Tue Mar 9, 2004 08:55 PM ET By David Zielenziger NEW YORK (Reuters) - The rush to outsource jobs in low-cost centers abroad has some similarities to the rush by businesses to get online in the late 90s, with the hype masking problems that could dog companies in the future, an outsourcing survey concluded. The survey of more than 500 senior finance and information technology executives by outsourcing specialist Hewitt Associates Inc. warns that dealing with people who don't understand U.S. culture and backlash among domestic employees could turn into minefields for U.S. companies moving jobs to low-cost centers for the savings. "It's almost like a 'dot-com' rush," said Mark Arian, Hewitt's corporate restructuring practice chief, who added that neglecting these issues now could backfire. For example, Arian said appliance makers are shifting customer service staff to places where nobody has the experience of owning a washing machine. Others are hiring top Indian business graduates without specifying a career path that could include working in the United States. Companies must do a better job planning for human resources issues, such as training, according to the Hewitt consultant. Hewitt, based in Lincolnshire, Illinois, derives about 67 percent of revenue from outsourcing, with the rest from consulting and other services. The shifting of jobs overseas has become a hot issue in the U.S. presidential campaign. Forrester Research Inc. estimates as many as 3.3 million U.S. service jobs will migrate offshore by 2017. And the American Electronics Association reports that more than 770,000 U.S. technology jobs have been lost since 2001. COMMUNICATION IS VITAL Companies should communicate clearly with their domestic employees at the outset of outsourcing, to head off confusion about which jobs are being outsourced, and which ones aren't, according to Hewitt. Among the top three challenges listed by respondents, 59 percent listed cultural barriers, 35 percent cited lack of quality and 32 percent backlash from home country employees. While only about a third of the nearly 200 companies surveyed have shifted work abroad, nearly all the companies are considering it. The most popular functions involved are information technology and customer service. The survey showed that 60 percent of companies that sent jobs abroad are already using India to outsource jobs, with 36 percent using China and 32 percent turning to Mexico. Besides those venues, respondents also said they are exploring shifting jobs to locations from Ireland to Jamaica. Of about 200 companies surveyed, approximately 60 percent employ more than 10,000 people worldwide and 55 percent are not manufacturers, the Hewitt survey found. © Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=reutersEdge&storyID=4533153
Jobs outsourcing one hot potato "In late afternoon, the administration announced that the new assistant secretary of commerce for manufacturing and service would be named at a ceremony Thursday morning. Industry officials were told that the job would go to Anthony Raimondo, chairman and chief executive of a Nebraska company that makes metal buildings and grain silos. But Kerry's campaign, tipped off about the impending nomination several hours earlier, hastened to distribute news reports that Raimondo's firm, Behlen Manufacturing Co. of Columbus, Neb., had laid off 75 U.S. workers in 2002, four months after announcing a $3 million factory in northwest Beijing." http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/auto/epaper/editions/today/news_04f41e9e07a1d0a40003.html Too funny The President's Manufacturing Czar...in China setting up his new factory From C-Span Wed. night 9:30 PM - Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio reported to the House: - The one manufacturing job created by Bush, his manufacturing czar, will be unable to attend his appointment ceremony in Ohio, because he is in China overseeing the building of his factory. This is no joke. - 20% of U.S. CEO's expect to export jobs in next 12 months - The President is banning the word "outsourcing" and will replace it with "world wide sourcing" when referring to jobs lost to foreign competition. - Craig Barret of Intel said jobs will go overseas or corporations cannot compete. Go to college to hold a computer-programming job for $5000/yr. - Subsidizing outsourcing by tax preference for those that produce overseas. - OPEC is scheduled to offer an April 1st (fool's day) cut in production to increase prices. Five OPEC are members of WTO...WTO does not permit members to collude to control prices. - We are at war and the battle is being fought in Global trade. The Administration is not convincing Americans that he has any plan to win this war. It seems that he is convinced that the real threat to the U.S. is in Iraq. http://www.e-thepeople.org/article/30022/view?viewtype=best