Losing your job? You can reclaim it overseas

News.com Poll

Meeting IBMs match
How should we best understand Project Match?

Another sign of the times
IBM's barely veiled attempt to get employees to offshore themselves
A big mistake in the making

View results

CNN has obtained an internal IBM document detailing how employees who face losing their jobs in North America will be given the opportunity to reclaim them by working overseas.

"Project Match," as the program is dubbed, will let employees from the United States and Canada take posts at IBM branches in India, Nigeria, Russia, Argentina, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Hungary, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates, according to the document.

As an incentive, IBM reportedly will assist with moving costs, according to CNN. So far this year, IBM has laid off several thousand people.

What do you make of Project Match? (Vote in our poll to the right.)

[bwvla]

I find it horribly short sighted that a plethora of US companies are laying off in North America and Europe, but are actually hiring in low wage countries. Each of these companies primary markets are North America and Europe. In order for those markets to recover the people within those markets need to be employed and spending money again. By shipping so many high paying jobs to low wage countries this removes capital, and morale from the target markets leading to lower consumption.This only prolongs and deepens the recession. Since the new workers in low wage countries earn far less and are less developed, their market cannot grow by the several thousand percent needed to match the losses out of NA and Europe. The result will be many, many companies going under, a scenario where neither the lucrative markets, nor the low wage countries win.

These companies are in essence killing the goose (lucrative markets) that lays golden eggs. Without high paying jobs fueling consumption the North American and European markets will be in free fall.

[harkol]

bwvla,

That's not really a short sight!

If you want to enable consumption, in which economy would you want to do it? US-Europe has combined population that is about 15% of world population. Brazil, India & China combined would be about 40% of world population!

If you were trying to shore up your long term prospects int he world market, which of the following market would you choose?

1. One which is young, vast in numbers, upcoming and fast growing?

2. One that is old, small in numbers, saturated and now fast loosing its buying power due to long term over leveraging?

We in developed countries have had disproportionate share of world resources for long (more than 100 years). Now other countries are claiming their fair share and businesses are only following the markets!

[Voice_Of_Logic]

This is the most irresponsible and dangerous thing I have ever heard of. This is greed to the n-th degree. These jackasses should just pick up their so-called American corporations and physically move them to the 3rd world nation of their choice. What the **** are we allowing this for?

This is a runaway train, this outsourcing ********. It needs to be stopped now. Consumers are fed up. Citizens are fed up. Are you ready for the resulting revolt? I hope so. I bet that we can find cheaper replacement CEOs for our current crop of ******* CEOs (bank of america, ibm, american express, city of phoenix that outsourced a payroll system to india) and so forth, that will only cost the shareholders of these companies 1/3 the pay and no taxes, no need for benefits, etc.

The United States of America needs to jump of this train because its headed straight for a wall.

[p.shearer]

Consumers are up? I really don't think so. The American consumer is the number one factor driving outsourcing. When presented with the choice to buy two identical products, one being made in the US and one being made off shore they invariably purchase the cheapest which typically is the one being made offshore. Corporations are simply responding to the consumer as they have been voting with there wallets.

You mention the city of Phoenix outsourcing is a role to India. If we were to use a US-based company for these activities the cost of tax payer with the higher. What you are seeking is really another form of protectionism.

[snowdawg_6]

It's pretty simple. The maggots at the large corporations like to hire folks who will work for a handful of rice and some butter chicken. Ironically, management (the least productive and most costly element in any organization) doesn't outsource "their" jobs. hmm.....The 'we need to be competitive' argument just doesn't wash. Let's face it. There is a seething massive of human flesh in Asia. India and China alone contain 2.6 BILLION people.. Assuming they took every single technical and manufacturing job on the planet, there would still be 400 MILLION people working the rice paddies. The solution to this problem is population control. Period. There will never be an "emerging" market for North American goods and servies. Wo Fat and Parbinder will simply do it cheaper. And to boot, we're giving them the engineering and technical skills they'll need to compete directly with North American companies. Kind of like shooting yourself in both feet. The blatant disregard for IP, copyright laws in these dumps is legendary and systemic. Time for some government action since the weasels in the corporations are too dumb to figure it out. 2 million technical and engineering jobs have already vacated North America in the last 12 years. These jobs pay good salaries, which the government taxes. The government coffers will suffer two fold. lost revenue due to lower paying jobs and unemployment and welfare rolls spiralling upward. Personally, I'd like to beat the upper management of these corporations with a shovel until they lose control of their bowels. And as for wanting to develop the 'third world". Bullocks. I care as much about the average Indian and ******** as they care about me, which is nothing, so we're equal. There I said it.

