Offshoring 'poses threat'
Nov 30 2006
The majority of UK employees perceive offshoring, the movement of business process abroad, to be an increasing threat, says new research.
Just four per cent of the 2044 respondents surveyed by Deloitte and YouGov support the continuation of offshoring, 82 per cent believing enough jobs have moved offshore already and almost 32 per cent believe UK companies should be forced to bring jobs back to the UK.
Public attitudes towards offshoring have become more negative since the survey was initially conducted in January this year when 22 per cent of respondents thought UK companies should be forced to bring jobs back to the UK. At the start of the year, 29 per cent said they could see the advantages of offshoring, or even thought it was a good thing, compared with just 13 per cent today.
David Owen, consulting partner at Deloitte, says: ‘There are clearly personal concerns over job security behind the negative attitudes to offshoring and our own insights suggests we can expect massive increase in the financial services sector alone. Growing awareness of the increased mobility of both resource and labour is causing anxiety, with 17 per cent of respondents believing that offshoring presents a threat to their own jobs.’
According to the survey, around 65 per cent of employees say that investment in education and training is required for the UK to maintain global competitiveness and encouragement for small business start-ups was also high on the agenda, with 57 per cent pointing to additional support for entrepreneurs as a positive step.
John Kerr, managing partner for innovation at Deloitte, says: ‘The transfer of jobs at some skill levels is a trend that is likely to continue and brings with it opportunities as well as threats. The UK needs to be in a position to benefit from operations moving offshore, rather than be threatened by the increasingly global nature of the product and services markets and this is front of mind with our top business leaders.'
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