You don’t get much more heated than a real, down-and-dirty debate about offshore outsourcing. Tapping issues that run as deep as patriotism, entrepreneurship, the American Dream, and the plight of developing countries in the World’s desperately uneven playing field, the issue of offshoring inspires passion in a broad spectrum of people over a broad spectrum of issues. 
Is losing American jobs to other countries a tragedy? Or a new way of helping the third world get on its feet? Are businesses sacrificing quality for higher profit margins? Or are customers reaping the rewards of less expensive goods and services? Is India really the answer for outsourcing? Or should we look elsewhere? And as the American dollar spirals ever downward, is offshore outsourcing really a viable long-term business model at all?
As a business that has made offshore outsourcing a key element of its ROI-orientated business model since 2003, Blueliner has had to, and continues to, wrestle with these issues. I can’t say I have all the answers, but in a series of blog entries, I hope to discuss a few things that may benefit businesses, small and large, struggling to form an offshore policy…
On the Loss of Jobs
I hesitate to generalize here, since the loss of jobs is easy to talk about in a theoretical manner until you meet someone who has actually suffered from it. I can only say to those who cry out that outsourcing has ruined the American job market, the reality is that job stats in October were strong, with 166,000 jobs added and unemployment at relatively low 4.7 percent. Net job losses from the month before, as well as doom-and-gloom predictions from economists about the job market in 2008, stem more from the credit crunch, struggles in car manufacturing, and a dismal housing market than moves to offshore outsourcing (“Jobs Pick Up But Red Flags Remain”).
For those afraid of losing a job to an offshore team, keep in mind that at the end of the day, some jobs can’t go overseas. Copywriting, office jobs like administration or management, sales, investor relations, and marketing research require a physical presence, language skills, and understanding of American culture that you can’t match in an offshore team. Innovation, high-level technical expertise, and business development are a few other jobs that will largely remain State-side for the foreseeable future. Working hard, proving your value, and shifting as much as possible into positions that would be prohibitively difficult or expensive to outsource are the best strategies for workers to stay competitive
At Blueliner, offshore jobs have only been added when an equivalent US employee was prohibitively expensive and no American Blueliner employee has ever been laid off to make room for an offshore employee. In an ideal world, businesses would follow this model, adopting offshore teams only as an element of growth rather than cutting current American jobs, but this is simply not practical for large organizations looking to cut expenses. Those businesses must carefully evaluate the costs and benefits of an offshore team, including the effect on company reputation and the moral of the American team that is left over after cuts.
Finally, it is important for all who enter the offshore outsourcing debate to realize the fact that those outsourced jobs have very real benefits for the developing countries in which they are based. In essence, if one looks at the global economy as a whole, jobs are gained instead of lost, since many companies can afford to hire more people overseas. These jobs result in a trickle down effect, where countries can use an influx of capital to spur domestic production, services, and infrastructure. This has a better long-term effect on the economy than First World tax-supported donations or the loans of major international banks, which have propped up third world economies until now. While Americans shift their mentality to hone in on jobs that give them a competitive advantage over foreign workers, those very foreign workers are finally being given the doorway into a style of living, which has been locked up in the First World until now.
That is the mentality that Blueliner has adopted. We see our offshore team as a supplement to our American team, not a substitute for it. And we are proud of the small contributions that Blueliner has been able to make, through its teams, to the developing economies of India, China, and Bangladesh.