Some People Are Getting It Right

[talon]

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<p><lj-cut<p>http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/08/smallbusiness/rural_onshoring/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin <p>In several areas, these people are finally getting it right. Sourcing labor to other countries may have seemed a good cheap way to do business, but I've said for the last 15 years it was going to come back and bite people.<p>It appears that it has done so enough that companies are re-thinking outsourcing sensitive things and realizing that Americans are just as smart and hard working as people in other countries, and just as willing to work for lower incomes if they aren't forced to live in large, expensive cities. <p>Rural sourcing makes a great deal of sense, and it looks as if some businesses are beginning to realize they can pay people decent salaries for the location (rural) where the employee may be earning thousands less per year than a peer in a large city, but they have a better lifestyle and quality of life - which translates into less sick time and better productivity.<p>It's why I've always laughed when people say I'm underpaid. Sure, I'm underpaid when compared to people in New York City. Income in Oklahoma that allows me to have a nice car, a nice brick house with a large lot, fun vacations, and the ability to build a comfy savings account wouldn't even pay for the cheapest walk-up apartment in New York City, let alone all the other expenses of living there. If I were to convert the scale of pay to my lifestyle and put it in New York City, I would have to earn in the low to mid 6 digits to live there the way I live here on the very low 5 digit income I have. There is no comparison without also considering cost of living. <p>So, these companies are realizing they don't have to pay huge 6 digit salaries for quality employees if they locate in depressed areas of the country where a mid 5 digit income is above the median income.<p>To quote one of the rural sourced employees who says <i>"he's doing what he wants, where he wants, and he's proud of his work, even if it doesn't come with a Silicon Valley salary.'</i>: <i> "I didn't have to sacrifice anything to get where I am." </i><p>That pretty much sums it up - he gets to live in a place he grew up in, surrounded by friends, family, and familiar places, doing work he loves at a salary that allows him to live well.<p>Companies may pay higher salaries to people within our borders than they would outsourcing those jobs to other countries, but that additional expense is offset by the benefits of doing business more locally - similar time zones, cultural similarities that avoid misunderstandings, similar communication methods, dealing with only one country's laws regarding intellectual property, and similar language that speed up the ability to accomplish things.<p>So yay! Onshore sourcing, rural sourcing, whatever you call it - keeping business within our borders is a Good Thing.<p>Since all those companies did outsource to other countries for so long, I have no doubt those countries will be able to take what they've observed and learned and run with it in setting up their own businesses and competing with our businesses, and that, too, I think is a Good Thing.<p> Global countries ought to be able to route helpdesk calls to a tech support person within the same country as the originating call, so I think that this may spell a boom in companies needing tech support inside our borders, and I anticipate call centers opening up in those rural areas where the pay can be lower and the lifestyles better. With phones, they don't have to be located in the heart of a busy metropolis or on a major highway or riverway or port. They just have to be able to get and maintain reliable phone/internet service.<p>And other businesses would have similar needs - reliable phone/internet services. Maybe some of these big businesses will realize they can headquarter remotely and still run their companies efficiently and at a savings.<p></lj-cut>