More firms turning to global resourcing to find staff: Survey

Reduction in costs primary attraction of offshoring

Faced with global skills shortages, many Canadian employers are turning to global resourcing to find and attract talent. Almost one-half of the 200 employers surveyed said they currently use global resourcing, compared to one-third in 2009 and 2010, found the IT Staffing Outlook for 2012 by Randstad technologies and IBM Canada.

Survey results indicate global resourcing continues to be most prevalent among large organizations and those with international operations. These companies list the reduction in cost as the primary reason for using offshoring (84 per cent), while access to skill bases (44 per cent) and 24-7 services (39 per cent) are also important, found the survey.

Global competition, pressure to do more with less and the need for highly skilled technical resources has led employers to look at non-traditional solutions to their staffing challenges.

"In recent years we've seen the continued spread of globalization. Managing talent is the most challenging issue facing employers and as the world becomes increasingly borderless, companies are looking to attract and retain talent on a global basis," said Mike Winterfield, president of the professionals division at Randstad Canada.

The most commonly cited job functions for company's currently using offshoring include application development (61 per cent), help desk (40 per cent), data/database management (23 per cent) and server systems (19 per cent).

Current offshoring users are less sure of their plans to increase or decrease their use of offshoring compared to 2010, and non-users report to be even less certain of their plans to start using off shoring at all, found the survey.

While offshoring can provide access to new labour and talent pools, and may generate labour cost savings, it also has its challenges, said Winterfield.

"Some of the drawbacks include reduced control over people and processes, potential loss of intellectual capital, possible cultural differences and high turnover rates,” he said. “There are many cultural barriers to overcome when recruiting abroad, brand recognition has to be established and compensation structures to be understood.”

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