HP/Compaq offshore move costs 1,200 US jobs

The Inquirer ^ | 8-9-2002 | Inquirer Staff

[JameRetief]

HP/Compaq offshore move costs 1,200 US jobs

Outsourcing to foreign countries now de rigeur

By INQUIRER staff: Friday 09 August 2002, 15:48

DESPERATE ATTEMPTS by the New HP to shave costs and compete with Dell, are costing more jobs to go than expected, but not just inside the new body corporate.

The firm appears to be engaged in a move to shift all of its third party support out of the USA.

A report in local newspaper the Miami Herald said that a support firm, the Answer Group, may have to fire 1,200 people as HP/Q moves most of its customer support and technical support operations out of the country.

The newspaper quotes Dennis Quinn, a VP at the Answer Group, as saying that his firm was told last week by "Compaq" that it was ripping up its contract.

The outfit has worked with Compaq for the last five years but has now received a 90 day cancellation contract from the firm which seems irrevocable.

The paper quotes Quinn as saying he would match the costs HPQ would incur but said the firm won't negotiate.

HP's policy now is to move customer and technical support out of the country, the paper said. While the Answer Group's wages run to perhaps $18 an hour, it appears $2 to $3 an hour is the target HP wants to reach.

Answer Group only does a fraction of the support for HP and the former Compaq in the USA, we'd venture to suggest.

The favoured country to outsource these days is India, which has a large English speaking population.

Here's what the Miami Herald reported. µ

[Dialup Llama]

Wonder if HP executives are volunteering to be part of this wage reduction program? Do they not have capable executives in other countries willing to work for much less?

[OKSooner]

Let's all hear it for the "CIC".

That's "Chick In Charge" for all you worker bees...

[Dialup Llama]

> While the Answer Group's wages run to perhaps $18 an hour,

Lie. I did support for Compaq a long time ago. Those people on the phones are not getting $18/hr. Perhaps they are charging HP that much.

[Dialup Llama]

I had a local geek shop make my last computer. A nice shiny silver computer with a mirrored RAID. Fancy stuff. I'm not sure why I would deal with a company like Compaq any more. What is it they do that I need so much?

[RabidBartender]

Oops, does that mean the Sniverals will have to raise taxes even more to make up for all the revenue they will lose over this? Not to mention the increased unemployment rate. I am thinking we will see more and more of this continue in the long-term.

[TheBattman]

"HP's policy now is to move customer and technical support out of the country, the paper said. While the Answer Group's wages run to perhaps $18 an hour, it appears $2 to $3 an hour is the target HP wants to reach."


And customers complain about tech-support NOW...just wait until there are foreigners that are getting paid 80% less than current tech people are....

[MelBelle]

Yes, "offshoring" is the big thing to do. My job as a computer system administrator is going to be outsourced to India. Who knows how long it will take my company to do it, but they definately are jumping on the bandwagon. Motorola, Ford, GM, Cisco are some of the companies that have already sent work to India.

[EBUCK]

I worked in support for a couple of years and we never heard anything but "Great" "Superb" etc. from customers. 145 employees and I were layed off 'cause the service/support business was moving to Puerto Rico and Mexico. I have not heard a good thing since. Service used to be HP's #1 asset. Now it's a huge liability and it'll eventually drag this company into the muck. Sad really. HP used to stand for something other than "get away with as much as you can".

EBUCK

[EBUCK]

That's HBIC!

EBUCK

[EBUCK]

Your're absolutely right. 18/hr is what Answer Group charges HP for use of its flexible work force (read=TEMP).

EBUCK

[Harrison Bergeron]

"And customers complain about tech-support NOW...just wait until there are foreigners that are getting paid 80% less than current tech people are...."

Don't knock this too hard. I like to call Comcast Cable customer service at night, that way I'm guaranteed to get one of their Canadian contractors rather than the local incompetent sub-literate nincompoops who call themselves "Account Executives." I have yet to receive less than 100% customer service satisfaction when dealing with the Canadian contractors.

[faintpraise]

Wonder if HP executives are volunteering to be part of this wage reduction program? Do they not have capable executives in other countries willing to work for much less?

Save big bucks while vastly improving HP's management. Outsource Carly Fiorina for an Indian executive.

[Psycho_Bunny]

“American companies have to be stopped from taking their businesses offshore because almost all the states are suffering from revenue shortfalls and need to raise taxes!!!!!!”

The only thing even remotely interesting, or unexpected about this article is that Answer Group isn’t moving out of the US.

[EBUCK]

Do you think your Canadian customer service folks are making 2 or 3 bucks an hour? More good points for Canadians, they speak english well, understand common lingo patterns etc..

EBUCK

[EBUCK]

This may be interesting as well. All of these companies are outsourcing and taking jobs away from us. Yet no political action has been taken to stop it from happening. The gub could ease up on regulations, cut taxes, create incentives etc. that would make it less expensive to employ people here. Why don't they do that? Do they want these companies to move away?

EBUCK

[grb]

Aetna and Cigna are doing major offshore outsourcing. They also hire H1B's at $10-$12 hour for programming staff. This is why the job market sucks right know. How can you compete with that

[Psycho_Bunny]

I don't find your observations "interesting" for two reasons:

1) Because you're absolutely correct and anyone with enough of a brain to walk 10 feet without falling knows it and,

2) The State and Federal governments are so far past the point of either understanding or caring about the truths you're enumerating that they are issues which, for the purpose of idle conversation, may be ignored.

Sad, isn't it?

[sinkspur]

Don't knock this too hard. I like to call Comcast Cable customer service at night, that way I'm guaranteed to get one of their Canadian contractors rather than the local incompetent sub-literate nincompoops who call themselves "Account Executives." I have yet to receive less than 100% customer service satisfaction when dealing with the Canadian contractors.

My software company has a business unit which sells call center outsourcing in India. Our two largest customers have written testimonials that customer service is measureably better and customer satisfaction is higher now that the Indians have taken over. They run a problem to ground. In fact, it is not uncommon for the Indians to work on finding an answer to a problem outside of work hours.

People want problems fixed; they don't care from where the solution comes.

[EBUCK]

Yup. Sad.

Having more people employed here means more people paying taxes here. Appearantly it's not all about the money....

EBUCK