More Labor Woes At Indian Outsourcers

from the worker-shortage dept

Mon, Feb 19th 2007 8:21am — Joseph Weisenthal

We've written in the past about various problems brewing at Indian outsourcing firms that are increasingly facing talent shortages and competition from lower-cost competition. Om Malik has an interesting roundup of a fresh set of articles all pointing to continued troubles at these firms. The big problem continues to be the shortage of labor, which is the result of a few different factors. Many employees who got their start at one of these outsourcers are now going to business school, hoping to move up to higher value work. Furthermore, these jobs aren't viewed as highly by college graduates as they used to be. Increasingly, talented coders have the opportunity to work directly for the likes of Google and other international tech firms. And there remains a shortage of top-quality education opportunities, preventing many from getting trained and choking off the overall pool of labor. None of this necessarily spells doom for these companies. One way they can cope is by moving up the food chain, offering services of higher value than simple outsourcing or call-center work. And, of course, they don't have to limit themselves to Indian employees, they can hire talent from the US as well.

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Lewis Salem, 19 Feb 2007 @ 9:23am

"talent shortage".
Those firms are having a "talent shortage" because they don't pay well, then cry to us when their workforce becomes educated. I'm glad that Indian IT workers are advancing their careers.

Can something finally be said for loyalty in our field? I'll believe it when I see it! :)
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Dave, 19 Feb 2007 @ 9:53am

talent shortage.
Will the Indian firms offer enough pay to draw technical labor from the U.S. I thought the main reason many big firms were outsourcing call centers, etc to India was cheaper labor.
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Tashi, 19 Feb 2007 @ 10:40am

Re: talent shortage.
That's one of the myths involving (sometimes hidden) costs that's quickly being shot down. The savings isn't that great and come with their own hosts of problems.
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jameth, 19 Feb 2007 @ 10:50am

mmmmkaaay
Yea that is just great, lets not only outsource the work, but then lets actually outsource our own pool of technical labor as well!

There is something very wrong with this scenario...

Mabey we should just ban all tech work in the USA.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Feb 2007 @ 10:52am

funny
anyone who has ever done any work in outsourcing can tell you everything that you read in that article - the indian resources complain about their wages and the mundane work every day. eventually, wages will catch up and their mundane work will be gone - to china.
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bob, 19 Feb 2007 @ 10:54am

Cheaper Labor?
Its cheaper labor only in terms of dollars. In rupees most firms pay quite enough. for help desk people and tele-marketers.
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Andy, 19 Feb 2007 @ 3:33pm

Re: Cheaper Labor?
Yes, I believe they are paying well if you compare in Indian currency. Any one and any where obviously it makes sense to reduce costs with cheap labor who has talent and works hard. Once it's saturated and inflation peaks, they will dump if they find another source. That's why they call it as competition.
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Known, 19 Feb 2007 @ 11:48pm

India
DESPERATE
85% of people in India are desperate working slaves in an informal economy and their lives oscillate between fear and frustration.

EVEN MORE DESPERATE
The remaining are always in search of collusion mostly in the form of caste to enhance their wealth.
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