Is the Education Level in Zimbabwe Comparable to The United States?

When I first started this venture three years ago, I was concerned about the level of education in Zimbabwe. My thought process was telling me, “I’m going to have to sift through a bunch of paperwork to find somebody who’s up to my standards.” However, I quickly found out that, of all the 54 countries in Africa, Zimbabwe ranks first or second in education level every year. The reason for this is that Zimbabwe follows a British-based education system that gets results. In addition to this, families place a high emphasis on their child’s education. Parents will go to extreme measures and gather their resources to ensure a university degree is within reach of their child. A degree, by the way, which is at par with the United States. Parents do this for one reason. A solid education is considered the best way for their child to find a better life in their underperforming economy.

Will I be Able to Understand My Employee?

Zimbabwe is a former British colony, where English is the people’s first language, not a “picked-up” second language. Their accent is authentically British and easy to understand. Before I first started ZimWorX, I was using contracted workers through Upwork and various other outsourcing modules for my dental imaging and equipment company. However, using them was a constant struggle as language was always an issue. When I came upon this particular opportunity in Zimbabwe with my partner, who was born there, I discovered people group who speak the Queen’s English! I find joy interacting with them on a regular basis. In fact, Zimbabweans speak such excellent English; many of our clients utilize them to contact their customers on the phone.

What Kinds of Skills Will I Be Able to Find in Zimbabwe?

There has yet to be a case where we could not find an employee to fill a client’s needs. When you start looking, the key is to think outside of the box and dream about positions you wish you could fill. Should I hire someone to relieve the stress of my overworked staff? How about a new position that might jump-start my business’s creativity? Or, what about hiring someone skilled in advertising to get my product known in my community? These are the questions every growing business should be asking itself. As you ask yourself those questions, here are a few of the many skills we can find to take your business to new heights.

• Accounts Receivable Director
• Customer Service Specialist
• Data Entry Manager
• Back End/Front End Web Developer
• Insurance Verification/Call Backs/Patient Follow-up
• Personal Assistant
• Accounts Manager
• Financial Analyst
• I.T. Consultant
• Systems Analyst
• Distribution Manager
• App Developer
• Content Writer
• Social Media Specialist
• Art Development
• 2D and 3D Animator
• Video and Sound Specialist
• Sales Assistant

These are just the tip of the iceberg. No matter the position, we will work hard to find what you need, from lower-level task positions to upper echelon leaders. If you can dream it and come up with a job description, we will find the right person for you!

What is Their Working Schedule?

Zimbabwe uses Central African Time (CAT) which is between six to nine hours ahead of the continental United States, depending on the client’s time zone. However, the time zone differences do not need consideration when setting your employees work hours. Why? Because our office is open 24 hours a day and the team members know that they must sync their schedule with yours. That means if they need to start their eight-hour shift at 4:00 a.m., or finish work at midnight CAT, they will do it. Typically, the bulk of our team members arrive and work from 3p.m. to midnight CAT, which is a normal 8a.m to 5 p.m. Central Time (CST) but there is rarely an hour in the day when someone is not working.

Will My Employee Honor Confidentiality?

All employees sign a non-disclosure agreement (N.D.A) upon hire. It’s important to note that an N.D.A. in Zimbabwe is a highly regarded document. Employees are acutely aware that breaching an N.D.A. goes on their permanent work record and that is very detrimental to their ability to find future work and because of this, the people in Zimbabwe, compared to other places, never share sensitive company information.

Do They Desire to Work?

In Zimbabwe, the unemployment rate is over 80%, yet it is a country with over 2 million university-educated employees. Jobs that are needed to help survive and take care of one’s families are scarce to come by. Because of this, people are appreciative of any opportunity to find employment. Also, since we pay good salaries in U.S. currency, we are a sought-after workplace with excellent retention.

What about My Current Employees? Will they Push Back Out of Fear for Their Jobs?

As you begin thinking about using remote workers in Zimbabwe, you may have to deal with some initial fear from your current employees. Your employees will often think, “The Company is going with remote workers now? Oh no! They’re going to replace us all!” You can ease those fears from the beginning by changing their mindset. Help your employees realize that you are hiring remote workers to take care of the many tasks that are currently keeping them from doing their actual job. Another perspective would be showing them that you want to add on to grow and expand your business, in which case, everybody wins. One of our clients faced this from her local employees. After some guidance from us, she cast a vision to her team, showing how this would lighten their workload and enable the company to expand to new areas. She was also able to share that this was an opportunity to give employment to someone who desperately needed it. After hearing this vision, her team got fully on board.

The Takeaway

Zimbabwe is a perfect country to Outsource your next employee. As we have seen, the people of Zimbabwe are university educated with degrees on par with the United States. They have qualifications in every area of business. Their first language is English, and they speak the “Queen’s English.” As a former British colony, they are heavily influenced by western culture. They desire to work and will work on your schedule. And, their society promotes confidentiality. There are very few countries that have remote workers like this.