Outsourcing

[birdee 1]

What is everyone's thought on OUTSOURCING? I am not going to go there about who I support politically and who I don't....If large corporations are outsourcing american jobs to India, as well as other third world countires and we are spending TONS of money on the war...what's going to happen to the future of the Good Ole USA? Can our economy recover? Seems there will only be 2 classes of people RICH and POOR. The last time I checked, the average joes make the world go wrong....Let me know your thoughts?

Is your employer outsourcing?

How do you think it's going to effect our economy?

How can we band together to STOP IT?!?

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**Thought I would start this as a new thread**

[skyeblu79 0]

I don't think my current company outsources. My previous company did some for their call center, imaging, and paperwork processing. People @ work were concerned @ first, but the company said b/c of the outsources they didn't have to do a layoff...

I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. I think there are some good reasons for outsourcing.

One of my closest friends was laid off in November from IBM. They had to train people in India (I think) to do their jobs. She didn't really have a huge problem with it. She got a good chunk when she left IBM and it ended up being better for her in the long run. Before the layoff there was a lot of rumors and she was really nervous. Now she thinks it's the best thing that could have happened to her.

[mousecrazy 2]

I'm not especially happy when I call customer support and deal with heavy accents that are hard to understand, but otherwise, outsourcing has not had much of a personal impact.

The US economy is doing very well overall...what economic recovery are you concerned about? Interest rates are low, the stock market is doing well (indication of a robust economy)...

If a company decides to outsource jobs to other companies, there are reasons for that...the question to ask is WHY? What conditions here make it a profitable decision to do that?

I also understand that some companies that were outsourcing have discontinued that practice, because they did not consider the "hidden costs" of doing business out of the country (bribery/graft). Yes, the pay scale was lower, but the pay-offs cost quite a bit.

[birdee 1]

The economy is doing well now. But things we do now, seem to impact us later down the road. I guess what I am experiencing in my current roll is a lot different than what others have. Our staff was cut in 1/2 and no one got a package, because they choose to leave so they would have a job for that reason alone there were no layoffs, which I am sure the company is greatful! The bottom line is, when jobs are outsourcing, someone in the US is loosing that job, directly or indirectly. More and more companies are doing it, (at least the ones that I deal with im my industry). I hope it's a phase that will soon pass. As a professional worker, it is no fun fixing mistakes, and filtering through "crap" so our customers don't feel the impact of having inefficent service because of the lack training received and the distance.

Anyone can do a job that they are trained to do, but it's difficult when you are miles and miles away...

JMHO

[mousecrazy 2]

Definitely, there are different situations in different sectors of the economy.

Just curious, what type of business are you in?

Why do you think your company is sending jobs oversees?

Is your company aware of the mistakes that you are having to fix?

[wavydaby 1]

Its funny. I personally hate outsourcing.

It scares me. I work in the IT world in a bank and for us to send them information about how our systems work to a third world country that does not have the same security that we have is just scary.

There are lots of problems with outsourcing.

There is a HUGE language barrier to get over. and I am not talking accent. Words do not translate equally across languages. Not to mention India learns British english, not american English. There is a lot to be said for people to translate business requirements correctly. Which most times they do not.

I know that my company thinks they will save money by outsourcing.. what happens is that they see the benefits for a few quarters, then it all comes back and bites them in the tush. I know a rival bank of ours is now bringing back the divsion they outsourced to India due to the issues that they had. But stockholders and CEO's only see the $$'s saved that minute, not the $$'s spent to correct it the next day.

There is a new trend some businesses are doing called insourcing or something like that. They move call centers or IT depts to poorer parts of the US.

That is working, but it doesnt have the same big $$ bang that moving to India does.

Plus, if you ask me.. I think that the attitude that most Indian men are bringing to the table are setting back American women by 50 years. I have worked with quite a few Indian men who have the attitude to "let the little lady speak" then ignore her."

Its getting old that my male boss has to "reassure" my co-worker that yes, I do know what the heck I am talking about. But no one seems to be upset by this. ggggrrrr.

