Business

Lack of Labour Force Western European Companies to Nearshore Their Processes

Outsourcing job has long been considered to be an unpopular move by the companies. But in recent few years the attitudes on the issue are beginning to change. First of all there numerous benefits of this practice for both companies and employees and second of all the jobs are no longer going that far away.

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Nearshoring is a process of moving jobs to countries that or close or neighboring to the target company. Lately Eastern Europe has become top destination for finding high skilled labour in IT and software development industries.

IT skills shortage in western Europe

ICT sector is experiencing a rapid growth especially with new trends like machine-to-machine communications and cloud computing. Also cloud computing is due to expand almost five times its current size by 2020. This means hundreds of thousands new jobs for IT professionals. Western European countries are in the center of all this growth, but they don’t have the man power sustain it. Luckily the industry has found a way to close this gap by looking for talent in the former Soviet bloc and they have found it.  Countries like Serbia, Romania and Poland are using this opportunity to put they IT labour to work.

High skilled labour

The Eastern bloc had a strong emphasis on engineering and the sciences. Twenty years latter this still shows in the workforce. Many countries in the region have a skilled IT labour force, but no (or at least not enough) IT industries. This also means that for western countries labour costs, as well as other costs of keeping an actual physical office will decrease significantly, while the quality of work will remain the same.

Cultural similarities

IT jobs were usually sent to India and that came with a set of problems. Although India has skilled IT professionals it also has a corporate culture very different from the one Europeans are used to. Their approach to programming is more process driven and that’s why it tends to be derivative (or even feel automated). Programmers from Eastern Europe tend to be more collaborative in their work. Also because of the different ways national economies are structured Indian companies are not too focused on business side of the product, while the Europeans approach it from both ends.

Time zones

Even with the best remote office tools, working with someone on the opposite end of the world can be difficult. Every now and then there’s a crisis and teams need to be assembled on a moment’s notice. Also working during the day allows employees to have a personal life outside of work (which in the end is not only good for employee satisfaction but for the productivity as well).

Virtual teams need to come together in a physical space every once in a while and this can be easily arranged because flights from Eastern Europe are both cheap and frequent.

Data protection

European Union countries (and those aspiring to become EU members) have sophisticated regulations regarding data protection. This is naturally a concern for the tech industry and for the general public in last couple of years. European uniform laws provide protection in this area on every part of the continent equally. General data protection regulations are focused on securing privacy as well as intellectual property.

Nearshoring IT labour has become a priority giving the rising demands for jobs in this sector. Eastern Europe seems to be the best destination to find skilled labour at relatively low cost. Former Soviet bloc countries have seized this opportunity and the relationship is obviously mutually beneficial.