Outsourcing
- wadE
I generally try not to talk about work on this site. Mostly because this site has been
an outlet to get away from work for awhile.
But I've been pondering the future of my career, and in turn the future of all of our
careers.
For those of us who have sold out and work in the "business world" we are quite familiar
with the term outsourcing. Quite simply, outsourcing is the procuring of services or
products from an outside supplier in order to cut costs.
Makes a lot of sense doesn't it? If you build cars, and it costs you $20 to make your
own windows, but someone else can make them for you and ship them to you for $15, you'd
probably stop making your own windows and pocket five bucks.
In an effort to continue saving money, companies went from outsourcing locally, to
outsourcing overseas. Instead of a US company selling your windows for $15, Taiwan
can give you the same window for $10!
So in the 1970s and 1980s more and more manufacturing jobs moved from the U.S. to less
expensive countries around the world.
To compensate the U.S. workforce retooled and as computers became an integral cog
in the operations of business, the tech job became king! Whether you were a
software engineer, a developer, or just called a programmer, there was huge demand for your
skills; and good pay!
Unlike the rise of outsourcing in manufacturing, it didn't take long for upper management
to recognize the costs of all of these programmers. Couldn't there be a way to lower that
cost? Again, outsource the operations to an outside company. Over the past several years
that outside company has become an overseas company.
Along with members of IT, management has targeted vital back office functions as well.
Account Payable, Accounts Receivable, Payroll, etc., have all been targets of outsourcing.
Where does it end?
What are people going to do in twenty years?
Will whole companies in the U.S. be made up of just the board of directors, with all
the "work" being done in another country?
Don't get me wrong, I harbor no ill will towards workers in other countries. In fact
it is the imbalance in cost of living that allows them to compete for jobs; and they are not
stealing jobs, U.S. companies are giving the jobs to them.
I just seems that our role in the world economy is solely as consumers.
I think about what I produce or add to the world through work, and right now it's
absolutely nothing. I only consume.
How much longer before your boss realizes they can outsource your job to someone else
who can do your job cheaper and more efficiently?
Just something to think about...
What do you think? Drop us a line at webmaster@simpleprop.com and give us some
feedback. Maybe we'll even run your letters in future Gambits. 'The Daily Gambit' is updated every weekday.
