Discussion from meeting today re: outsourcing to India

[liberal N proud]

A couple of weeks back a manager made a comment in a meeting about outsourcing work to India, indicating that he thought it was a good thing for us to look that way.
This manager is a hard core bu$h bot, he even has an 8x10 pic of bu$h in cowboy boots on his desk.
Things in the office went a little wild over that comment.
Forward to a meeting today, the comments were brought up again. Many of the same people that were in the meeting two weeks ago were there. Not the manager in question.


One engineer in the meeting made the comment that the reason for our high quality of living in America is due to companies outsourcing.

I looked at him and said that those who had their jobs outsource would beg to differ.

[Soloflecks]

1. Good gawd!

They really do believe that catapaulted propaganda, don't they. Or maybe they are the total bastards they appear to be. I hope theirs are the next jobs to go!

[MadMaddie]

2. Wait till that engineers job is outsourced...

be sure to ask him his thoughts when that happens!!

[mdmc]

3. I understand outsourcing, People over profits.

Unless we fight for unions, for the quality of life for all, not just for ourselves, outsourcing will continue. It is cheaper to outsource - it is good business.

[Inland]

4. As a business matter, outsourcing overseas looks better than it is.

In fact, outsourcing always looks better than it is. Why? Because then the important function is lost to the business that now has to depend on a business that, frankly, doesn't give a shit beyond getting paid and really can't be removed without high transition costs, if ever.

The first outsourcing I was made familiar with was law departments. Big corporations would look at the bills from law firms and say, "why are we paying law firms when we can have an in house legal department?" Ten years later, there would be new managment that said, "why are we paying a huge bloated legal staff when we could just pay an outside firm for the services we need?". Rinse, repeat.

But when a vital function like engineering or accounting is sent to India, you can't bring it back later.

For an overseas outsourcing, what happens if it isn't right in the service sector? Who fixes it, and how? It's not like a container of hammers that you can just reject and not pay for.

And what about liability? Who gets sued if the drawings are wrong, or the accounting is bad? Not the Indian firm.

What I tell people is to get out in front and do what India can't do: a quality job with people who can get fired if they fuck up, and lower costs in whatever way you can. The accounting department doesn't need to go to India. It needs to go to a low cost building.

[MadMaddie]

7. You have pointed out my main concern....

At the rate we are outsourcing jobs (especially Key Infrastructure)jobs...

If the US comes into a situation where we are literally isolated from the world, can the US support it's own Infrastructure.

Farming, Power Grids, Airports, Ports, many many more...you are right we can't bring those jobs back quickly...

That has always been the problem with this administration...no long term impact assessment!!

<snip>
But when a vital function like engineering or accounting is sent to India, you can't bring it back later.
<snip>

[Warpy]

9. There are no medical confidentiality laws in India

where much of the medical transcription, billing and records keeping is now being done. That means anyone (like a new insurance company) has access to all your medical records through whatever vendor is keeping them if they pay a small fee.

There have already been a couple of cases of extortion over medical records in the news. My guess is that this will keep happening and increase.

This is one of the most glaring problems with shipping vital service jobs to India. The others were as you pointed out. Most companies who have tried the outsourcing route have found that they've needed to change vendors multiple times to get the work done competently. All of this takes money that would have been better spent keeping the jobs in the US.

[Warpy]

5. Wait until they start crying for lost customers

because that's exactly what is going to happen. With every job that goes to India, there is one more person who has to take a job making far less money, and that means they spend only on necessities and even pare those back as far as they can. For every person whose job goes to India, more businesses lay off help because they aren't doing enough business to support a full staff.

Every offshored job has a ripple effect as the person who is newly unemployed can no longer afford to support the consumer economy. Eventually this will all come back to these companies run by men who are outsmarting themselves, and the trend may stop. My guess is that the trend won't stop until the government forces it to stop and neither party seems willing to do that.

[davidwparker]

6. I hope it doesn't happen where you are. I work for a large company

that does outsource, everything not tied down. I don't think it is worth the stress in your life to work under those situations. You know its crap. If they start outsourcing, LEAVE if you can. It begins with low-level things. Then, you yourself don't write a line of code. It's done in India. Then, there's not enough work to go around between the people onshore and offshore. Next, you're obsolete because the cost of living here is so high compared to the third world.

I'm thinking its better to work for a smaller company and still have a job than to try to work for a larger company and then loose it. I also boycott the services of larger companies and by local as much as I can.

[MadMaddie]

8. I agree with you...

smaller is better...