Job Thieves

One accusation that is leveled upon countries where business processes are outsourced – They are stealing out jobs! Most Americans believe that their job market is being invaded by the cheap labor countries like China, India and other South East Asian countries. There must have been countless debates & arguments on media, letters to the government, petitions and more protesting against outsourcing.

Not only are many politicians involved in this anti-outsourcing agenda but professors, teachers and parents are bringing this ideology home to the younger generation. You will find the youths in countries like America and UK being more and more vocal against outsourcing. Race and hate crimes are increasing day by day especially in UK because of the misplaced discontent.

Being an Indian myself I detest being accused of stealing jobs and I have been at the receiving end of grumblings and animosity during my days with the BPO industry. So one starts to wonder, are we really stealing jobs from the unassuming souls in US, UK and Europe? Are we really the villain that we are made out to be? Or are we just a punching bag for nations riddled with faulty economic policies?

Voices are raised especially when the times are tough and a financial crisis looms large. During such financial crisis, companies tend to find the quick fix policy of firing employees more convenient. Since firing employees tends to show immediate returns due to the cut in salary, companies feel they have done their job in cost cutting. Shareholders are happy since the company profits are not eroding. The banks are happy since the company has successfully evaded bankruptcy by another day. The only ones who get a raw deal is the employee who lost his job. The anger and frustration of this employee is understandable. He is seething with anger and then he sees that the company is now outsourcing his job to some low cost-center across the seas. But obviously, he will feel cheated and the anger against outsourcing makes sense. The company has to outsource now since existing employees were fired and they need people to do the same work. Obvious choice will be to approach countries where the standard of living and labor costs are comparatively cheaper.

But what needs to be understood here is that the employee did not lose his job because of an Indian or Chinese or Filipino counterpart. He lost his job because his employer could not manage the finances very well. His employer ended up in this soup because of faulty management practices. The very reason a company had to trim its staff is because they were unable to manage their costs. But if the company invested it’s time in drawing up a comprehensive outsourcing strategy at the onset of financial troubles, then they can actually contain the spiraling costs and will not have to resort to large scale lay-offs.

But since they have indulged in practices without foresight, they see read when recession hits. They have to consider the option of outsourcing because it helps them survive to face another day. Rather than going bankrupt and being a burden on the already strained economy, outsourcing keeps them in the race thereby saving thousand others from facing unemployment. Now I know that every time I take up a project on an online marketplace, I am actually not stealing jobs but I am actually saving hundreds of others from losing their jobs.

Source:

• http://internationalbusiness.suite101.com/article.cfm/outsourcingdebate
• http://blogversity.com/recruitomatic/2006/07/11/india-stealing-jobs-2/
• http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/dr-gupta/does-offshore-outsourcing-leads-to-more-jobs-in-the-us-2512
• http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/books/2005/01/24/indian_programmers/