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Businesses Who Outsource Work Overseas Will Get Less In Return Than You Think

Businesses Who Outsource Work Overseas Will Get Less In Return Thank You Think

This past weekend I was searching for a coder for a website project I have. Before going to the job boards and looking at Linked In, I did a Google Search online. One of the first organic search results was for a company called O'Desk.

Oh my O'Desk is an interesting freelancer website.

If you log onto O'Desk you can find SEO Specialists, Link Builders, Copywriters,Virtual Assistants, Marketing Assistants, Senior PHP/Sequel Developers, Graphic Artists and more. So far so good right? Then comes the crazy part. You can hire a worker overseas, the Phillipines seems popular, for $3/hour to build your linking strategy. Overseas coders quote 50-75% less than coders for the United States.

ODesk

And right here is where you say, "Oh Rebecca, Thanks for letting me know about this site...I can afford those prices. I'll have to check it out".

Right?

Wrong. I say wrong and this is why. For every job that you give to an overseas worker, you take the business opportunity away from an able bodied and willing to work American. Does this mean I am prejudice? Do I have something against foreign workers?

I am not prejudiced. I am aggravated. I am sad.

I am sorry to see so many people willing to work who are obviously well qualified and look at the O'Desk board to see that these U.S. workers have 50% less hours than their foreign counterparts.
I am sorry to see the unemployment numbers rise and small and large businesses alike continue to outsource labor overseas.
I am sorry to see solopreuners and entrepreneurs struggle to employ workers to help them with their non-revenue producing tasks and turn toward these board to have their website, blogging and social networking done for them at $3-7/hour.

I am sorry because I know that behind every displaced worker and underbid contractor there is an American who is getting the short end of the stick by their own fellow Americans. I am sorry because the Recession may be officially "over" but if unemployment rises we are headed to something much worse. I can't help but think that these moves relocate more Americans from Middle Class to Poor.

I can't help but think that these moves threaten to move America to a two class society-Have and Have Nots and no in betweens.

America We Can Do Better You may not know someone who is effected by unemployment but really you do. In six degrees of separation we are all linked to someone who is not doing well and should be given an opportunity if able, willing and ready

Instead by outsourcing work we disable the able bodied American worker.

I am not anyone's moral compass but businesses who outsource work overseas hurt your business more than you think. If we burden the very backs of those who consume and purchase products and services sold in AAmerica who will be left to purchase and who will be left to sell? The decisions we make to outsource work to foreign workers will hurt someone tomorrow.

What businesses may THINK they are saving today will be recycled to hurt them tomorrow.

It may seem painful to pay more when we could pay less. But not all moral decisions are easy decisions. Not all right steps are easy steps. I concur that sometimes the best steps can seem painful, as an entrepreneur I've had to make some of those this year.

No one said running a business was easy. No one said doing the right thing is always easy either. Does each of businesse's survival come at the expense of our American Workers. Though they are not the cheapest they are most likely the fittest.

Come on America, we are better than this and we each individually CAN do better.

Businesses Who Outsource Work Overseas Will Get Less In Return Thank You Think.

Posted by Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant on 10/13/2009 07:59 PM

Comments (14)

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outsourcing, business, small business, business advice, unemployment, american workers

Originally posted at: Real Estate Marketing Drips: Businesses Who Outsource Work Overseas Will Get Less In Return Than You Think

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14 Comments on Businesses Who Outsource Work Overseas Will Get Less In Return Than You Think

OCT

Rebecca- I must respectfully disagree. I love your work, your talent and respect you so much. But I disagree that outsourcing hurts Americans. The more industries move away the more room there is for new thinking, new industries. Like Stephen Covey and Paul Zane Pilzer believe: the human mind evolves into greater opportunities-it is so important to learn new skill sets and get better at what is coming up in the universe. When we moved from the farming age into the industrial age- people complained and said it would be the end of America- but it was not- the industrial age brought wealth and inventions. Then we moved from the industrial age into the technical and computer age- people lose their jobs only because they expect that one job to always be there- not- they need to always grow and learn more and different skills. Americans change careers every 10 years the stats show. The biggest detriment to our country that really threw us into the depression was the protectionist laws imposed by President Hoover.

I do hire people in other countries and use many open source applications developed in Europe and Asia. Since I lived in Hawaii for 5 years I made a living working in Japan as a model. Do I expect them to hire me but I should not hire a Japanese in Japan to fix my computer? I owned Tae Kwon Do schools along with my real estate career. Tae Kwon Do is imported here from Korea. My grandmaster was from Korea and moved here. We traveled back and forth from Korea and hired Koreans to come in and teach certain applications. It only enriched us culturally and respectfully one nation to another.

I know people who are my friends who live in Taiwan and the Philippines. I love to hire them because they are good at what they do, they are so perfect for a match for me. I hired and fired countless VAs here in the US and the one that has been the best VA ever and is still with me today is a Filipino man who lives in the Philippines who is a Christian raising his family unto the Lord. I can not tell you how efficient, complete, honest and full of integrity this man is. I am humbled that he would work for us.