[birdee 1]

BINGO!!!! You got it Jill! I work in the insurance world and yes the CEO is promising stockholders big returns with the outsourcing. I am Ok with moving work to poorer US locations, because we are helping ourselves. I think in the long run it's going to hurt more than we can imagine. In my corporation, I really don't think the higher ups care how it's affecting the day to day duties. Because at the end of the day all you have is a bunch of disgruntle employees that can be replaced. It's frustrating to purchase services and equipment from someone that is in America and then when the crap breaks or you need assistance, you have to deal with crappy reception over the phone, a language barrier, and the customer service is compromised.

I wish I could find a way to get more Americans involved and really but the whole scenario out there about outsourcing.

The day to day stress I go through is taking days off of my life....but in my industry, it's happening more and more....so what do you do???

I have also been informed that more industries are outsourcing, for instance reading x-rays, the auditing industries, what's next. I think if a Company decides to outsource.....the should have to pay the US much more taxes...especially for unemployment alone! JMHO!

[green 6]

Canada is also experiencing the same problems as the United States is with this business of outsourcing. Since NAFTA there has been considerable job movement within the framework of continental North American and here I am including Mexico. This was to be expected.

But we have been losing many, many manufacturing jobs to off-shore companies. Much if not most of our clothing and footwear is made elsewhere and has been for decades now.

But now the hi-tech industries are off-shore companies and the service industries seem to be handing off telephone work to India.

I worked until I retired in the aircraft industry; over the recent years I have seen my company subcontract a lot of the component and minor assembly work off shore. The two problems that this can cause for the Canadian worker are as follows: if the materiel is late in arriving this will put our assembly schedules behind and leaves us twiddling our thumbs in the meantime; often these components are substandard and not only must we repair them, we have no one to whom we can give feedback and thus, ideally, rectify the problem.

Nevertheless, our masters seem to like the new system. We are unionized and thus are expensive work personnel.

[Sunta 4]

Outsourcing is another example of how American corporations put greed and lust for wealth above the lives of other human beings.

It's more important to make a buck than to employ local workers and create sustainable economies. It's also more important to make a buck than to provide good customer service.

I would never work for a company that outsources. The owners of my company receive offers every day to outsource our Web programming tasks for $7 per hour. Instead, they prefer to pay their employees a living wage, believing it's more important to put people before profits. As a matter of fact, they run the company with a "triple bottom line" approach: people first, planet second, and profit last.

Too bad more company owners don't follow their example.

[sophrosyne 0]

I think outsourcing is crap. I HATE dealing with customer service and tech people who have a hard time understanding what I'm saying.

Or whose accents are so thick, I can't understand a word they're saying.

Or who are so young (in both years and experience) they sound like they're barely out of school and have no idea what they're doing.

If I wanted someone to read from the manual to me, I could do it myself. Obviously, I'm calling because the manual couldn't fix it.

If you can't help me, refer me to your supervisor.

If your entire department is located in the third world, give me a phone number of someone I can call domestically.

What's really scary is the outsourcing of surgery. Especially when they're outsourcing to a third world hospital, because transplants are cheaper there.

Outsourcing is turning me into a cantankerous old fart.

[wavydaby 1]

The problem is not if you WORK for someone who outsources.. The problem is if you buy something from someone who outsources.

[foodstampchamp 3]

I hate outsourcing as a customer who may call a hotline for whatever reason. They pick up the phone, you cannot understand them. They have such a heavy accent. I just wanna say " excuse me sir, I know your name is not Kevin, or John, or whatever you just told me. "

[wavydaby 1]

Its in their scripting. Its crazy, they get to pick an "American" name.

[Carlene 12]

Its in their scripting. Its crazy, they get to pick an "American" name.

One IT guy told me his name was "Abraham Lincoln".

[Devana 0]

Before I ordered things online I often ordered by phone items from catalogues like J. Crew. They had their offices in the southern states and sometimes, I swear, I could barely understand the people on the other end of the telephone line.

I got a call from my bank's head office in Toronto offering some deal or other and the young man spoke so fast and it was so scripted (therefore devoid of inflection) that I could only catch every 6th word or so. I had no idea what he was talking about. I told him to try me another time when he was prepared to speak at regular speed and enunciate clearly.