Turn your staff into recruiters

Employees who refer a friend or contact to the law firm Baker & McKenzie can do rather nicely out of it if the company ends up employing that person.

“Our referral scheme gives people who recommend technical [legal] staff £5,000 and support staff, £2,000,” explains Martin Blackburn, the firm’s UK director of human resources. The scheme generates about 5 per cent of new recruits and, in spite of the sums paid, is very cost effective compared with other methods of recruitment.

Employee referral schemes are a popular way for organisations to recruit new blood. Not only are they cheap compared with traditional recruitment methods, but they have other advantages, such as an extra level of personal endorsement that traditional recruitment seldom provides.

Companies report that those who join this way are likely to be better, more loyal performers. And, unlike many who respond to an classified advertisement, referred candidates are likely to be well informed about the company.

At the top end of the market, those who introduce successful candidates can receive as much as £5,000, but sums elsewhere are not to be sniffed at. First Direct, the UK bank, pays staff who recommend friends £500 – £250 when the recruit joins and £250 if he or she is still there in six months.

“It is very successful,” says the company. Thirty-six per cent of all our new recruits come through the scheme.” Their performance is also higher “because they know people who work here, they know what it’s going to be like and they tend to make their contribution quicker”.

Leigh Lafever-Ayer, an HR manager at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, agrees: “Our employees know their jobs and what it takes. They won’t recommend people who aren’t up to it, so those they do recommend tend to stay longer.” What’s more, she explains, when new recruits join “they have an in-built mentoring system in the person who recommended them.” Enterprise, she says, pays people who recommend new employees upwards of £500.

Even recruitment agencies, which stand to lose from the application of such schemes, see the benefits for their own operations. Rob Scott, managing director of Aaron Wallis, offers candidates who refer others “day-out” incentives ranging from flights over London to bungee jumps.

“The scheme is in its early stages but represents great value for us – the incentives cost a few hundred pounds and the payback is usually 10 to 15 times that,” he says.

The practice of employee referrals appears to be more common in the US than in Europe. At Ernst & Young in the UK, 18 per cent of new employees are referrals; in the US, the figure is 50 per cent. The accountancy firm says the reason is that, like many US organisations, it relies heavily on its alumni association for recruitment. In the UK, by contrast, the first port of call is often a recruitment agency or graduate scheme.

But Angela Baron, an adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, raises questions about relying on referral schemes long term. “The downside can be [a lack of] diversity,” she says.

“If referral schemes are your major source of recruits, you need to remember that people tend to socialise with people like themselves. You have to recognise this – especially as more and more organisations are trying to reflect their customer base or the public.” Referral schemes are therefore best used as part of a balanced approach to recruitment, she says.

Ms Baron is also concerned about offering large cash incentives: “In an ideal world, you’d be such a good employer that your staff would recommend you anyway.”

Mr Scott urges companies to incorporate an audit trail into the referral schemes to combat fraud. In one case, a hospital in Atlanta sacked four people when it discovered that its scheme had been scammed to the tune of $35,000. Because of the need for transparency, says Mr Blackburn, human resources staff are not allowed to participate in Baker & McKenzie’s scheme.

Still, he thinks referral schemes are valuable and offer scope for innovation. “One idea I’m interested in is flexing the reward based on the part of the business that you need to recruit into. So if you’re very short on secretaries, you pay a double bonus. Doing this kind of thing also keeps the scheme at the forefront of employees’ minds.”

Human risk management: Are you in the know?

Organisations spend a fortune protecting themselves against external threats: thousands of security guards supervise doorways, sophisticated systems monitor electronic transactions, and CCTV surveillance cameras watch our every move.

But are we unwittingly inviting ID thieves, unqualified professionals, and the dishonest to infiltrate our organisations, by giving them security badges, access to sensitive data, unrestricted entry to buildings, and work with vulnerable staff and customers?

Risk and threat management

The old-fashioned, hierarchical view that senior executives expose more threats than junior employees ignores the example of the office cleaner who might have easier access to sensitive areas than a director.

