Virtual Employment and Automated Machines: Is Outsourcing Good or Bad?

Sept. 7, 2011 - PRLog -- Convenience. Finding the best and cheapest product in minimal time is prevalent among consumers. Will it soon become prevalent among employers? How does virtual employment and automated customer service affect the current levels of unemployment? Will the momentum of outsourcing jobs become more commonplace in the future? Will the structure of the job market be permanently changed? Are we facing a transition and adaptation to higher quality work for lower pay? Is there room for compromise? Outsourcing by using automated customer service may prove one of the greatest strains on the job market, not only does it subtract jobs but it stifles job growth. While the unemployment rate still stands at 9.1 percent , the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in an August news release, and in Michigan at 10.9 percent, companies that can afford it should consider hiring and not outsourcing. Virtual employment may be beneficial for employees because it cuts costs for them as well as employers such as gas for commuting, food, parking and office supplies. A cost that could be as high as 100 dollars a day per employee.

As companies continue to cut proceeds for development or hiring they neglect to see there are a variety of freelance, contract and virtual employment or telecommuting opportunities in domestic outsourcing that can be taken advantage of rather than sending work to foreign countries. There must be a balance that can be maintained that is cost effective to the employer and employee, where both can benefit from a mutual relationship that is sustainable to the company.  An increasing number of college graduates are graduating and having to take jobs that does not require a bachelors degree.

According to Linda Levine, a Specialist in Labor Economics with the Domestic Social Policy Division in her report, 'Offshoring (a.k.a. Offshore Outsourcing) and Job Insecurity Among U.S. Workers,' "Whereas U.S companies were willing to send simple data entry or customer service work offshore the work is becoming more technical and is being done for less than half the pay a U.S. worker would receive. Surveys of U.S companies reveal they are sending IT jobs overseas that include IT infrastructure management, application design and development and packaged application implementation. Due to U.S. employers' satisfaction with service providers overseas and the 45 percent-55 percent cost reduction it provides observers predict increases in offshoring. For example a candidate employed with an M.B.A in the financial services in India in 2003 earned 14 percent of the salary of a U.S. worker employed in the same industry. Call center staff earned 7 percent as much and IT professionals earned 13 percent as much as U.S workers employed in the same industries.

So does it come done to customer satisfaction or employee retention? Customer satisfaction or employee retention work well together and complement each other because each is codependant on the other positively or negatively.  In a survey by consumerreports.org, "71 percent of survey respondents were “tremendously annoyed” when they couldn’t reach a human on the phone. 65 percent felt that way about rude sales-people. And 56 percent felt that way about having to take multiple phone steps to reach the right place." So automated service can be bad. So can traditional service. Yet the majority still leans toward traditional service jobs and with that all the benefits of them which is job growth.

Compromise or convenience, employee retention or customer satisfaction, cost reduction or increased job growth these are some of the choices that we face in an unabated debate and futile conversation. Visit: http://www.onlinecareerjobsearch.com for more on your job search.




resource: Levine, Linda, "Offshoring (a.k.a. Offshore Outsourcing)and Job Insecurity Among U.S. Workers,"Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress, May 2 2005.

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