Why Socially Responsible Sourcing May be Your Ticket to Talent Success | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

“In our view, underutilized talent pools are an essential ingredient for optimizing the talent models for service delivery.” This sentence, from the foreword I wrote for the new book, “Socially Responsible Outsourcing,” speaks to the very essence of social impact sourcing.

As the global sourcing industry has matured and evolved over the last two decades, so have enterprises’ and service providers’ approaches to accessing, developing, and managing talent. And their quest for new talent has naturally driven them toward socially responsible sourcing – sometimes even unintentionally, according to research Everest Group conducted in tandem with The Rockefeller Foundation.

While socially responsible sourcing is not viable in all situations, the use of alternative talent pools can deliver a winning array of benefits in many cases.

  • Individuals in non-traditional talent pools – think those lacking economic or educational opportunities, military veterans, physically limited people, etc. – are underutilized, available, and eager to work, which can equate to success for the employer and the employee in the right environment with the right training
  • These alternative workers may have knowledge or experiences that enable them to perform better than traditional employees. Here, think those with certain medical conditions or diseases providing contact center services that support corresponding medical devices and services
  • As workers across socially responsible talent pools place more value on the job opportunity, the employer benefits from their greater levels of motivation, lower rates of attrition, and lesser total cost of employment
  • Organizations with successful programs can often attain a more sustainable and differentiated service delivery model than through typical approaches
  • Socially responsible sourcing has a positive social impact on employees’ families and the broader community in which they live.

Has your organization embraced social impact sourcing, or is it considering doing so? Please share your experiences, successes, and concerns with our readers.

And if you’re attending the IAOP’s Outsourcing World Summit on February 15-17 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, please visit Everest Group’s booth # 31. We’ll be giving away copies of Socially Responsible Outsourcing, and would love to chat with you about your company’s existing or potential venture into this emerging alternative talent model.

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