By Carol Ann Conover<\/p>\n
Tim McNeil\u2019s path to running a staffing company that recruits exclusively from Latin America began with clients who needed support staff but found domestic hiring challenging.<\/p>\n
McNeil and his business partner Rob Rogers own GSD Staffing, a company that places workers from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Belize with U.S. businesses seeking to fill behind-the-scenes roles at rates well below domestic labor costs. The partners operate from a coworking space in Saratoga and work remotely from their homes in Queensbury and Charlton.<\/p>\n
The business emerged from the partners\u2019 other company, OSR Manage, which provides fractional sales management services to IT companies across North America. When clients began requesting appointment setters and marketing support but expressed concerns about salary expectations, McNeil and Rogers redirected their existing recruiter to source candidates from Latin America.<\/p>\n
What started as a solution for a handful of clients has evolved into a business model the partners believe could eventually become their primary focus. GSD Staffing currently employs about 30 people and aims to double that number by year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got those first 30 kind of by accident,\u201d McNeil said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got the marketing engine going now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company charges clients between $2,500 and $3,000 monthly per placement, a significant discount compared to domestic salaries. McNeil attributes rising wage pressures to the pandemic\u2019s aftermath, saying some positions have jumped from $45,000 annually to $65,000. GSD Staffing serves as the employer of record, handling payroll, taxes and compliance with labor laws in each country.<\/p>\n
The workers themselves remain in their home countries, taking advantage of time zone proximity that McNeil describes as a key selling point over offshore alternatives in the Philippines or India. Depending on the season, workers in GSD\u2019s recruiting markets operate in either Central or Mountain time zones, typically within one or two hours of their U.S. clients.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/b>\u201cMost of the countries that we recruit in, six months a year they\u2019re Central time zone, six months of the year they\u2019re Mountain Standard,\u201d McNeil said. \u201cThey\u2019re very close from a time zone standpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n McNeil, 45, grew up in Rochester and played hockey at SUNY Plattsburgh before working as a recruiter in Connecticut\u2019s insurance and financial planning sector. He met Rogers while both worked at an IT managed services provider in Hartford, where they eventually left to launch their own business with their former employer as their first client.<\/p>\n The partners emphasize cultural alignment as another advantage of their Latin American focus. McNeil noted many candidates vacation in the U.S. and have family connections here. One employee spent two weeks in Connecticut over the holidays despite living in Guatemala.<\/p>\n GSD Staffing has placed workers in roles ranging from virtual assistants to marketing associates, operations support and its first technical position, which started this week. One Chicago-based client employs a worker whose primary responsibility is managing the owner\u2019s inbox for nearly eight hours daily.<\/p>\n The model presents distinct cost advantages for client companies who wish to opt out of domestic hiring to save on employment liability. Workers placed through GSD are employed by the staffing firm itself, not the client company, meaning clients avoid expenses beyond the monthly fee. Employees are not eligible for client company benefits such as 401(k) plans or profit-sharing programs.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause the person is employed by GSD Staffing, they\u2019re not eligible for that stuff,\u201d McNeil explained.<\/p>\n The arrangement also sidesteps typical compensation packages. While McNeil said retirement planning carries less emphasis culturally in Latin America than in the U.S., the structure effectively allows client companies to reduce workforce-related expenses significantly.<\/p>\n GSD handles country-specific payment requirements, such as Guatemala\u2019s 14-month pay structure and El Salvador\u2019s 13-month system, which include mandatory mid-year and year-end bonuses. These costs are built into the company\u2019s monthly client fees.<\/p>\n McNeil acknowledged the business emerged during a period when he says domestic salaries became difficult for some companies to manage. \u201cWe had a lot of people that wanted to work with us, but they just flat out couldn\u2019t afford the domestic salary,\u201d he said, pointing to what he describes as rapidly rising wage expectations in the post-pandemic economy.<\/p>\n The company has encountered minimal pushback to date about placing international workers in positions that might otherwise employ U.S. citizens. McNeil said GSD focuses on tasks he characterizes as \u201c$20 or less an hour\u201d work \u2014 administrative duties that business owners \u201cdon\u2019t have time to do and don\u2019t really want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI am not crazy about people only going offshore, nearshore for employment or for employees,\u201d McNeil said. \u201cI don\u2019t believe in that.\u201d<\/p>\n The partners maintain their approach serves companies in different economic conditions. During growth periods, businesses can add project-based support without full-salary commitments. During downturns, when companies typically cut non-revenue-generating roles, GSD offers a lower-cost alternative to maintain necessary support functions.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like we\u2019re positioned in a place where we can help the company that may be struggling but needs that person to get over the hump,\u201d McNeil said.<\/p>\n GSD Staffing\u2019s recruiting team of two works full-time to vet candidates, prioritizing cultural fit over specific skill sets. \u201cOur belief pretty strongly is if you can find the right culture fit, you can train the rest,\u201d McNeil said.<\/p>\n The company is launching a redesigned, SEO-optimized website in the first quarter and plans to attend more local and national events as it scales operations. While GSD\u2019s current focus remains Latin American placements, the partners have capabilities to recruit domestically through their other business and may expand in that direction once the new website launches.<\/p>\n Currently, GSD\u2019s client base consists primarily of IT companies, reflecting the partners\u2019 industry background. However, McNeil said any business-to-business service company could potentially benefit from the model, including HR, payroll and financial planning firms.<\/p>\n The company name stands for \u201cGet Stuff Done,\u201d a reflection of McNeil and Rogers\u2019 preference for self-directed employees who require minimal oversight.<\/p>\n \u201cRob and I are people that we just, we\u2019ve always wanted to find a place that we don\u2019t have to micromanage, that just kind of gets stuff done,\u201d McNeil said.<\/p>\n For more information, visit gsdstaffing.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Carol Ann Conover Tim McNeil\u2019s path to running a staffing company that recruits exclusively from Latin America began with clients who needed support staff but found domestic hiring challenging. McNeil and his business partner Rob Rogers own GSD Staffing, a company that places workers from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Belize with U.S. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-office-hr-employment"],"yoast_head":"\r\n