If you are in outsourced arrangement, it is important to know the time difference of your offshore pool and the impact it can have on your operations before you select your IT outsourcing provider. Once selected upon due diligence it is equally important to sensitize your staff on what this means and how they need to work with resources often on the other side of the globe. Near-shoring helps with this aspect immensely however it comes at a price given the huge pricing difference from the Asia pac and other outsourcing destinations.

Due to the time difference between main outsourcing hubs be it India or China with the times sizes in United States this becomes an issue more so when client needs 24/7 support. One of the primary requirements for employment in a transnational call center—besides fluency in English—is working the night shift. Typical night shift hours range from 10p.m.to 6a.m.or 8p.m.to 4a.m.

Mobility is vitally important to those who seek to work in this industry. In other words physical mobility (getting to and from work) and temporal mobility (going out when one is expected to stay in) are job requirements. Transportation is often provided as part of recruitment to enlist talent. Not all providers provide the requisite support to keep resources 24/7, the late night shift often called the devil’s shift.

For some type of contracting like call centers, KPO it is required to keep a 24/7 operations often tapering off the numbers to shift more calls towards office in day light hours where feasible. However for Technology outsourcing except for support of critical systems most clients prefer their outsourcing resources work in their regular shifts. It is not an exception where clients have asked resources to be available in the offices during the late night to match their counterparts onsite which often comes at a disadvantage for the outsourcing vendors. The better model is to target couple of hours every day to bring teams together to ensure there is continuity.

Heath concerns do weigh in here. Imagine going against the routine human body is accustomed to is never a healthy alternative. Night shift work can have a significant impact on an individual’s health because of the way it affects the body’s circadian rhythms. These rhythms fluctuate throughout the day and night to regulate many of the body’s biological functions. Night shift work causes these rhythms to be out of sync with their regular timing. As a result, night shift workers sometimes experience sleep problems, fatigue, weight gain and digestive problems.

Security is another angle. Security is a major issue as well. There have been multiple cases of high profile crimes against women working in late night shifts as they commute to offices or back homes. Men are often subject to harassment by law enforcement officials asking for identify and questioned for being late on the roads as they commute.

These are some of the causes for attrition as well which adds to additional costs to hire, retrain and become your hidden costs. Avoid where you can to bring in resources offshore at odd times, move them to general shift where feasible. Merely asking them to shadow your own resources onsite doesn’t make perfect sense in all cases, that is just trying to feel comfortable with having backup there, imagine a resources coming day after day at night and if that resources ends up not having a meaty role to play alongside his onsite counterparts, it becomes a recipe for problems. Call centers based on volume seem to make the right choice, similarly for technical support as well, however when you are in purely development projects unless you have a situation or exigency to meet timelines it doesn’t make sense to bring resources in the devil’s shift or a better word graveyard shift. You will see the ramifications soon.