What really prompts an organization to plum for outsourcing?
Outsourcing has become a crucial part of the business plans of every organization. Outsourcing is a viable option for many companies that intend to extend their product base, profits and net income. Global outsourcing has been a rising phenomenon over the last two decade as businesses increasingly seeking newer ways to cut down costs. In their quest to reduce overhead costs, a huge majority of companies switch over to suppliers outside their domestic market as outside businesses offer them the advantage of supplying labour at low cost that too with far superior technology.
Many start-up companies do not have viable background in finance and accounting. Some others are not good enough at legal paper work. Outsourcing comprises four categories – Professional, process-specific, manufacturing, and operation.
In the beginning, outsourcing was confined to mere assembling of automobile products before the momentum spread to manufacture components. However, over a period of time, the growing list of companies along with their needs made them scamper for outsourcing. With the onset of new companies, outsourcing has witnessed a radical change. Over the last decade, India has evolved as the globe’s hub centre for companies aspiring to outsource their software development, and business process needs. According to a survey conducted by an online company, India is in the forefront of global outsourcing list of countries with its key credentials existing in cost competitiveness, resource and skills, business economic and environment.
In many developing countries like India, Philippines, Brazil, Indonesia, outsourcing effectively means new jobs are being generated leading to a spurt in the growth of these economies. On the other side of it, outsourcing triggered loss of jobs for the millions of Americans.
An increasing number of global companies are evincing interest in outsourcing their work to India because of the array of advantages what it holds. Cost-effective services, low operating costs, greater flexibility, superior quality services coupled with faster turnaround time, stable government are some of the advantageous factors that make India as an automatic choice for many companies in the US.
Basically, companies are prompted by the following considerations while scouting for outsourcing:
Information Infrastructure
Supply Chain Complexity
Service Technology employed
Inventory
Equipments and labour costs
Currency pitfalls
Tariffs
Logistics
Minimize and restrain operating costs
Intermediary costs
Cultural/Language barriers
However, it may not be a rosy picture for the outsourcing industry in the coming years as there is acceleration in professional services and business activities in the US, leading to the slowing down of the path of growth in this field.
Gender Inequality at the workplace
Once upon a time all the sectors were dominated by the presence of men. But, in a changed scenario, the women community’s presence is so pervasive that they can challenge the men financially. Despite many legislations were put in place by the most number of nations in the world, to the benefit of men and women, still women struggle to defend their rights at workplace.
For centuries, women are not only reduced to the status of caregiver in the family but their potential is effectively disregarded by the employer at workplaces. A large number employers tend to take a dim view of women’s contribution at workplace thereby overlooking them for promotions , citing the reasons of women are not only incapacitated to deal with stressful situations, but tend to be highly emotional while arriving at decisions in their high cadre role in the company. Further, many firms opt for men while taking up recruitment drive, there by overlooking women with a version that women’s health care needs and social obligations are dissimilar to that of men’s.
Sexual harassment is yet another problematic issue that haunts the women at workplace. Gender discrimination at the workplace will not only retard the professional advancement of an individual but curtail the growth of an organization. According to research reports emanating from across the globe, the gender breach at workplace is still alive.
Astonishingly, gender discrimination is prevailing in a developed nation like the US. Evidently, it is more so in the employment sector. The available statistics show that most of the times, women are seriously underpaid in their jobs. Women who toil for more than 60 hours per week end up earning mere 78.3% in comparison to men’s earnings for the similar working hours. More surprisingly, in the job categories wherein there is good concentration of women workforce, still their emoluments comprise about 95% of men’s remuneration for executing the similar work.
Uniformity in policies for both men and women work community
Equal remuneration for equal work
True recognition at workplace with regard to promotions, pay enhancements, and other financial, or medical rewards.
How to prevent gender discrimination at workplace?
It falls upon the shoulders of the management to ensure that parity stays at workplace. The management can do so by ensuring that the company’s policies viz., recruitment of personnel, according benefits do not impinge upon the women’s right to equality. Also, the management should initiate strong action against those who tend to flout the policies of gender equality irrespective of their stature within the organization.
Sources:
1. Outsourcing- What is Outsourcing?. 22 May 2012. Retrieved from web. http://www.sourcingmag.com/content/what_is_outsourcing.asp
2. The future Of outsourcing. 30 January 2006. Retrieved from web. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_05/b3969401.htm
3. Promoting Gender equality in the workplace. 22 May 2012. Retrieved from web. http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/pubdocs/2001/61/en/1/ef0161en.pdf
