Outsourcing - "White Collar Recession"

suncorp insurance sending jobs off shore

It is not just banks, Suncorp insurance have retrenched 50 staff so far and sent 71 jobs to India.

http://www.insurancenews.com.au/the-professional/suncorp-sends-more-jobs-offshore

I note that only 2 months ago in November last year Suncorp were denying this - claiming only 20 jobs would be sent off shore....

http://www.insurancenews.com.au/the-professional/fsu-suncorp-argue-over-offshoring-numbers

These retrenched people will find it hard to find jobs in the same industry,
since most insurers are going through staff freezes/ cut backs at the moment

what sorts of jobs should we "office" people be moving to?
 
Some-one as to manage and deal with all the issues and spinnoffs as a result of outsourcing OS and the difference in communication. These jobs & responsibilities can never be moved offshore!
 
Just means that people in Australia need to skill up and actually create things. There's no reason why people should get paid lots of money for doing a pen-pusher job that can be done for 1/3 the cost.

Hmm... having gone through an outsourcing process, I'd say that the amount of QA that had to be done is ridiculous, we had 2-3 people from overseas doing a job, which needed 1 staff (from original company) to totally redo. As much as people from Australia need to skill up, people from outsourcing companies need to hire and scrutinize better too.
 
Hmm... having gone through an outsourcing process, I'd say that the amount of QA that had to be done is ridiculous, we had 2-3 people from overseas doing a job, which needed 1 staff (from original company) to totally redo. As much as people from Australia need to skill up, people from outsourcing companies need to hire and scrutinize better too.

Found much the same problem.

But wny is it so ?

I have wondered at the quality of handovers & training received plays a role. It does get tiring speaking to staff aobut day to day things and them reacting like it's the first time they'd ever heard of any such thing, ever.
 
Found much the same problem.

But wny is it so ?

I have wondered at the quality of handovers & training received plays a role.

I did the handover partly, not entirely easy as you know that they are taking your job away, nonetheless, I handed over as much as I can. I came out of each session totally exhausted ...
 
A lot of these perceived cost savings are 2 steps forward, and 3 steps back.

A good example is the QANTAS self checkins. Apparently they need more staff with this idea to sort out issues and explain the deal than the old fashioned way. It may pay off over time - but certainly is costing more and creating greater customer service issues.

Plenty of examples like this.

For many tasks you can't beat local Australians, that speak our lingo and understand our culture having lived here. Most front line jobs require this, and many others down the line do too - to a certain degree.
 
For many tasks you can't beat local Australians, that speak our lingo and understand our culture having lived here. Most front line jobs require this, and many others down the line do too - to a certain degree.

Good point.

From my observations in the IT industry, the productivity of outsourced staff is much lower. The main issues seem to be communication and culture. Communication over long distance is limited. The worse though is that we believe outsourced staff understand our environment, but they don't. Incorrect assumptions are a real problem.

I've seen outsourcing in the IT industry for more than 10 years. From what I can tell, the Indians are still learning how to do it properly. It's far from being a mature industry delivering predictable benefits. But the lure of the cost savings makes companies keep trying at it though.
 
For many tasks you can't beat local Australians, that speak our lingo and understand our culture having lived here. Most front line jobs require this, and many others down the line do too - to a certain degree.

Haha - got a telemarketing call yesterday (as I do most days - sigh) ... the standard pause after answering, then the fuzzy line, the cherry thick-Indian-accented hello ... "This is Steven from Melbourne!"

Yeah right :rolleyes: p**s off.

Now - before you all get up in arms - I did work for many years in a call office with a Sri Lankan with an accent ... but the other factors (fuzzy line, telemarketing pause etc) gave it away. Don't pretend your local when you are not!
 
Hi All,

I am working in IT space (Testing and Quality Assurance), and believe me jobs which have been outsourced to India, comes with considerable cost savings.

I have been there to set up a back end office for a big bank and can see more headcounts for the price of 1 employee over here.

Transition can be painful but long term if you have good controls, you would see quality coming through. (mainly because staff employed there might be on fixed/variable pay) i.e. they receive fixed base pay + variable pay based on errors/issues they rectify within given time frame. Hence its more target driven and better results do come out in the end.

Regards,
TV
 
Not just India.
Even the Chinese are in on it. Rang my internal helpdesk the other day and it was someone in China who spoke with gasp an American accent.
 
Outsourcing of the cheaper, 'cookie-cutter' process driven roles has been occurring for some time. The client-facing, design based and consulting type roles will stay, though.
 
Back
Top