HR needs to assess its threat exposure from individual or families of roles, and compare these to the organisation's risk strategy. That way it can mitigate risks appropriately, focus its investigatory effort, and avoid over-emphasising unwarranted checks.

Deciding on the 'right' levels of checks depends on your organisation's sensitivity to risk, which is partly governed by individual corporate values, industry, environment and regulation.

Many risk and security managers are busy defining increasingly defensive and selective employment policies to shield their organisations. But they then delegate pre-employment screening to HR departments, already struggling in the face of tight resourcing budgets, demanding timescales, or the highest vacancy levels on record (source: ONS).

Strategic human risk management

How should HR handle this tricky conflict: finding skilled people quickly and cost effectively on one hand; and safe, compliant recruitment, threat management and protection on the other?

For HR to truly reflect its organisation’s risk strategy, it needs to ring fence pre-employment screening from its other recruitment activities. HR faces pressure to deploy the right staff quickly and cost effectively, but it usually lacks the objectivity, resources, and know-how of a discrete, focused, specialist background checking team. Their organisations needlessly suffer staff-perpetrated theft - and worse - at the hands of repeat offenders.

The 'right' checks

Simple checks to mitigate threats

Find out who you're dealing with using a reputable ID verification database.

Find out if they're entitled to work in the employment zone and role.

Find out if the salary you’re paying can sustain any insurmountable debt.

Attracting a manager or professional candidate costs an average of £5,000 (source: CIPD), and £2,000 for high volume, customer service roles, yet checking who you’re dealing with rarely amounts to more than 2 per cent of this. So what's putting us off?

Perhaps it's because it's such an effort to elicit a worthwhile work reference that employers simply give up altogether, or rely on recommendations from unsubstantiated referees.

And, even though a sixth of the workforce has a criminal record, our voracious appetite to find undisclosed convictions, whether or not these checks are relevant or even lawful, can add several weeks' delay.

The prevalence of verification databases, which many businesses are already using to confirm customers' ID and credit worthiness, means you can more reliably check employees' identifications, their financial probity and address histories.

Indeed, there is little point using any other selection criteria unless you know who you are dealing with. Dishonest employees are more tempted to steal when their debt repayments far exceed their salaries. Credit reference agencies can suggest how applicants are coping with loans, highlight outstanding County Court Judgements (CCJs) and verify address histories on request.

Any skilled resourcing specialist knows that they can more reliably predict a candidate's future behaviour by reviewing their most recent conduct. Referees' increasing reticence to volunteer anything more than the standard tenure dates and job titles shouldn't deter vigilant hiring managers. Up to two-thirds of British workers would lie on their application forms to get a job (source: Monster).

Don't underestimate the value of authentic work histories; and verify the employment experiences that candidates brag about during interviews and on application forms.

Reference checking tips

Ring fence referencing from other resourcing activities.

Check the genuine existence of former employers.

Check the validity of named referees.

Check tenure dates, job titles, and reasons for leaving.

Check your candidate's record of dismissible, crime related conduct on a dishonesty register.

Work references

We all know from experience that busy previous employers might only yield references half the time. "We're able to elicit references for well over 90 per cent of candidates because we have dedicated specialists who can focus all their efforts on chasing referees, with all the right authorisations immediately to hand," says Nick Palmer, one of Reed Screening's team leaders. "Our main obstacle is simply when the former employer has closed down."

Clearly, this outsourced provider doesn't suffer from the same distractions faced by in-house resourcing teams.

My top tip on obtaining work references is to not rely on referee contact information supplied by candidates. Application forms typically ask candidates to include names and telephone numbers of former employers.

But dishonest candidates regularly put forward a loyal friend, family member, or even themselves to provide a glowing reference. Instead, use a reputable company register to check that the organisation exists, and an equally reliable directory to independently find a valid contact.

