Those of you who are avid readers of the hallowed pages of Personnel Today (I know I am – it sits just perfectly on the table in the loos) will have noticed something ominous creeping in.
Two weeks ago, there was Megatron, head of the evil Deceptacon group of cult children’s cartoon Transformers, and last week, Stephen Overell’s column was graced by the scary visage of the Terminator.
Now don’t get me wrong – both these robotic psychopaths could get a job on my team without a problem since their dedication to getting the job done is beyond reproach. However, they also dovetail rather worryingly – if tenuously – into another story.
The Chinese are very good at technology, although I am not for a second suggesting that they design it to hunt people down and eradicate them. It was the tale of £55m being funnelled into China every week in investment and outsourcing revenue that caught my eye.
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Digby Jones of the Confederation of British Industry has said that making use of resources abroad is vital to our future survival. But how does this tally with China becoming the biggest consumer society in the world within 15 years (Personnel Today, 7 June)? Surely we are merely hastening our own demise? It’s only one short step to moving HQs from the UK to Shanghai, or some place with a name so unpronounceable that you’d never dare to try and visit.
So, as of now, I am bringing all our offshored business from India back to Blighty. However, even though they are now based on the ground floor, I doubt IT will be getting here any quicker to fix my computer.
