Tags
Administration
Benefits
Communication
Communication Programs
Compensation
Conflict & Dispute Resolution
Developing & Coaching Others
Employee Satisfaction/Engagement
Executive Coaching
HR Metrics & Measurement
HR Outsourcing
HRIS/ERP
Human Resources Management
Internal Corporate Communications
Labor Relations
Labor Trends
Leadership
Leadership Training & Development
Leading Others
Legal
Management
Motivating
Motivation
Organizational Development
Pay Strategies
Performance Management
Present Trends
Recognition
Retention
Staffing
Staffing and Recruitment
Structure & Organization
Talent
The HR Practitioner
Training
Training and Development
Trends
U.S. Based Legal Issues
Vision, Values & Mission
Work-Life Programs & Employee Assistance Programs - EAP
Workforce Acquisition
Workforce Management
Workforce Planning
Workplace Regulations
corporate learning
employee engagement
interpersonal communications
leadership competencies
leadership development
legislation
News
Onboarding Best Practices
Good Guy = Bad Manager :: Bad Guy = Good Manager. Is it a Myth?
Five Interview Tips for Winning Your First $100K+ Job
Base Pay Increases Remain Steady in 2007, Mercer Survey Finds
Online Overload: The Perfect Candidates Are Out There - If You Can Find Them
Cartus Global Survey Shows Trend to Shorter-Term International Relocation Assignments
New Survey Indicates Majority Plan to Postpone Retirement
What do You Mean My Company’s A Stepping Stone?
Rewards, Vacation and Perks Are Passé; Canadians Care Most About Cash
Do’s and Don’ts of Offshoring
Error: No such template "/hrDesign/network_profileHeader"!
Blogs / Send feedback
Help us to understand what's happening?
Reason
It's a fake news story
It's misleading, offensive or inappropriate
It should not be published here
It is spam
Your comment
More information
Security Code
Insourcing American Jobs – The Risk and Opportunity for HRO
Created by
Gary Bragar
Content
Offshoring is once again under the harsh glare of the polarized political spotlight in a presidential election year. As my NelsonHall HRO colleague Gary Bragar commented in his blog, President Obama is increasing focus on job creation including encouraging employers to insource jobs back to the U.S. This may cast a shadow of negative publicity on outsourcing that includes offshoring, but I predict the issue poses only minimal direct threat to HRO. In fact, I see increased opportunity for savvy HRO service leaders.
In listening to the President’s remarks and reading the insourcing and investment fact sheet issued by the White House, it is clear that manufacturing jobs are the primary target.
The U.S. lost millions of manufacturing jobs and in some cases almost entire industries, as companies pursued ways to remain competitive with lower-priced global competitors. Lower wages and benefits were a key part of the equation, but there were other factors including regulations, taxation policies, and the low cost of transportation in what was still a bountiful world of low-cost oil.
Offshoring dynamics are changing, especially for manufacturing. The time delay inherent in moving products around the world now creates challenges in meeting the rapidly changing market preferences and shortened product lifecycles of a connected world. With increased competition for limited energy supplies from the emerging economies, the cost of transportation has become a significant factor. Add in moderately decreasing wage gaps and we can see why companies will be able to insource some jobs. Others will be able to create more jobs in the U.S., much like Honda, Toyota, and Mercedes Benz have been doing for years.
HRO as an industry is already a blend of onshore, nearshore, and offshore technologies and workforces. A mix of right-shoring talent and technology helps vendors meet client needs for cost, service, and value. With time and transportation being minor factors in HRO or other BPO, talent remains a primary driver.
Access to pools of affordable skilled talent is an increasingly important element in the growth of all businesses, whether small or large, local or multinational. Who has access to comprehensive data on workforces around the world including costs, turnover, and availability? Who can see trends emerging on skilled labor capabilities and capacity shortages? Who has direct experience in building and maintaining global workforces both for clients and for themselves? HRO service providers!
Think about it, in our HRO community are the likes of Accenture and IBM, growing globalists like ADP and NorthgateArinso, modern tech heavyweights like Infosys and TCS, global research and analysis specialists like Aon Hewitt and Mercer, and RPO leaders such as Alexander Mann, Hays, and Manpower, we even have learning leaders that can handle rocket science like Raytheon RPS.
We need to have a large enough vision for what we can become as an HRO community. There is so much already that we can leverage. Be confident in our value and let our light shine bright!
Linda Merritt, Research Analyst, HRO, NelsonHall
Interested in reading the latest HRO news from NelsonHall? Subscribe to our newsletter by emailing amy.gurchensky@nelson-hall.com with “HRO Insight” as the subject.
Copyright © 1999-2025 by
HR.com - Maximizing Human Potential
. All rights reserved.