Then, as a minimum, corroborate start and leaving dates, job titles and, if you can, reasons for leaving. And even if their previous job ended in dismissal, your otherwise ideal applicant could divulge a reasonable explanation.

If you believe that lies on CVs indicate a propensity to dishonesty, you will need to pinpoint fictitious employment histories, and fabricated qualifications which, by themselves, may disqualify candidates for specific roles. In some regulated, financial services roles, a firm could threaten its ability to trade by employing an unqualified professional.

More advanced checks include searches on director databases, and media searches which, as well as highlighting adverse news reports about candidates, also expose journalist infiltrators who may have written damaging articles in the past.

In addition, information about employees' previous, dismissible, crime related conduct is becoming more readily available on 'dishonesty registers'. Many large employers can qualify to become members of these registers if they satisfy data protection legislation, adequate employment practices, and contribute their own dismissal data.

A final word

The worst mistake organisations make is to believe that they've protected themselves by including the words "subject to satisfactory checks" on job offers when, in reality, they use unreliable sources or simply don't undertake the right checks.

There's now abundant advice, data and services to help. So take advantage and align your recruitment processes with your organisation's risk strategy.

Firing An Employee

Being in the IT Enabled industry with highest attrition levels, firing an employee would be like a pinch of salt on an open wound. But sometimes, a small pinch of salt is required on the wound to stop it from getting further infected.

According to statistics compiled by the National Human Resource Development Network, attrition rates in IT-enabled business process outsourcing sector have come down from 30-33 per cent being witnessed off late to about 25 per cent now. Despite this being a much discussed issue, firing is essential because retention of non performers affects group morale. Poor employees reduce team performance by wasting time and efforts of other workers.

Often managers have to have this most hated and highly uncomfortable confrontation with an employee; firing. The response that the manager will get is quite unpredictable, as some may agree with on the failures and some may want to go on an extended argument, sometimes getting a little "physical".

The manager has to be fully prepared before firing someone as to how he handles this demanding confrontation can decide how the rest of the employees look upon the manager and the company as a whole.

When To Fire An Employee?

Though most of the time the manager is aware of the guidelines formulated by the company on firing, it can still be quite subjective. Generally, any employee who is not contributing to the overall goals of the company should be asked to leave. However, not before the following points are considered.

a) When the employee is not contributing towards the overall goal of the company, he needs to be made aware of this fact and helped to work in the right direction.

b) If the employee is still not able to bring his performance up to the acceptable levels, a thorough investigation should be made to assess if he needs any training. Investigation can be made through discussions, meetings, feedback from the immediate supervisor, client's feedback etc.

c) After providing the training, if the employee is still not able to come up to the acceptable levels, the manager has to go through a "Progressive Discipline Process".

d) The purpose of this progressive discipline process is to ensure that low performance is not because of a factor controlled by the company. These could be like the hiring process, the training process, evaluation methods being followed or man management issues in the team.

e) The Employee Relations Manager has to be in the loop as that ensures both the Manager and the employee get a fair deal.

How To Fire An Employee?

While firing has to be a last resort measure, many times fearing the repercussions, many managers delay firing, resulting in "baggage" in the team.

If the reason to fire an employee is not because of his activities as mentioned and agreed upon in the employee hand book but is solely because of underperformance, by carefully working with the employee, many performance shortcomings can be resolved.

If all help and support does not work, the manager must give strong verbal warning that specifies expected work quality or attitude improvement and cites specific suggestions for effecting such an improvement. If the employee shows no improvement, issue a written warning. Most of the time employees just need to be "shaken up" to improve their performance and a written warning does this magic, most often than not.

After a written notice, if the employee does not show any improvement, involve the Human Resource and Employee Relations and let the employee know that he is a round peg in a square hole. By following the above procedure, the manager has all papers in place to justify firing.

Firing and Attrition

Firing and Attrition are very much related to each other, though distantly. In both these cases, the manager looses trained manpower.

