers and history.
• Reasons behind key rules.
• Feedback on real cases every week.

• Document your processes before you outsource

How do you include people you do not employ?

Include them in the parts of working life that relate to the work. Introduce them by name to the in-house team. Invite them to briefings about new products or changes. Share customer praise with the person who earned it. Small acts of inclusion cost nothing and noticeably improve care and accuracy.

• Names and faces shared on both sides.
• A place in relevant briefings.
• Praise passed on directly.
• Questions welcomed without blame.

Why does fair treatment matter for service?

Fair treatment matters because turnover in the team handling your customers costs you knowledge every time someone leaves. Ask a provider how it pays, schedules and develops its people, and how long they stay. A stable team that feels respected learns your business and represents it better.

• Ethical outsourcing for UK businesses

Where are the limits?

There are limits. An outsourced team works for several interests and will not share every aspect of your culture, and you should not direct the provider's employees as though you employed them. Aim for shared standards on your work, mutual respect and good communication. That is enough for customers to experience one business.

• How to manage an offshore team well

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see in UK firms with a distinctive, friendly tone: the first outsourced replies are correct but stiff. A one-page guide with ten real examples, and a fortnight of specific feedback, usually brings the tone into line. Customers then cannot tell which team replied.

• See client work
• BPO Solutions for UK businesses

Culture checklist

Prepare these before the team starts.

• A one-page tone and values guide with examples.
• A short briefing on customers and history.
• Introductions between both teams.
• A channel for questions without blame.
• Weekly feedback on real cases.
• A way to share praise and results.
• Questions to the provider about staff retention.

• Quality assurance for outsourced teams
• Should you tell customers that you outsource?

Next step

Send us a few examples of how you like customers to be spoken to. We will show you how that becomes a guide an outside team can follow.