Outsourcing Work From Europe To America...

[Thomas]

Hello Warriors:

I sometimes read (mostly negative) threads here about the outsourcing of work by Americans to those outside of the U.S.

Mostly, they centre on the idea that outsourcing is a vote against the value of American workers and that it hemorrhages money from the U.S. economy. Ultimately, though, the general consensus of those threads seems to be that, if it helps add greater value to your business, then it actually helps things, rather than hinders (something I personally agree with) but there's usually a lingering after-taste that it's still a bad thing and it only happens because the cost of doing business in the U.S. and the expectations of American workers are too high... or something along those lines.

However, you might be interested to know that things work in reverse too: I, and probably many others in Europe, actually outsource work to the U.S.

One person, in particular, often does writing work for me. She's educated to third-level, speaks fluent English, and, significantly, often charges me 25-50% less than an Irish writer would (even after taking currency exchange rates into account). I've been so surprised by some of her rates than I've queried them on a number of occasions and, each time, she tells me they are sufficiently high for her to make a very good profit anyway.

I also have the advantage that she previously lived in Ireland for a number of years and, as such, can write pretty well in Hiberno-English, saving me from the need to 'de-Americanise' her stuff too. But, even if she wrote only in American-English, paying her to do so, and then converting it to Hiberno-English would still be cheaper than hiring an Irish writer.

Perhaps there's a hidden opportunity for Americans in all this? Granted, Ireland is a pretty small market but the U.K. is right next door and, while the cost of doing business there is lower than here, I'm pretty sure that, in most cases, they are still much higher than the U.S.

I'm sure many on this side of the pond do what American outsources do anyway, and go for third-world writers who charge virtually nothing but the value of hiring high-quality, University-educated, native English speakers (even if it be American-English) for up to 50% less is not something to be sneezed at!

Regards,
Tommy.

[napoleonfirst]

Well, America is a great country but its economy has some problems right now.

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by napoleonfirst

...but its economy has some problems right now.

I had no idea... ()

[markshields]

Most people I speak with talk about outsourcing to europe only because they want it cheaper