Speaking on a recent episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, produced in partnership with York Hamilton, Evan Kostopoulos discussed the future of remote talent and offshoring as well as the benefits of hiring from a remote global talent pool.

York Hamilton provides global workforce solutions and started off as a “passion project behind changing the way businesses operate in general”, according to Kostopoulos.

“We all know it’s difficult finding good, qualified staff locally and keeping them. There’s a lot of movement with staff around the country, especially within each state, because it makes sense if they understand the local jurisdiction. So, I do think there’s a huge advantage,” Kostopoulos said.

“Obviously, we can even see the numbers on our end, and we see how much firms are saving by making those few changes, whether that be through technological changes or bringing sections of the business offshore. It’s saving them a lot financially and improving their bottom line. And secondly to that, also optimising their talent. If you’re working in a global workforce, you can get specialised talent, which you may not be able to get locally. There are limitations to certain roles, but once you open to the global market, you’ve got millions of people to choose from.”

This kind of “specialised” and remote talent refers to talent working remotely overseas, clarified Kostopoulos.

“In a nutshell, most people would understand a virtual assistant, they may call it, or the industry as a whole called the BPO industry. We try to steer away from those terms and those words because they do hold a bit of a stigma in low-end admin, data entry, Indian telecom, marketer type of set-up.

“However, when we speak about remote talent or remote professionals, we’re talking top-tier, qualified, specialised talent, not necessarily just in one area or another. We recruit from all over the world, and it’s a premium version of selecting from a global workforce,” Kostopoulos said.

As such, more firms are starting to look into resourcing options like this – both as a result of seeing the overall benefits of remote talent or having an urgent need for it on the ground.

VIEW ALL

“I think now firms are realising [that] there are real high-level operators who are providing the staff. So, you know, it’s been a trial and error for this whole industry because it’s been wrong. The first five [to] 10 years of it was a bit of a learning curve, a bit of a disaster. But now, people are realising, OK, a lot of the benefits are actually quite tangible now. A lot of those doubts being moved out now is showing companies that this can be done correctly, and if it’s done right, it’s a huge advantage.

“Secondly to that, there’s a shortage of talent locally. There’s no way around that. I know governments are constantly pushing different ways to get more talented individuals from our country, whether it be through pushing more uni courses or TAFE courses, but I don’t think it’s going to solve anything in the short term. It will help, but there’s definitely the need now. And I think companies are seeing that if they don’t look at a global workforce and it may even be that they’re looking globally to bring them into Australia, but it’s a no-brainer,” Kostopoulos said.

“If the talent’s out there, it shouldn’t hold too much of an issue just because they’re not physically in the office. I’ve had a few clients with York Hamilton, who have now opened to different areas of law, starting in a specialised area of law, and they’ve opened up to different areas of law just because they could get that talent globally, and it opened their business up to a whole different section of law.”

However, Kostopoulos still runs into concerns from law firms that work in more traditional ways and have questions about how remote talent can work.

“You’ve got firms who we get on calls with as well, who are intrigued by it all, but they’re not in love with the concept here because they still have the traditional way of thinking. And is it secure? Are they qualified? How’s it going to work? There’s a fear of the unknown, I guess, until they jump in and feel it, which is normal. That’s every service. There’s an unknown to start with,” he said.

“I mean, I was one of those people who was weary about this whole offshoring game because I didn’t know enough either. At the forefront of this is through COVID, we learned a lot about working remotely, obviously out of the office, business had to change, infrastructure had to change, security had to change, communication had to change. So, it’s the exact same infrastructure. It just means, obviously, the house is a little bit further than someone working down in the local suburb. Everything else remains the same.”

Given how much workplaces have changed since the onset of the pandemic, more firms need to adjust their mindsets and lean into a more hybrid way of doing things, added Kostopoulos.

“We understand that it is important to have that hybrid approach with everything you do. I never say to firms, take your whole team offshore; that would be silly. But the hybrid approach of having people in-house, having people working from home, understanding that there’s place for tech,” he said.

“There’s places for the traditional legal infrastructure, and there’s also a place for the future of law and tech in law. So having that hybrid mindset around everything for me is a formula for success.”

The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Evan Kostopoulos, click below:

Lauren Croft

Lauren is a journalist at Lawyers Weekly and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from Macleay College. Prior to joining Lawyers Weekly, she worked as a trade journalist for media and travel industry publications and Travel Weekly. Originally born in England, Lauren enjoys trying new bars and restaurants, attending music festivals and travelling. She is also a keen snowboarder and pre-pandemic, spent a season living in a French ski resort.