This pressure has led to the offshoring of around 30,000 jobs a
year since 2000, according to CIPD, which warns that plans to
offshore must involve human resource professionals in order to
minimise any negative effects.
The survey found that over 60% of participants who had had
experience of offshoring were satisfied or fairly satisfied with
the experience, but 17% found that the benefits were less than
anticipated.
Over half (55%) found that the experience had caused low staff
morale, 48% thought that managerial control was more difficult, 44%
saw the resulting UK job losses as a problem and 33% found language
barriers to be an obstacle.
“Organisations that decide to go down the offshoring road
focusing purely on cutting costs, without taking account of the
people management challenges and the potential pitfalls are likely
to face considerable problems,” warned Ben Willmott, CIPD Employee
Relations Adviser and author of the report.
“Too many organisations (42%) don’t involve HR when strategic
decisions about offshoring are being made with the result that some
of the real people management challenges that exist may not be
taken into account in the excitement over the potential cost
savings,” he explained.
The survey shows a clear discrepancy between the role
respondents believe human resource professionals should take in the
offshoring process and the role they play in practice –
particularly regarding communication and training.
Around four-fifths of organisations believe HR should contribute
to internal communications and play a central role in consulting
with unions and employee representatives at the planning phase but
about two-thirds actually give their HR professionals this
responsibility.
Other areas where there is greater potential for HR involvement
during the planning of offshoring projects include manpower
planning, designing and redesigning jobs and identifying training
needs.
The survey reveals that on average organisations make 180 UK job
cuts as a result of offshoring. In spite of these job losses,
offshoring business activities also leads to the creation of new
jobs, with organisations generating an average of 58 jobs in the UK
as a result of offshoring, says the survey.
Projecting the results onto the whole economy, Dr John Philpott,
CIPD Chief Economist, suggested that around 30,000 UK jobs have
been offshored each year since the start of the decade. This should
be considered in the light of the 250,000 net new jobs created in
the UK in the same period, he said.
”On balance, if handled well offshoring is good news for UK
consumers and will ultimately result in more jobs and greater
prosperity both at home and abroad. The key requirement is to
ensure that those workers that are adversely affected are given
every help to find new jobs,” he added.
