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The concept of moving certain jobs to workers in other countries is nothing new. It’s been happening in various industries for decades as executives seek to trim costs — but outsourcing might be getting a shot in the arm in part because of the work-from-home revolution.
Why it’s happening
Of course, the simple explanation for most outsourcing decisions is that it’s usually a lot cheaper to find a worker overseas than it is to hire an American. And since more and more people are requesting to work remotely, there might not be that much difference between hiring someone in another country and someone who will be working from home.
Take it from Johnny Taylor Jr., who is the CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management. He admitted that when an employee asked to work remotely, he replaced her with a worker in India … and saved 40% in the cost of labor in the process.
Big Tech hit hard
We’ve all seen plenty of headlines in recent months about tech companies laying off hundreds or thousands of workers. But many are adding insult to injury by replacing those eliminated employees with outsourced workers.
Many white-collar employees are essentially being told that they weren’t worth their high salaries.
Tech sector job recruiter Chris Bakke explained: “U.S. tech companies are saying, ‘We can hire an engineer in the United States for $300,000 or we can hire somebody great internationally with very similar experience for $75,000.”
Where the jobs are going
Among the most common locations for outsourced tech jobs are in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.
But this trend really only applies to jobs that can be fully completed remotely — so you might have some incentive to return to the office after all.
