An Approach to Being Outsourced

“Oh my God, I’m ruined. My department is being outsourced!” is not an uncommon verbal or mental reaction to learning that your job is “going south”. However, in the words of the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”: DON’T PANIC! The reality of your predicament varies greatly by the country in which you work. If you are in Europe, you have much less concern than if you are in the US, for example. The “Transfer of Undertakings – Protection of Employment” [TUPE] and Acquired Rights Directive[s] of the EU virtually protects your job. This means that you may be working for the vendor taking over the provision of services for your current employer. However, your job, wage rate, and benefits are generally fully protected. The number of times that this law has been successfully avoided is minimal, though there are certain circumstances where the Directive does not apply. But in most cases, it is accepted as the controlling law. While this may mean that your workplace may change, the locations are based on the place where the vendor runs the business that is taking over your service. For some in IT, this may mean a considerable commute or relocation since the mainframe or server farm locations are located strategically, but not always contiguous with the businesses that are being served. On the other hand, sometimes the equipment remains on site. The best advice is to “get thee to your HR department” for details and what arrangement has been planned for existing employees. The number one thing that professional sourcing organisations should do is communicate well. The source of your immediate information should be your HR department because they should have been involved in these discussions since they began. Now, notice the “should” in those statements because the “should” is not always operative. It should be, but isn’t, so get close to HR to learn the latest and best as often as you can. The communication advice above applies especially if you live and work in North America. In fact, it is more critical since the worker protections in law in Europe are not mirrored in the US or Canada. But having said that, Canada is much more protective of its workers and “for cause” dismissals in these cases are not looked upon lightly. The US has long been known to be a convenience or “at will” employer, excepting in unionised environments which are becoming fewer and fewer as employers have either learned to treat their people better or have been forced into this more beneficial posture through the threat of employee organisation. In the US, your position is not as secure as that in Canada, where employees are often [though not always] treated similarly to those in Europe when a department is outsourced. The drive for “off-shoring”, though, means that there will no longer be such a position in the organisation locally – and commuting half-way around the world is not a feasible issue. Some people may be kept for their lengthy experience, but the US can be fairly unsympathetic when it comes to protecting workers in the outsourcing or off-shoring scenario. On the other hand, US employers have been getting better when it is a simple transfer of services to another provider. While wages and benefits are not automatically transferred, often the workers are taken on, particularly if they represent a unique set of skills, experience, or qualities that are not represented within the vendor already. Similarly, many firms have been trying to culture a “gentler” image by making the transfer of most people part of the requirements – partly due to some successful lawsuits in recent years. It is doubtful that the US will ever have worker protections as evidenced in Europe. I will refrain from going into the productivity and standard of living argument around this issue. If you’re faced with being outsourced, it is irrelevant. What you want to know is what you can do and what “rights” you may or may not have. Most importantly, what is the new purveyor of services planning on doing with all the people that are currently doing that work? What is your employer planning on doing with some, many, or all of you in the same position? Again, while they may not be in a position to tell you precisely what the current planning may be, your HR people “should” be in the best position to tell you what the plans are and provide various services to help you if you and your colleagues will be looking at the exit door for the last time, soon. The services available and that can be provided range all the way from termination payments [in addition to other benefit sums accrued and due] to placement help through public or private agencies. Occasionally, there are educational assistance programs to re-train people for new positions and skills. All of this depends on the employer, the location, and, obviously, the depth of opportunity in the local workplace. Let’s face it. If you’re in the only facility of its kind out in some oasis in the middle of Kansas, Iowa, or Saskatchewan, you may have a problem finding work comparable to what you were doing. However, in other kinds of more industrial settings, things may not be so bad. The only knowledge of which you can be sure is that this has happened to all of us – okay, many of us, including the author, and while you may not find something that uses all your talents immediately, your key to surviving this is finding something fairly quickly. It isn’t the money issue as much as it is the needed support to your self-esteem and sense of productivity. Taking something for which you aren’t exactly fit should not be an issue on your side because you need to get that re-assurance that it wasn’t you – it was the circumstances. From that point you can plan your return to what you want to do, but get to that point first, okay?