diddy

I've been pretty p*ss*d off for a couple of days now. Yesterday at work, FD annouces to a room of us that a third of jobs are going to Sri Lanka - Accountants not Call Centre staff for a change.

Surprise, surprise, no management jobs will be lost. They're 'not doing it for cost purposes, but it will make the company more operationally effecient' (My Bum it does!!).

What amazed me is that everyone affected has just accepted it and when the FD said does anyone have any questions, no one asked anything. Every time I knock it around the office (I'm leaving New Years Eve, so I don't care) no one joins me. I really think they're so scared of losing their jobs, they won't even challenge the prospect of losing it.

Anyway, I fully appreciate that this is the way of the world, but I think it's B*ll*cks, especially when bonuses are linked to it's success and 'it's not for cost purposes'.

I better give this an Aussie slant, so is this occurring out there in the same way it's happening over here?


Oh, and one other thing - here's a new cr*p business word 'Up Skinning' - no it's nothing to with drugs - it means getting rid of the lower down staff and only keeping the higher qualified experts.

So in that spirit, I think the company should 'synergise their BS going forward, in order to process map operationally efficiency thereby allowing the factoring in of streamlining without necessarily streamlining their money grabbing *rses).

There, that's me finished. I'm not annoyed by it.........honest.

Wol

As in so many industries and companies, the top management are not bright enough to grasp the difference between "increasing shareholder value by longterm policy" and "incresing shareholder value by short-term expenditure cutbacks".

The second is easy to do - and eventually leads to the collapse of the company.

On second thoughts, they ARE bright enough: their bonuses are never linked to the long term so they will be off to wreck another company before the shareholders get hit.

diddy

Agreed.

What's it Downunder for this sort of thing?

podgypossum

It definitely does happen here too. my noe EX bank HSBC, has all its call centre staff based in Malaysia. I think this is a disgrace when you consider the amount of people living here who could fill the post and earn a crust from it.

The efficiency take on it really is BS. How is it more efficient to talk tosomeone in another country who, most of the itme, can hardly understand what you are talking about and vice versa.. i got sick of it and moved my finances elsewhere.

Wol

No idea - I'm retired (on a UK pension so watching the exchange rate closely) but, based on looking at other aspects of Oz life I would say it is the same syndrome and probably worse!

I watched my UK company make one bizarre decision after another: the shares dropped to a fifth of their value and this of course was blamed on "external influences". These were very significant, but the way the policies were changed from day to day depending on the flavour of the month consultants certainly didn't help.

Grayling

I don't really know but earlier this year I recieved some official documents from an Australian public body which were sent from Singapore.

I am not sure if they were prepared or simply posted from 'offshore'.

G

OzTennis

Our Commonwealth Bank statements come to us in Scotland variously postmarked Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore!

A work colleague had an accident a few days ago (car skidded on mud and slurry left by a farmer, doing 40 mph in a 60 mph zone) and made a claim to his insurance company - which went to India. He was on the phone for nearly an hour! Dumfries, spell that for me. Where is Dumfries? Scotland? In which county of England is that (mind you in 2002 President Bush asked Charlotte Church which County of England Wales was in)? Why did you have an accident? Shouldn't you have been going slower? On and on it went. I have a protected no claim bonus he kept shouting, just process the so and so claim. Another satisfied customer of a company which outsources its call centre!

As Rog said, short termism - prune costs. Inevitable, alas! Not possible for many I know but the message seems to be to go for an occupation with less risk of your job being given to a cheaper worker in another country. Anything which can be done on a machine, phone or a computer is tailor made for outsourcing.

OzTennis

seang

Interesting thing is -alot of companies that went to , say , India are now slowly moving back(and I mean slowly).This is based on customer complaints and bad press but also the attrition rate in some of these centres off shore is HUGE.

The companies returning are not returning in house but outsourcing in UK.Also I was recently on a call to my banks customer care line .I was sure I was through to somewhere off shore judging by the level of english the person had -turns out I was through to a centre in UK!

Scossie

Grrrrr!!!

Totally know where you're coming from. We're from East Kilbride & we've been in Perth WA for a year & a half now.
Never a week goes by that I don't get asked something like,"So what was the work situation like in England?", or, "Do they do it that way in England?"!!!
I'm fed up saying, "I don't know! I've never bloody lived in England!!!".

Not that I've got anything against England or the English.... or any other nationality for that matter, but it's sooooooo... annoying when people use England as a generic term for The UK!

The person invariably then says, "You know what I mean. It's the same thing". Grrrrrrr again!!!

I'll bet none of our English buddies who post on this board, and may talk in an accent that sounds like they could be Michael Caine's, or Janet Street-Porter's brother or sister, ever get asked what it was like growing up in Scotland!!

