So, the controlled chaos of congestion charging has started. While the
teething troubles will be felt in central London, the solutions have been
worked out on a dusty IT park in India.
IT outsourcing company Mastek is responsible for designing the software that
allows for the monitoring of traffic. It is another small example of the
mounting trend of outsourcing technology services and call centre provision to
the sub-continent. Research suggests that a fifth of the UK’s call centre jobs
will be transferred to India by 2010, to take advantage of cost savings.
While employers are rightly blaming the Government for increasing employment
costs and reducing flexibility in the UK, they also need to examine their own
roles.
The IT and service sectors have become important to the UK. If we start
haemorrhaging jobs abroad, then this has significant implications for the
long-term health of our economy.
The easy route – naturally favoured by finance directors – is to seek the
lowest cost provider, but HR has a duty to ensure staff in the UK are as
competitive as they can possibly be.
Instead of threatening staff with the spectre of outsourcing as a means of
getting compliance (see page 1), HR should be developing the type of motivated
and skilled workforce that don’t need to worry about it.
One-stop advice for you
This week, Personnel Today celebrates its 15th birthday – a fitting moment
perhaps to announce a fresh and important initiative for the profession. We are
launching a new brand – Personnel Today’s Management Resources – to deliver a
regular flow of high quality, practical information on subscription only.
Beginning with the publication of one stop guides on key themes, Personnel
Today is committed to providing products which cut through the jargon, save
time and money and give you step-by-step advice on implementing change in your
business.
In keeping with the magazine and Personneltoday.com, these guides will be
topical, reliable and accessible to all. Online Recruitment is the subject of
our first guide and is published this week.
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