[harkol]

Snowdawg,

Wo Fat paid for your house by funding the US banks through his govt. The reality of the market is entirely different than what you think!

US companies did have lot of IP, but in the past 20-30 years America has become a consumer, rather than producer. It consumes most of worldwide resources, but doesn't produce even 1/5th of what it consumes!

Why should World tolerate USA?

Things in the world don't remain static the way we perceive them to be. The privileges we enjoyed in the past need not be taken for granted in future. Our technical edge and IP is also largely due to a confluence of various factors, large one being the immigration of best from developing world. Should they choose to stay behind in their countries, their countries will certainly prosper more.

In Business companies and people react to realities. Businesses are not made to cater to charitable intents. The reality of the market today is - The biggest market of 21st century is going to be Asia with China, India & Japan perhaps constituting 50% of world market. why won't companies want to be there?

Did you know china accounts for about 25% of Intel revenues and India about 4% (and rising fast)?? is it a wonder Craig barret told us to learn Chinese and Hindi? Within the next decade China+India will provide more than 50% of revenues for our biggest companies.

And we still say they are 'our' companies shifting 'our' jobs abroad? hmm...

[George_Marenco]

It's more like Project lowest of all forms.

[fjvwing]

This seems like a terrible move in the long term for the US workers, because if they get a local salary, they will not be able to contribute to their retirement accounts at a US salary level. Ex-pat assignments to cheaper countries are nice, as long as you either get paid reasonable well in US numbers, or you will be able to translate your international experience into a higher-paying job when you return to make up for the contribution short-fall over the ex-pat years. The world being so connected, international experience does not give you the instant leg-up that it used to, though.

Not to mention the problems servicing current US debt, like credit-cards, mortgages, HELOCs while on a lower local salary.

[Voice_Of_Logic]

@/harkol: Dont count on it. The people of the United State have begin to boycott EVERYTHING made in China and anything outsourced to India. Those two nations can fend for themselves, they dont need to be propped up by the US anymore. Good luck and good bye. Its made in America or nothing. We're going to crush you.

[pentest]

Good luck boycotting imported goods.

US production is so low that it would take decades for that to be possible, if we started righting the ship now.

Rampant consumerism has caused a decline in US supplied goods. That is what is really killing us.

[inachu]

Take the law firms that try and make sure that americans are not hired by companies in USA and rip away their american citizenship and denied entery into the USA and denied to do business with USA and USA GOVT.

[marap]

Why so much hatred among us which ultimately results in our actions supporting either the corporates or the govt. Neither of them have not been proven to be our supporter, we the worker class, we who always are on the receiving end. And this is true no matter what country you are from.
A US worker cannot survive on a low scale salary and difference in cultures restricts relocation also. Corporates very well know this and they only push such moves to cover their layoff ass.
If we stop H1Bs, corporates will outsource. Heck not to india or china, but to canada, Mexico and costa rica. So we stopped 65k H1Bs, but we opened doors to close to 25k other neighbors. Very difficult to stop.
I am not much concerned on H1Bs coming to US, but however, i do like them restricted and very strictly evaluated. I do not like frauds coming and working at the expense of local jobs.
Boycott - this we cannot do. Just go to your local store, grocery store, wholesale, walmart, etc and everything we american buy to live our life is coming from outside. This is the trade system we created and now we are at a point that even our own govt cannot change it.

Recessions like this (and the one in 2001) prompts us to think on some topics --
1. Why are we so costly as compared to rest of the world.
2. Why it is so easy to fire a US employee but not one in Europe and Asia ? Unions ... govt regulations ..etc ?
3. Why insurance and health care costs are too much over here ?
4. Why severance is at the mercy of corporates and why cannot a regular employee also have a golden umbrella (i don't want a big one), just like the Boss who is ready to lay me off.
5. Just because i am expensive, does not means that i cannot or i do not know how to work. Why cannot management utilize me where i have work and i am more productive than any competing fellow. Do we have a problem in working more and better .. Hah !!!
6. There should be decent regulations for allowing credit. I myself will not like this, but i think it is important. We get lot of plastic credit and temptation overpowers intelligence at times causing frustration in the end. (even with no job i can get a credit card with ease).

There are other points too which can be discussed, but i don't want to start and participate in a hatred debate/discussion where i know these are not helping thoughts.

[Dalkorian]

I'm sure the overseas transition will pay the same, right? They wouldn't do this to reduce the pay of their workforce, would they?

Sleazy tactics like this begets sleazy employees. Reap what you sow folks.