Not having an in-house development team is definitely an advantage as a local office can be costly and give rise to other problems. On the other hand, it becomes rather difficult for a business to keep their offshore team happy, motivated and productive when they are a thousand miles away. However, it is essential for you to ensure that your team is productive because this can have an impact on your success. Therefore, the question is how to keep your offshore development team productive and happy?

Hire the most qualified candidates: One of the primary reasons why you have an unproductive staff is probably because you didn’t hire the right candidates. This is a common business mistake and one you need to avoid. Sure, there are lots of specialists you can find in the market these days, but you need to test and interview them thoroughly to ensure they are the best fit for your business climate. Select those employees who can get the job done and also get along with others.

Make communication your top priority: Establish a schedule for meeting with your development team and try to do it daily. Even if it is an offshore team, you need to keep the lines of communication open for your employees because it makes them feel valued. If you are just issuing orders and not talking out ideas with them, they are likely to get demotivated and unsatisfied with their job. Bringing them in and listening to them is going to make your offshore development team proactive and they will focus on resolving any problems in the development process quickly. Make time to get to know them & their culture, this will make communication much easier.

Always get feedback: Feedback is an excellent way for the development team to communicate with you and others. It is very important especially when you are outsourcing software projects. This can be both formal and informal, but less structured feedback is recommended because that’s more honest. It needs to be constant and proactive as it highlights the improvements made by the team on a daily basis. Also, you need to pay attention to the feedback and see if you can use it to your advantage rather than ignoring it.

Provide training: Another way to boost the productivity of your offshore development team is to provide them training. A well-trained staff will know exactly what to do and how and they will be familiar with the latest developments and happenings in the market. Moreover, it also boosts your team’s self-confidence, which is a plus.

Acknowledge and appreciate: Your offshore development team are the behind-the-scenes superheroes. They also put in long hours and work hard to provide you with the finished product and this is something that needs to be acknowledged. More, it needs to be appreciated if you want your development team to keep doing the same in the future. You should reward your team for the good work they do as this encourages them to continue doing so. A monthly team building budget will not cost you a lot, however the response from your team will be visible.

Innovent Software Offshore are experts in managing offshore teams of software developers. For over 6 years we have teams of developers working for us in Manila & Cebu, Philippines. Contact us today to help you manage your offshore team on 1300 781 681 or info@softwareoffshore.com.au