Homesourcing also known as homeshoring is "the transfer of service industry employment from offices to home-based employees with appropriate telephone and Internet facilities". Homesourcing is best thought of as a combination of outsourcing and telecommuting.
Homesourcing refers to hiring employees or engaging independent contractors. Homesourced workers are sometimes required to come to an office for training from time-to-time.
Traditionally, employers were most likely to homeshore call-centers and other customer service processes. However, this trend is changing as employers realize a wider variety of work is amenable to homeshoring. Knight Ridder Newspapers reports "it's no longer just call centers and information-technology jobs. Now it's architects, accountants, tax preparers and financial analysts."
According to researcher IDC Homesourcing is expanding by about 20% a year and homesourcing is "on track to explode".
Companies using homesourcing
US & UK companies which have employed homesourcing personnel include:
Advantages of homesourcing
- Worker preference – homesourced workers often need to work from home or strongly prefer to work from home. They appreciate this opportunity, and therefore are loyal.
- Reduced costs for the employer as homesourced workers often provide their own telephone equipment and computer systems. Employer also saves on cost of office space.
- Using homesourced workers that are local to the area where they are calling precludes the prejudice that is sometimes created from regional accents, mannerisms and rates of speech.
- Possible tax advantages for the worker using part of their home for business purposes.
- It provides the employer the ability to provide work to individuals who through disability are unable to travel to a workplace.
In popular culture
- An early example of homesourcing in fiction can be found in the 1939 Heinlein book For Us, The Living . The character of Diana, a nationally-renowned dancer, is shown performing in her own home for a broadcast audience, which sees her dancing on sets added by the broadcasting company to her original feed. The mechanism for this homesourcing is not described technically, but it appears to be similar to a high-definition video signal interfaced with something like modern chroma key technology.
See also
- Human Capital
- Information technology consulting
- Offshoring IT Services
- Outsourcing
- The World Is Flat
Notes
- ^ "New words". Macmillan English Dictionary . http://www.macmillandictionary.com/new-words/050530-homeshoring.htm . Retrieved 2007-10-05 .
- ^ Hall, Kevin G. (December 05 2006). "Homeshoring Grows: Companies Cut Costs by Shipping Jobs to Workers' Homes". Knight Ridder . http://www.itpaa.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2062 .
- ^ a b c d e f g "Who's Helping Homeshore Workers? For people interested in jobs that allow flexible hours at home, here are some companies that specialize in matching workers with employers". Business Week . May 2 2006 . http://www.businessweek.com/technology/homesourcing.htm . IDC is a subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG).
- ^ a b c d e f g "Call center agents ...without the call centers Need customer service? Increasingly, callers connected to home-based workers". Associated Press . May 7 2005 . http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7739611/ .
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Call Centers In The Rec Room "Homeshoring" takes off as moms and others provide an alternative to offshoring". Business Week . January 23 2006 . http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_04/b3968103.htm .
- ^ a b c d e Brewer, Melissa. The Little White eBook of Homeshoring Jobs . Capital Creative, Inc. 213 pages, listing 179 organizations
- ^ Brewer, page 40
- ^ Brewer, page 185
- ^ Brewer, page 187
Further reading
- Thomas L. Friedman, The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century . 2005 ISBN 0-374-29288-4
External links
- Lacy, Sarah (May 2 2006). "Homeshoring: Beyond Call Centers Silicon Valley startup oDesk helps companies find -- and monitor -- at-home labor for a growing roster of jobs". Business Week . http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2006/tc20060502_237154.htm .
- "Working at home pays off for firms". telecomchoices.org .
- Mello Jr., John P.. "Home-Sourcing vs. Offshoring It's not all about price; allowing people to work at home leads to a virtuous cycle of productivity." . CFO.com . http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/3597944?f=RequiredReading . ...
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