When Jack Welsh, ex-CEO of GE instituted his policy of yearly appraisals-generously rewarding the top 20% 'A' performers, developing the middle 70% 'Bs', and firing the bottom 10% 'Cs', he certainly did not have the IT Enabled operation in mind. Forget firing the bottom 10%, in the current situation, companies would talk about re-training the bottom 10% in an endeavor to curb the high attrition rates.

Sometimes, firing can look like attrition. In a recent news update, India's largest software service company, lost about 1000 employees at the end of first quarter of 2005. According to sources, this is the result of a carefully planned salary model called the Economic Value-added model that came into existence two years ago. This two year cycle model which involves assessment, retraining and exit discussions saw the major percentage those quitting as non-performers. They were given low ranking for the second year in a row for not showing any sign of improvement despite undergoing mentorship programme.

Looking at firing and attrition together in a different light, firing can be an excellent tool to contain attrition.

Attrition can simply be defined as employee leaving his current job due to reasons like, job pressure, health problems, personal reasons, inefficient boss, lack of job security etc. All the above reasons are interlinked and can be the reasons for good workers to quit.

If the team has under-performers who despite given sufficient support and training is unable to perform, but they continue to be part of the team damage the morale of the team. A performer will not want to be part of the team which has non-performers because he will have to compensate for the non performer, thereby increasing his job output/pressure. A continuous job pressure results in health problems. Having frequent health problems not only reduces his performance, but also affects him financially. At this juncture, the performer realizes that he is working with an inefficient manager who is not capable of "cleaning up" the team by firing non-performers. With the above, the performer employee feels insecure and resigns.

CareerBuilder.com Launches Personified, A Talent Management Consulting Firm

CareerBuilder.com the nation's largest online job site with more than 23 million unique visitors and over 1.6 million jobs, has launched Personified, a consulting firm that helps employers understand and leverage the relationship between talent management and company performance. Some of the talent solutions the company will provide include: employee acquisition and retention; recruitment process outsourcing; employment branding; inclusive culture development; and employee engagement.

The goal of Personified is to develop customized talent solutions that allow employers to get the best return on their investment in people, processes and technology. The company differentiates itself through its deep understanding of the online environment and access to a vast talent pool and in-depth employment data.

Personified evolved from CareerBuilder.com's Human Capital Consulting Division, which successfully launched in 2006, and will allow the CareerBuilder.com network access to a greater share of the $18.4 billion global human resources consulting industry(i).

"Personified will operate independently, but will leverage the knowledge and resources of CareerBuilder.com to deliver unmatched insight into the behavior of job seekers and employees," said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder.com. "The new company was formed to address increased demands from the market for more robust talent management solutions."

Personified is being launched in the wake of a tightening labor market driven in large part by the impending retirement of many Baby Boomers and the lack of skilled talent to fill the knowledge gap. According to CareerBuilder.com's annual job forecast(ii), 41 percent of employers say they have positions for which they can't find qualified talent.

"Personified helps employers navigate a new era of talent management, where employees and job seekers are empowered by the Internet and can find a new career opportunity or get insight on a company at a moment's notice," said Mary Delaney, President of Personified. "The average tenure of an employee continues to decline -- making the talent marketplace extremely competitive and employers' ability to retain intellectual capital much more challenging. In fact, a quarter of employees plan to leave their current position in the next two years(iii)."

Despite the hiring environment becoming more competitive every day, nearly half (48 percent) of employers surveyed by CareerBuilder.com reported that they don't have a recruitment strategy in place(iv). Personified will be focused on four key areas of recruitment and retention to help employers propel their businesses forward:

    1.  Talent Acquisition
       More than a quarter (27 percent) of employers surveyed by
       CareerBuilder.com say, due to a tight job market, they have retained
       workers whom they otherwise wouldn't due to performance issues or a
       slowdown in work(v).  Personified helps employers optimize their
       recruitment process and more effectively staff their business through
       recruitment process outsourcing and analysis of a company's current
       recruitment processes from the perspective of the candidate, recruiter
       and hiring manager.