I'm trying to be pretty light hearted here, & hope this doesn't sound like a rant, but it's just so bloody annoying when it happens!

Apart from that, life is goooooood, & I love living in Oz...

Cheers..... John....

keel

I know where your coming from John.

Been in Perth now 15 months. Born and bred Northumbrian.

I've been mistaken for being Irish! Mind you that was afew years ago when I worked near London, most of the other people I spoke to down there didn't even realise I was British.

Keel

MikeStanton

It's called evolution. We all enjoy the benefits of low-cost production and services. Eg DVD players for £30/$A100 etc. But, when people - especially white-collar workers - have their functions outsourced there is a lot of hand-wringing and the usual crap about poor management.

Of course, there are lots of mistakes being made. Eg too much concentration on cost-reduction in the short term. But outsourcing will continue to rise, because it makes good commercial sense. And it's not new; it's been going on for hundreds of years - firstly products , eg ships, textiles. And now services.

Eg I can get damn good IT people that speak perfect English (which immediately gives them a head start over many Brits and Aussies), are highly qualified and a third of the cost of UK staff.

It's your choice - adapt or die.

OzTennis

I can partly understand some Aussies not knowing the Geography of the UK (it isn't the mother country and it's a long way away and it won't get taught in schools anymore and fewer migrants % wise are from Blighty), but you shouldn't expect it when you phone your UK insurance company, bank or whatever! There's actually an ad on UK TV which trumpets the fact that you can actually phone the branch of your bank (big deal). It is of course because all the other banks have gone the Indian route or the route of press 1 for this, press 2 for this, press 3 for this then choose from the following options etc.

I am surprised how ignorant some people are within the UK about other parts of the UK - try saying Kirkcudbrightshire to an English phone operator! Some English tennis players I come across don't know the difference between Edinburgh and Glasgow; West and East of Scotland. e.g. A common one is West of Scotland, that's Edinburgh right? No, west is left, east is right, Glasgow is on the left, Edinburgh is on the right!

OzTennis

JackTheLad

Another profound conversation me and Mrs JTL had was about this very subject.

India has a deficit of payments, i.e. its importing more European and US stuff than it exports. Yet it gets all the bad press about stealing US and European jobs. Thats not fair, its trying to catch up, and its buying more of our stuff than we are buying of theirs.Yet we are whinging about it?!?

There is a ladder here. Countries start at the bottom producing the basics , food, minerals, oil, etc. Then they advance, and produce secondaries like cloth,plastics, chemicals. Then they move up to advanced stuff like toys, moulded plastics e.g. china 20 years ago. Then they advance even more and produce good quality stuff,electronics and toys and rip offs of US and european toys. Then they learn the electronics business, and get better than the west at that. The trick is we are supposed to advance 1 step ahead. Advance or die, or become a 3rd world nation.

Don't whinge, get better,

JTL

OzTennis

If Aussie/Australia bashers could be outsourced your job would be the first to go to Bangalore.

What happened to UK shipbuilding, textiles etc was not due to outsourcing which is a more recent phenomena. Uncompetitiveness over a longer time period, the penalty for being the first industrialised nation if you like but not outsourcing.

Why did I think the Adam Smith Institute far right think tank would pronounce?

OzTennis

wargod

Sorry to hijack this thread but i have just been sent this joke, as i have seen a few Scots on this post i just had to post it. Sorry if it causes offense, but made me chuckle.

************************************************** ******

A Scotsman, a sheep, and a dog were survivors of a terrible
shipwreck. They found themselves stranded on a desert island. After
being there for a while, they got into the habit of going to the
beach every evening to watch the sun set.

One particular evening, the sky was a fiery red with beautiful cirrus
clouds, the breeze was warm and gentle; a perfect night for romance.
As they sat there, the sheep started looking better and better to the
Scotsman. Soon he leaned over to the sheep and put his arm around it.
But the dog got jealous, growling fiercely until the Scotsman took
his arm from around the sheep.

After that, the three of them continued to enjoy the sunsets
together, but There was no more cuddling.

A few weeks passed by and, lo and behold, there was another
shipwreck. The only survivor was a beautiful young woman, the most
beautiful woman the Scotsman had ever seen. She was in a pretty bad
way when they rescued her, and they slowly nursed her back to health.
When the young maiden was well enough, they introduced her to their
evening beach ritual.

It was another beautiful evening: red sky, cirrus clouds, a warm and
gentle breeze; perfect for a night of romance. Pretty soon, the
Scotsman started to get "those feelings" again. He fought them as
long as he could, but he finally gave in and leaned towards the young
woman, cautiously, and whispered in her ear...

"Would ye mind taking the dog for a wee walk?"