FAQs
Frequently asked questions, straight answers.
About Outsourcery
Outsourcery helps UK businesses hire highly skilled remote professionals from South Africa across key business functions. We provide dedicated support in areas such as operations, customer support, sales, marketing, finance, and more. Your remote professional works as part of your team, while we manage employment, payroll, HR and compliance behind the scenes.
Outsourcery provides structured, long-term remote professionals rather than ad hoc support. Freelancers can be inconsistent and difficult to scale. Recruitment agencies place candidates but leave the employment and management to you. Outsourcery combines both. You get a dedicated professional integrated into your team, with the support, structure and reliability of an established organisation.
South Africa offers a strong pool of highly skilled professionals with excellent English communication and a high level of professionalism. There is also significant overlap with UK working hours, allowing for real-time collaboration. This makes South Africa an ideal location for building remote teams that integrate smoothly into UK businesses.
Outsourcery works primarily with UK SMEs, founders and growing businesses that need to add capacity without increasing internal pressure. This includes companies looking to scale operations, improve efficiency, or access specialist skills without committing to traditional hiring structures.
Roles and Services
Outsourcery provides remote professionals across all core business functions. This includes operations and admin support, customer support, sales and marketing, finance and accounting, IT and engineering, creative roles, legal and compliance support, property specialists, and AI and automation expertise. We match you with professionals based on your specific business needs.
Yes. Many clients start with one role and expand into multiple functions as their business grows. Outsourcery supports building single roles or entire remote teams across different departments.
Yes. Your remote professional works within your systems, tools and processes. They attend your meetings, follow your workflows and operate as part of your team.
Hiring Models
FLEX is fractional support from 20 hours a month, on a rolling monthly contract. DIRECT is a full-time professional recruited to your brief, employed by us. RECRUIT is for businesses who want to employ the candidate themselves. We source and vet, you take it from there.
If you need part-time or flexible support, FLEX is the place to start. If you're building full-time headcount and want employment handled for you, DIRECT is the right conversation. If you'd rather employ the person directly from day one, RECRUIT gives you our sourcing and vetting, without us as the employer.
FLEX is our fractional hiring model. It gives you access to premium remote support professionals on a monthly subscription, starting from 20 hours a month, without committing to full-time headcount.
FLEX is designed for support roles such as virtual assistants, marketing support, customer support, and operational roles. These professionals take ownership of their role and integrate into your team.
Yes. FLEX can scale from fractional hours up to full-time support. Many clients start part-time and increase hours as their needs grow, without restarting the hiring process.
FLEX runs on a monthly subscription. You can scale hours up or down as your needs change, making it ideal for fluctuating workloads or evolving priorities.
In many cases, FLEX support can be allocated within 48 hours, depending on role requirements and availability, allowing you to move quickly without long recruitment timelines.
Outsourcery employs the team member. We manage payroll, leave, HR, and compliance, so you avoid employment risk while gaining embedded support.
All time is transparently logged and shared with you. You can clearly see how hours are used and where value is delivered.
If the fit is not right, we arrange a talent swap as quickly as possible to ensure continuity with minimal disruption.
Every FLEX client has a dedicated Client Success Manager, structured onboarding, regular check-ins, and HQ support to ensure ongoing performance and alignment.
DIRECT is our full-time hiring model. It allows you to hire a dedicated remote professional for any remotable role, while Outsourcery remains the legal employer.
DIRECT can be used for any remotable role across operations, finance, marketing, sales, technology, data, legal, and more.
Yes. DIRECT is designed for full-time hires where consistent ownership and long-term capacity are required.
Most DIRECT roles are filled within 28 days. We handle sourcing, vetting, and shortlisting so you only meet candidates who meet your requirements.
Outsourcery remains the employer. We manage contracts, payroll, benefits, leave, and compliance while you manage the day-to-day work.
DIRECT includes structured setup and onboarding support to ensure a smooth start, with ongoing HR and compliance managed by Outsourcery.
Yes. DIRECT typically saves up to 40% compared to equivalent UK hires, without compromising on quality, professionalism, or time zone alignment.
