The impacts of offshoring on managers left behind

Offshoring of junior back-office financial services and IT jobs away from Singapore is a trend creating ripple effects on the mid to senior back-office managers left behind.

The result of offshoring, as with any new business initiative, means the scope of roles changes. Job descriptions of those managers left behind need to adjust in order to incorporate more remote managing.

Whilst in the past Singaporean executives would be primarily managing local teams, now they are also in charge of employees in offshore locations like Malaysia, India, or the Philippines. This means they're on the road a lot more than they used to be, which can have negative consequences for work-life balance.

In addition, being based in Singapore but managing staff overseas can be more stressful than managing people locally. The deliverable required doesn't change for a senior leader whether their staff are locally based or in another location.

Every time a function is offshored, senior leaders face serious challenges when it comes to recruiting talent in those locations, training them and stabilising processes; all the while handling a local team with high attrition following the offshoring news.

Asia as a region presents its own problems for remote managing. For instance, if a manager who is based in London is tasked with managing a hub that is based out of Manchester, it is relatively straightforward as the culture, language, and regulations are consistent with London.

However, every country in Asia has different languages, cultures, and laws that need to be followed. Therefore managers are faced with a great deal of additional challenges when managing remotely across Asia.

As with every business challenge, there are multiple dimensions to remote managing. The biggest trial is managing attrition and keeping the team motivated when the manager isn't locally based. Travel and cultural differences do play a part, but they are two factors in the new global business model that everybody is getting used to.

Another challenge is understanding local regulations in each country, especially if you work in the financial services industry.

From a recruitment perspective, the main challenge that hiring managers face is the requirement that senior managers need experience and a thorough understanding of different regulations.

Candidates will make their own choices about jobs based on travel and remote management responsibilities; however from a talent acquisition perspective, these challenges can be overcome. There is always a group of candidates who prefer no travel or less travel and local responsibility depending on their personal or family circumstances.

Some jobs, such as internal audit or management consultancy, can mean a large portion of a candidate's time will be travelling regionally or even globally. Some people enjoy this, some people don't.

The most important part of any change programme is to get the buy-in from the people within the business, and employers should focus on helping their employees accept and work effectively with the change.

Being a regional financial centre, Singapore is used to acting as a hub, and as a consequence many managers have been used to managing teams remotely. Some managers now look forward to gaining this experience in order to advance their career. It's up to organisations to equip this new breed of remote managers with the training and support needed to succeed in their role.