   2.  Employment Branding
       Seventy-eight percent of employers surveyed say their companies do not
       have an employee brand(vi).  Personified works with companies to build
       and communicate an employment brand that sets them apart from
       competitors and establishes a company as a desirable place to work --
       which ultimately leads to higher quality talent, reduced recruitment
       costs and improved employee retention.

   3.  Workforce Culture -- Diversity/Inclusion
       Forty-six percent of workers do not believe their workplace mirrors
       national demographics(vii).  More employers are recognizing the
       positive impact a diverse workforce has on the bottom line.
       Personified helps employers identify and build the right culture
       within their organizations to create an inclusive environment that
       better mirrors their customer base, embraces diverse viewpoints and
       boosts innovation.

   4.  Employee Engagement -- Training
       When job seekers were asked to identify the defining moment when they
       started looking for a new employer, the top reason cited was the
       feeling that there was nothing left to learn or no challenge or growth
       potential(viii).  After identifying what initially attracts candidates
       to their opportunities and whether the corporate environment delivers
       on its promise, Personified builds training programs in recruitment,
       leadership, sales, diversity, and project management.


   For more information about Personified, visit: http://www.personified.com

About CareerBuilder.com

CareerBuilder.com is the nation's largest online job site with more than 23 million unique visitors and over 1.6 million jobs. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. , Tribune Company , The McClatchy Company and Microsoft Corp. , the company offers a vast online and print network to help job seekers connect with employers. CareerBuilder.com powers the career centers for more than 1,200 partners, including 140 newspapers and leading portals such as America Online and MSN. More than 300,000 employers take advantage of CareerBuilder.com's easy job postings, 26 million-plus resumes, Diversity Channel and more. CareerBuilder.com and its subsidiaries operate in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.careerbuilder.com.

    (i)    Kennedy Information: HR Consulting Marketplace 2006-2010
   (ii)   CareerBuilder.com "2008 Job Forecast" conducted by Harris
          Interactive December 2007
   (iii)  CareerBuilder.com "2008 Job Forecast" conducted by Harris
          Interactive December 2007
   (iv)   CareerBuilder.com Q2 2007 Employment Forecast
   (v)    CareerBuilder.com Q4 2007 Employment Forecast
   (vi)   CareerBuilder.com Q2 2007 Employment Forecast
   (vii)  CareerBuilder.com and Kelly Services Discrimination Study conducted
          by Harris Interactive June 2007
   (viii) CareerBuilder.com "2008 Job Forecast" conducted by Harris
          Interactive December 2007

United Airlines Renews Contract with Spherion's Recruitment Process Outsourcing Division

  Proven Track Record of Service Excellence and Overall Performance in RPO
               Delivery Lead to Extended Client Engagement

   FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Spherion Corporation's
recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) division today announced that United
Airlines has renewed its contract with the Company through 2010. The scope
of work calls for Spherion to support more than 4,000 of the airline's
annual hires, including flight attendants, ground crew, customer service
and reservation agents. Serving as a talent acquisition partner for United
Airlines since 2005, Spherion helps the airline identify the most qualified
candidates across a variety of skill categories.

   Spherion leads the full cycle recruitment process for select positions
within United Airlines, which includes proactive sourcing, screening, and
assessment of candidates.

   "Spherion has proven its RPO division can deliver results and serve as
a trusted, long-term partner for our recruitment needs," said Sheila
Schroeder, Managing Director of Staffing at United Airlines.

   The engagement is led by more than 20 experienced Spherion recruitment
professionals across the United States. Servicing United Airlines in over
100 locations, Spherion's recruiters have partnered with the airline to
deliver a sourcing strategy customized to United Airlines' unique hiring
needs.

   "Spherion's RPO division is comprised of a dedicated and trusted team
of seasoned recruiters that work closely with our clients to implement a
hiring strategy that will deliver long-term success," said Roy Krause,
president and chief executive officer of Spherion. "We look forward to a
continued partnership with United Airlines and remain deeply committed to
finding the best talent for the company."

