At this year’s Staffing Industry Analysts” Healthcare Staffing Summit, our team noticed that staffing firms are outsourcing more strategically. So, we decided to ask one of our customers why they are shifting some back-end processes out of house. Mark Stagen, CEO, Emerald Health Services told us that “We’re always looking for new ways to streamline operations. We’ve found that outsourcing non-core functions, like housing can increase our capabilities and save us money.”
As an exercise, our team decided to spend some time discussing what back end processes we should outsource. It’s laughable to think that an outsourced travel and temporary housing provider like ourselves has to think about what to outsource, but we do devote time to this.
Here is how we frame our decisions:
When to outsource:
- It’s not your core business
- Someone else can do it better
- Costs less to outsource
When to keep it in-house:
- It’s your core business
- You can do it better
- Costs less in-house
We recently completed a study of healthcare staffing agencies that outsourced all housing to Travelers Haven for a minimum of 12 months. This study showed that these agencies saved an average of 13.8 percent on the total costs to provide housing. These firms also increased cash flow by eliminating 100 percent of security deposit payments.
Do you periodically reexamine your outsourcing decisions?