My biggest clientele in Washington State as an agent were Vietnamese immigrants who many worked for Americans before they came over here. I will never feel bad for empowering people who want to work hard, are not lazy, who help their families and put their money to good use.

We can agree to disagree. Katerina

I'm with you there are too many people in this country that need work.. Build the USA back up.

Katerina- I also respect you and I encourage any discussion on this post, whether people agree with me or not. It is better to discuss this issues openly, otherwise how can there be growth? How can there be solutions?

I will tell you that I have friends, great friends internationally. I do not disagree that there are hard working people abroad and certainly at cheaper rates it would behoove me, perhaps, and my business to hire outside of my country.

Just one thing though. Part of the reason I am a hard worker is because I have worked since I was thirteen years old. Albeit, that was part time, but if I wanted anything, new clothes for school, or tickets for a movie, lunch off campus, etc. I paid for it on my own. There were times when I also helped out my family with my working dollars when needed. That was my upbringing.

But I also came from an intellectual family and so the importance of knowing how to find the knowledge to do things ALONG with the working experience really helped me to grow and built me up to today. There may be some people who are lazy, however, there are some people who just don't know HOW to get to that place of learning...how it is possible to find the way with your will....they don't know how to research, they don't know where to look for the resources.

Now there are also those people who are not lazy and who are losing their jobs and are having difficulty finding new ones. Here in Wisconsin our people are feeling it. These hard working Americans are competing against hundreds and even sometimes thousands of people for mediocre positions and they are more than happy to work. They are willing and able, they are just not finding work.

Then there are other Americans who have been schooled and studied in industries that are being outsourced like in IT. These people have paid their dues by working and or working and school....now they should have to retrain, perhaps carry the burden of more school debt....so that we can give the jobs overseas?

I just don't see it....and hey I could be foolish, maybe I should pay less but I would rather make the sacrifice. I guess I just happen to see that six degrees close to home and it really stinks to see friends, good workers and smart people, able bodied and willing, suffering in what I think is needlessly.

My family doesn't have to have a vacation but my fellow Americans should have jobs.

Russ,

It is hard to see. Lou Dobbs has been doing his outsourcing segment for years and though I don't watch much t.v. (hardly any) it is one segment I have followed.

Rebecca- I understand what you are seeing yet I still believe in my heart of hearts that all people have God given talents. Everything happens for a reason. When the door is closed, God opens a window- but for many- they don't see the windows. Even in your area there are opportunities. Sometimes moving is the answer. To many people, that is like a hard step. For me, a gypsy, raised as a Navy brat it was never an issue. I came to Florida for an opportunity to open a Tae Kwon Do school and when I asked around what the competition was, they all said, if you want to work in Florida- you will be rich because not too many want to put in the time to get the profits. Oh how right they were. My competition's studios were only open 4 hours a day! They were nasty, dirty, smelly feet, etc. I built a state of the art school and before it was even built I talked the landlord into letting me use an empty bay with concrete floors to start getting students so I could pay the lease when the building was done. I held a fun contest and on a grey and ugly concrete floor in 3 months we had 100 students! Then the agent who sold me my house, told me to get my license here, ( I was licensed in WA) and told me all I had to do was return phone calls here and I would be rich. And return phone calls I did:)

Maybe I give people more credit than they want to take on. Maybe I expect too much from children of God. But I tend to think that God don't make no junk.

In your area, one person could create a new industry or give free classes to the unemployed to learn new skills.
When I watch, The Pursuit of Happyness and listen to Garner speak- I don't take easily to any excuses because he was sleeping in a bathroom with his son at a train station, homeless, hungry, tired and cold- yet, he made himself into one of the most successful stock brokers and now author and inspiring teacher and speaker. I like to think that if he can make it, anyone can.

And then there are those that don't care, take our money, rip us off and lie to me about the work they did for $20 per hour. I don't think I am expected to continue to accept less than great service. My dream is to empower poor people all over the world, not just in America to rise to their greatness.

I don't think you or I are right or wrong for who we hire.

We have immigrant farm workers from Guatamala here in our sugar cane fields and vegetable fields. I have not met an American yet that wants their job and we need the food they pick.

Great discussion!

Katerina

Katerina,

Thank you. I do sincerely appreciate the discussion. One thing I will say about Garner, he did have the chops to inquire about the stock market...but someone did GIVE him the chance. He earned it by working hard, but someone gave him the chance....and this is what I am saying.

He then paid it forward and gave a woman the opportunity to go back to school. Here in the states.

I understand helping impoverished people in different countries and I have certainly contributed to these charities as often as I am able. I also blog and support efforts for Schapelle Corby, a woman in Australia imprisoned in Bali.

But I do have to help my fellow neighbors and Americans as well. I do feel a duty to do so and it is not easy...it is far from easy but if I am one of the ones who has a will and sees ways, then it is inherent for me to show the ways to others, as often as I can without neglecting the needs of my family.

That is just how I feel.