   To learn more about Spherion's RPO services, visit http://www.spherionrpo.com.

   About Spherion

   Spherion Corporation is a leading recruiting and staffing company that
provides integrated solutions to meet the evolving needs of companies and
job candidates. As an industry pioneer for more than 60 years, Spherion has
sourced, screened and placed millions of individuals in temporary, temp-to-
hire and full-time jobs. Positions range from administrative and light
industrial to a host of professions that include accounting/finance,
information technology, engineering, manufacturing, legal, human resources
and sales/marketing.

   With approximately 700 locations in the United States and Canada,
Spherion delivers innovative workforce solutions that improve business
performance. Spherion provides its services to more than 8,000 customers,
from Fortune 500 companies to a wide range of small and mid-size
organizations. Employing more than 300,000 people annually through its
network, Spherion is one of North America's largest employers. To learn
more, visit http://www.spherion.com.

SOURCE Spherion Corporation

ORPO - Let them do the jobhunting for you

You may not recognise the name Aliaxis, but you'll probably recognise its constituent parts - in the UK it comprises eight companies: Alutec, Durapipe UK, Greenwood Air Management, GPS PE Pipe Systems, Hunter Plastics, Marley Plumbing and Drainage, GPS PE Pipe Fittings and Philmac. These businesses, all well-known brands in their fields, employ 1,500 people. Worldwide, Aliaxis operates in 39 countries, employing 12,000 people in total.

If your company is of a certain size, you'll understand some of Aliaxis's problems: the HR teams faced a number of ongoing issues. The eight different Aliaxis businesses, supported by four different HR departments, all operated as independent business units. Each business had different methods and approaches to recruitment - yet they had common problems, as well as areas of best practice that were not shared.

Two particular issues stood out. First, all businesses seemed to have difficulty in recruiting and attracting candidates. This was compounded by the fact that candidates who were offered jobs often turned the roles down. Second, no process was in place to capture data about candidates.

Claire Silvester, head of HR in the UK, backed by Aliaxis's HQ in Paris, took this as an opportunity to centralise the recruitment process. ResourceBank was identified following a thorough research programme. Aliaxis had worked with ResourceBank on senior appointments in the past and was impressed with the service. Aware that ResourceBank specialises in setting up outsourced resourcing centres, Silvester spoke to two ResourceBank clients, Adams and Kimberly-Clark, to learn about their experiences.

She says: "The outsourced approach had a lot of appeal in terms of standardising processes across all businesses and attracting a higher calibre of candidates. Finding the right partner was critical to the success. We are not a massive organisation in the UK, so I didn't want to work with any of the very large outsourced recruitment specialists where we may not get such high levels of service.

"ResourceBank really impressed us with its willingness to tailor a solution to suit our needs. However, we wanted to proceed with caution. We appointed ResourceBank to run a three-month trial for us across all of our businesses."

The trial

During the trial, ResourceBank was tasked with recruiting 25 people, ranging from a finance manager and production planner, to a marketing manager and area sales manager. The roles were based across the UK.

The team advertised the vacancies in a wide range of media, predominantly online. They handled 1,516 applications, selecting 354 candidates to complete a full competency-based interview, then selected 80 candidates for interview, providing Aliaxis with a choice of the best three candidates for each role.

ResourceBank was invited to present the results to the managing directors and HR teams across all the businesses. The results were convincing. There was an increase in the number of people who attended interviews and all candidates who were offered jobs accepted.

According to Silvester: "The trial period gave our individual businesses the opportunity to buy into the new approach. It clearly demonstrated that a centralised system was more effective. Even people in the team who were previously reluctant to give up long-term relationships with existing recruitment suppliers could understand why this new approach would give us a competitive edge."

As a result of the successful trial, in April 2007, the Aliaxis Resourcing Centre (ARC) was launched. Aliaxis signed a two-year contract with ResourceBank. The ARC, staffed by five dedicated ResourceBank employees, was set up in just three months. Its brief was to recruit 120 candidates a year, primarily for profesional, clerical, and administrative roles.

