Outsourced II
One day I went into work. It was just like any other day. I have the same desk, same phone, same computer, you would have to look very closely to notice the difference.
What was the difference?
I work for a different employer.
This is something that I hope that most people don’t need to experience. However it seems to be the way of the future. Anything that is not your employers main line of profit could be subject to outsourcing, from janitorial to payroll, from IT to dining services, if it’s possible to outsource, it can be and probably will be in the future.
The reason for this is simple, and is a basis for sound moneymaking. Most big corporations out there started life with one idea, to provide a certian product or service better, faster, or cheaper than anyone else. Or, they could have started out of a hobby in someones garage, regardless, all they wanted to do is that one thing that they wanted to do. But to grow into a big company, you need other things that you aren’t necessarily any good at nor want to be good at. All these things are necessary, but they detract from the focus that you set out into business for in the first place.
When your company get’s big enough, and margins close in on your product or service, you begin to look for ways to save money that will benefit your company. You may be doing these things just fine on your own, but they cost you time and money, and the headaches involved with hiring and retaining employees to perform those tasks. Now along comes company “X”, who for a fixed fee will take all the problems of say human resources out of your hair. They will take care of everything, and just send you a bill for the services. And to top all of that, they will do it for 15% less cost than you can possibly do it yourself. The choice is obvious, you outsource.
This all makes a great deal of sense. The owners of company “X” do human resources, and that is all that they do. This is why they can do the same thing that you do for less, as they can leverage their existing systems and employees. Company “X” is not an IT company, so they outsource that business need to Company “Y”, as they can do it better and cheaper. Company “Y” is not a food service company, so they outsource that business to Company “Z”, and so on.
So, it would seem that the future of business will be intertwining layers of business outsourcing aspects of their daily operations to other businesses who specialize in providing just that service. You heard it here first, or maybe not, but at least this is the first time you heard it from me. This all seems to be a great idea, and good for companies and employees, as you can most likely transition to the outsourcing company and continue to do what you like to do or at least have been trained to do.
There is a dark cloud over this business nirvana - offshoring. If your business outsources part of it’s operations to an outside company, they really don’t have any say over what happens to the employess that used to perform those jobs. Often times this labor is cheaper somewhere else in the country, or somewhere else in the world. Due to the technology that we have today, your location does not mean much about if you can perform a task or not.
I don’t have a problem with keeping jobs within the country, but I don’t like sending jobs offshore. Sure they work for cheaper than what you could find in the US, but I think this is a bad idea for the longevity of our country, and our security. What happens if a country that has a huge number of offshored jobs from the US decides to declare war on us? They could cripple our countries businesses without ever firing a shot. Hitting the US in the money belt is probably the most severe blow that you could throw, and we are giving overseas governments the tools to strike that blow.
Whatever happened to “Buy American”? I suppose it became far to difficult to determine what was made in the US anymore, or what percentage of it had to be made here to be considered “American Made”.
Outsourcing - good, offshoring - bad.
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