Outsourced team productivity: measure it like for like

Key takeaways

Outsourced team productivity vs in-house should be measured as useful output per paid hour, on the same tasks and definitions. Productivity changes the real cost: a team at £12 per hour doing 10 tasks costs £1.20 per task, while one at £10 doing 7 costs £1.43. Allow for ramp-up before comparing.

• Measure useful output per paid hour on both sides.
• £1.20 per task at £12 an hour and 10 tasks beats £1.43 at £10 and 7.
• Allow 4 to 8 weeks of ramp-up before comparing.
• Compare on the same task mix and quality standard.

What does productivity mean for an outsourced team?

Productivity is useful output per paid hour: tasks completed to standard, tickets resolved or records processed. For an outsourced team, it is measured against the hours you pay for. It matters because the hourly rate alone says nothing about how much work you get for it.

• In-house vs outsourcing: which model is more cost-effective?

How do you compare productivity fairly?

Compare the same tasks, with the same definition of done and the same quality standard. Exclude tasks that only one side handles. Measure over several weeks, not days, and compare a settled outsourced team with the in-house team, not a first-week team with a five-year veteran.

• Same task types and mix.
• Same definition of a completed task.
• Same quality standard and checks.
• Several weeks of data on both sides.

• Outsourced vs in-house quality: how to compare fairly

How does productivity change the cost?

Divide the hourly cost by tasks per hour. A provider at £12 an hour completing 10 tasks costs £1.20 per task; one at £10 completing 7 costs £1.43. In-house, a £30,000 employee at £28.30 per productive hour completing 10 tasks costs £2.83 per task. Productivity can matter more than rate.

• Work out your cost per task before you outsource

Why are early productivity numbers misleading?

Every new team, in-house or outsourced, is slower while it learns systems, products and exceptions. Productivity typically climbs over the first four to eight weeks for documented work. Agree a ramp-up curve in advance so early numbers are judged against it, not against a settled team.

• A BPO transition plan for the first 90 days

What lowers outsourced productivity?

Slow system access, missing documentation, questions waiting a day for answers, and work that arrives in bursts with no queue. Most of these sit on the client side. Fast access, a written process and a daily question slot usually lift productivity more than anything the provider does.

• The tool stack for an outsourced team

Should you pay per task to protect productivity?

Per-task pricing moves productivity risk to the provider, which suits stable, well-defined work such as data entry or invoice processing. For varied work such as customer support, hourly pricing with productivity targets is usually fairer. Pick the model that matches how predictable the work is.

• BPO pricing models explained
• BPO Solutions for UK businesses

Which productivity measures suit which work?

Pick one main output measure per type of work, and keep it the same in-house and outsourced. A clear measure turns debates about whether a team is working hard into a simple comparison.

• Customer support: contacts resolved per hour.
• Data entry: records completed to standard per hour.
• Accounts payable: invoices processed per hour.
• Booking: appointments booked per hour of cover.

• Cost per contact: compare in-house and outsourced support

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see in UK professional services firms: the managed team's output looks low in week two, because each case waits for a partner's answer. Moving to a daily question slot and a decision guide doubles the team's throughput within a month, at the same hourly rate.

• See client work

Productivity checklist

Use these steps.

• Define a completed task for each task type.
• Measure in-house output per paid hour first.
• Agree a ramp-up curve with the provider.
• Remove access and question delays.
• Compare cost per task each month.

Next step

Send us the tasks you want to measure. We will set up like-for-like productivity measures in a 30-minute call.