OCT

Rebecca, I completely agree with you. In my mind, the challenge with Katrina's argument is that the world economy has changed dramatically since the 1980's. Chris Garner's story was made into a movie because it's not normal. Because Chris did it, the rest of the Americans have to travel an obstacle course set by other Americans? That makes no sense. We as a country have completely abandoned our own. We give scholarships and free college educations to students from other countries, who then take that education back home. and give nothing back to America. In contrast, Americans leave college with tens of thousands of dollars in student loans and no jobs on the horizon. Those jobs have been off shored to other countries.

In addition, you can't have one sided capitalism. The problem with America is that the rest of the world is socialist and we are too arrogant to adapt. We off shore our jobs, but other countries don't reciprocate. They take our jobs and use it to fund programs that support their people. We as Americans can't easily go to other countries for free educations. We as Americans can't easily go to other countries and get work permits. The markets in other countries are closed, and the barriers are high.

In stead of sitting down and looking at how the world economy has changed our choices, we do the same ole thing, to our detriment.. American's are afraid to take vacations for fear of losing their jobs, Other countires get 4,6 even 8 weeks of mandated vacation a year. We work two and three jobs to make ends meet and have lost all sense of family value.

A fathers job is to take care of his own family, not the neighbors. Our governments job is to take care of our people, not the worlds people. It starts at home. We have to take care of our own first and that means providing jobs, health care and other basic needs that the rest of the world already has in place.

It starts with you and I. If we can keep a job in America then our economy will get moving faster. I feel very strongly about that.

Rebecca,

I'm hearing a lot of "protectionalism" here. We're in a global economy, like it or not.

Kate and Terry- As do I. I will say that if a candidate were to look for a job and were a "foreigner" who now lives on American soil to me that is no different. We all came here from different places and I respect the rights of all. That person buys food here, sometimes sends kids to school here, purchases clothes maybe owns a house.

That person also deserves an equal opportunity...I am not discounting that right.

I actually was given a chance 5 years ago by a Canadian company that an American company wasn't willing to give me and I will always be grateful for that. At the time I took employment with the company I was three months pregnant and was looking to telecommute to take care of my children. I was given the job and worked for the company for a few years and learned a bit about companies who truly do believe in family values and put families first.

If a company in another country were to need my services I wouldn't hesistate to provide them. For whatever reason, it seems harder in some cases for me to find that respect for family here in my country than it is in another. I know Terry you say Global Economy, but is it truly? I think Kate is right. If it is a global economy than there should be more opportunities like the one I had been given and some of those opportunities should be here in the states.

When big companies look to offshore 60% of their IT jobs over a year, that is a problem. Where will those workers go?

Global economy but we operate the same. Healthcare has everyone up in arms and people are working longer hours further away for less pay.

If they are lucky enough to have work.

Terry you just gave me the words that I was looking for, thank you. Other countries have protectionism in place and we don't. That allows other countries to take but not give back.

America has given away it's intellectual property to our disadvantage. The playing field isn't level.

It's our fault that it has happened. We reward short term profit over long term results every time. Well long term is here and the well is empty.

The fact is that high paying American jobs are being off-shored and being replaced by low paying service sector jobs. That is not sustainable.

It boggles my brain that more of us don't see that.

I wanted to thank everyone for your contributions on this post and the respectful dicussion that you have maintained. Thank you.

Kate- Too arrogant to adapt? We don't have capitalism in this country- far from it. When big businesses sleep in bed with politicians- that is arrogant for sure but certainly not capitalism. When big biz and government melt together the way they have in our country- free markets are no longer able to move. They freeze and small biz suffers. The more people depend on the government to take away from us that work to give to those who won't- while the elite in our country don't give anything up but continue to double talk- that is called fascism and totalitarian. Not capitalism and not socialism.

The socialist party of England just lost and they are begging us NOT to become socialist. Hindsight is 20/20. They made their beds, now they are trying to figure out a way of it. The French are begging us NOT to go there. While we are moving toward a socialism economy the socialist countries are finding their way out of socialism. Then we can talk about China- a communist country in politics but yet embraces capitalism as their economy. Katerina

Kate- Chris' story is not that abnormal. I did it too. I got myself out of a gutter too and made choices to learn on my own. I never went to college. I know more successful entrepreneurs that did not ever even graduate high school. Not all the stories become movies but there are many successful stories like Chris' and mine. There is more than enough for everyone.

OCT

Katerina,

There are many different resources but here is my thinking. I used to probably think very similarly to you and in some ways still do, but I cannot assume that everyone knows of the ability they have in them and some do not know a way to find the resources.

What really burns me is not just the difficulty of honest hard working americans to find jobs, because not all people are meant to be entrepreuners they just aren't, but the kids who are in college as well. They are jeopardized as well.

So after shouldering their debt and coming out of school unable to find a job that doesn't seem right. Now some of the kids have struggled against great adversity to get into school. Some children in America still have to cross gang lines and guns and be in the range of fire just to get a bus to get to school. THIS does exist in America....it is happening and does happen.

So these kids do this, put themselves at risk to get a good education, move onto college, and then come out of college unable to get a job in their speciality because it is outsourced for the sake of cheap labor?

No, I do not think that is right.

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