Does an offshore workforce destroy the culture of startups?
Startup cultures are shaped by the talent that the founders choose to work with and by the atmosphere built on shared values that the founding team has established. While different businesses place value on different things, but the ultimate objective is to create a special workplace with a culture of creativity, brainstorming, and peer networking.
Several businesses use culture hacks, such as odd work habits and long-term rewards, in order to establish the best possible culture. To name a few, Dropbox’s Hack Week, Palantir’s product release t-shirts, Hubspot’s random desk-shuffle for their product team, and Hubspot’s random desk-shuffle are all examples of innovative software businesses attempting to create cultures around unique concepts.
Hiring an offshore team for the first product development is a solid strategy for an early-stage firm looking for cost-saving solutions. This will allow the startup to grow quickly. However, if the offshore resources are not handled appropriately, having an offshore workforce can eventually have an impact on culture development. Sometimes, remote teams can lose touch with the startup’s overall vision, which can cause them to veer away from the main goals that drive their product development.
Here are 4 essential suggestions will help you to manage an offshore crew so that they support your startup’s culture:
1 – Opt for Staff Augmentation over Project-based Teams:
The CTO of the startup is dealt by an offshore project manager in a considerable number of outsourced development teams, which eliminates any direct access to the development resources. This is a fairly constrained strategy since it prevents remote workers from assimilating into the startup culture.
An effective alternative is using augmented teams that collaborate closely with the startup founders to obtain a deeper comprehension of the product concept. Given that they can easily reach the founders’ goal, direct offshore resources are more committed to product development. They perceive the product as a disruptive answer to a social need rather than just another development chore.
2 – Take a Hybrid Approach:
The secret to a synchronized startup culture that crosses borders is a hybrid approach to offshore development teams. An excellent offshoring experience can be made possible by having a team relations specialist who is familiar with different international cultures and manage the offshore resource alongside your project manager or CTO.
A hybrid team can assist start-up owners to scale their business model internationally by producing a strong, culturally adept global startup team.
3 – Foster Cultural Understanding:
The startup is frequently unable to fully benefit from the creativity and technical skill set of the offshore team due to a culture mismatch that inhibits the offshore team members from successfully articulating their ideas to the CTO or project manager. This can be prevented by setting up virtual events aimed at strengthening the bonds between the on-site and offshore teams, hence enhancing the startup culture overall.
4 – Arrange Global Team Meets Annually:
Startups that have received initial investment can arrange for their overseas teams to come to the startup’s primary hub once a year. Annual team gatherings will not only keep the offshore workforce abreast of American technological trends but will also foster closer working ties throughout your whole global staff.
The startup culture is significantly impacted by having an offshore workforce, yet managing your remote workers while applying the aforementioned strategies can reduce this negative impact by 80%. The remaining 20% of cultural differences are offset by the value that technically sound offshore teams provide in terms of cost savings, scalability to match project demand, and quicker time to hire the resources.