The ARC's role includes everything: taking the initial brief, creating job briefs, placing recruitment ads, interviewing candidates, shortlisting candidates for the Aliaxis recruiters to interview, providing feedback to candidates, issuing rejection and offer letters, as well as checking references.

The results

Silvester says: "A centralised approach gave us the opportunity to recruit under the Aliaxis brand name for the first time as opposed to using the individual company names. Candidates are attracted to working for a larger global organisation, with a wider range of career prospects, and this helped to attract a higher calibre of candidates.

"Previously recruitment was haphazard across the organisation. We had set up excellent in-house training and development schemes - yet these were of limited value if we couldn't recruit the right people into the business. Since partnering with ResourceBank, we have thorough processes and systems in place, which enable us to be far more efficient and allow us to recruit more effectively.

"All candidates, whether they are offered roles or not, are communicated with in a professional manner and on a timely basis. This means that they have a positive experience of Aliaxis as a business, are more likely to accept the job if offered, and are keen to find out about other roles within the group if they are not successful. The ARC team also interviews our internal candidates for promotions, benchmarking them against external candidates. If internal candidates are successful, they really feel they have earned their promotion."

The ARC logs all candidate details into a bespoke database. By building an exclusive Aliaxis candidate bank, ResourceBank has created an invaluable tool for speeding up the recruitment process. For example, a candidate who applied for a sales manager role for Marley Plumbing was not right for the job but was ideally suited for a role at Greenwood Air Management.

"In the past eight to 10 weeks, we have offered four jobs to people who were known to us through the database. These appointments have been made in less than a week. As the database grows, we will continue to see even more successes," says Silvester.

"As an added bonus, we are also saving £90,000 per year. We are really driving the company forward with this new approach to recruitment."

Contact Information

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Thank You

Rushit Shah

Wipro Killing India

Wipro opens outsourcing centre in Philippines -- WHY???

The new center in Cebu would hire more than 900 employees and would focus on customer service support, technical support, human resource and financial and accounting services

Reuters

Mumbai: Wipro Ltd has opened a business process outsourcing facility in the Philippines as it expands overseas to cut costs.

The new centre in Cebu would hire more than 900 employees and would focus on customer service support, technical support, human resource and financial and accounting services.

Its IT services division, Wipro Technologies, is also looking at starting centres in other fast-growing cities in the Philippines, the company said in a statement.

“The Philippines is one of the largest English speaking nations with a strong IT orientation and a talent pool of 29 million,” T.K. Kurien, president of Wipro’s BPO unit said.

Indian outsourcing companies are expanding operations in China, the Philippines, Vietnam and Kenya in a bid to stay competitive as higher wages, expensive property prices and a rising rupee eat into profits.

Last year, Wipro started delivery centres in Romania and Shanghai.

BCS believes = Offshore outsourcing 'big' for 2008

Cost saving and mobile employee bases are two main reasons why experts predict outsourcing will rise in 2008.

Vice president of strategic outsourcing programmes at Unisys, Joe Hogan, said that the drive for new technologies such Apple's iPhone, combined with the need to reduce costs will likely see a boom of outsourcing from countries around the world.

"Next-generation devices, which have a tremendous capacity to revolutionise productivity, should go to employees whose jobs touch customers every day, and who require real-time information to capture those customers and keep them happy," he explained.

According to Information Week's Mary Hayes Weier, countries in like India will see great benefits as outsourcing contracts will employ many workers and raise the salaries of their IT professionals.

"Service providers in India … [are] going as far as to retain science graduates to become technologists and scouring the rural regions of India for talent," Ms Weier said.

According to her however, more offshore work in the future will go to Latin America, China, Eastern Europe than India as its IT pool diminishes.

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I thought you guys might be interested to read this article i found. I have different thoughts then what BCS have. I think India is going to have hard time in 2008 being decreasing Dollar rates and .....(cant tell you).comment me to know more