RECRUIT is for businesses who want to employ the candidate themselves. We source and vet the right person to your brief, you interview, select, and become their direct employer from day one. It's a one-off placement, not an ongoing service.
A single placement fee of 20% of the candidate's first-year cost to company, due within 7 days of their start date. There's no retainer and no ongoing contract with Outsourcery after that.
If the candidate leaves within 3 months of starting, we'll look for a suitable replacement. If we can't find one, you'll receive a tiered rebate based on how long they were in the role. Full details are set out in the RECRUIT agreement.
Getting started
With FLEX, you can typically get started within a few days. With DIRECT, we provide a shortlist of candidates in under 28 days. Timelines may vary depending on the role, but the process is designed to be significantly faster than traditional hiring.
1. Tell us what you need: share your role, hours and goals. We help you choose FLEX or DIRECT. 2. Meet your shortlist: we source and pre-screen talent, or match you with our existing team. You interview the top candidates. 3. Start and scale: we handle contracts and setup. You onboard, we support, and the role grows with your business.
FLEX runs on a rolling monthly subscription. DIRECT is designed for longer-term full-time hires, with notice periods agreed upfront. We are always clear about commitments before you proceed.
Employment, support and continuity
Under FLEX and DIRECT, Outsourcery is the legal employer and handles employment contracts, payroll, HR and compliance, so you get a dedicated team member without the administrative or legal burden. Under RECRUIT, you employ the person directly from day one. We source and vet, you take it from there.
This depends on the hiring model. FLEX includes more built-in support and continuity through Outsourcery's managed model. DIRECT provides a dedicated full-time professional, with Outsourcery managing employment and HR, but continuity cover is not included in the same way. We will help you choose the right model based on your needs.
All Outsourcery professionals go through a structured recruitment and selection process. Once placed, they are supported by Outsourcery through onboarding, training and ongoing performance management. The focus is on long-term delivery and consistency, not just placement.
Yes. Your remote professional works within your systems, attends your meetings and follows your processes. They are integrated into your day-to-day operations, while Outsourcery supports them in the background to ensure consistency and performance.
Flexibility, growth and security
Yes. Flexibility is built into both hiring models. You can increase hours, expand into additional roles or build out a wider team as your needs evolve. Many clients start with one role and grow into multi-function support.
Yes. As your needs change, we can adjust your support to ensure it continues to align with your business goals.
Outsourcery operates in line with recognised data protection and compliance standards. We are GDPR compliant and ICO registered, and our professionals are trained in data handling and confidentiality. We also carry professional indemnity insurance.
Commercial considerations
No. The model is fundamentally different from traditional outsourcing. Outsourcery provides dedicated professionals who integrate into your team and work within your systems and processes, rather than task-based outsourcing. You maintain control of the work, while we manage the employment and operational support behind the scenes.
Local hiring can be expensive, time-consuming and difficult to scale. Outsourcery allows you to access skilled professionals more quickly, reduce hiring costs and build flexible capacity without increasing internal complexity.
Freelancers can offer short-term support, but often lack consistency, accountability and long-term integration into your business.
Partner Programme
Anyone with a network of founders and operators worth vouching for: advisors, consultants, community leads, or well-connected individuals. If you know people who are hiring, you qualify.
10% of Gross Margin per referred client, paid every month for as long as they remain a client. There's no cap on how many people you can refer. For example, if your referrals result in 20 average placements, you would earn £24K a year in partner commission.
For FLEX and DIRECT, yes: 10% of Gross Margin, paid monthly, for as long as the client stays with us. For RECRUIT, where your contact employs the candidate directly rather than through Outsourcery, commission is a one-off 10% of our placement fee, paid once the placement is made.
Monthly, within 30 days of the end of each qualifying month, with a statement showing exactly what's owed.
Every introduction is registered from the day we receive it and stays valid for 12 months, so you're covered even if it takes them a while to commit.
You'll keep earning on clients who are already active when your participation in the Programme ends, for up to 12 months after that.
Still have a question?
Book a call