IT outsourcing - can it even be positive?

martyp

Hi all,
My job is due to go to an outsourcing IT company such as HP or IBM and I wondered if anyone had gone through such a thing and whether it could even result in a better job with the outsourcing company?
I've heard that under TUPE agreements you might have a job with the new company for something like 6 months but they might get rid of you before or after that time?
It's all a bit vague at the moment but wondering whether it's worth hanging on till the end (likely start of next year). At least I'm hoping to get redundancy payout if nothing else...

oscarward

Looking at it from the other side, I used to work for an outsourcing company. I was taken on directly but most of the team I was in came from a company that had been taken over, we had a Danish team leader.

The big plus side was that there were about 50 accounts that my company ran, so it was possible to move from one account to another. About 95% of recruitment was done internally (100% now).

Having said that the majority of positions were management or project management but if you wanted to there were a whole raft of training courses you could do and then apply for other roles.

1 person I worked with in Manchester went to work in Australia for a couple of years and then came back to the UK, a single mum as well.

So maybe I was lucky but it can be a very good. PM if you want and I will tell you who it was.

martyp

Many thanks oscarward, I think one thing that might still happen is that the outsourcing company take on the existing staff but they have to move to the offices of the outsourcing company which might be a long distance away?

sweaty_betty

I also know of positive stories, where the outsourcing company actually increased the salaries of some staff who they thought were underpaid :j
There was no compulsory relocation either - although perhaps this was because the customer site still needed people on-site to deal with IT issues etc.

My advice would be to try to embrace the change, be as co-operative as you can (within reason obviously) and try to see it as a positive thing.

Mista_C

I was part of an in-house team that was outsourced in 2009. Part of the contract formed included the in-house team to be ring-fenced to the site we were at.

It didn't seem so bad at first. A specialist team came from the outsource company to plan a migration to a new network for what was now our client. Unfortunately their idea of bespoke was to brute force a bunch of misconfigured sysems in place.
Those of us from the original team found ourselves being pushed out of our roles and being left to general mopping up after this specialist "project team". Throughout this time I was putting together a list of things I could see going wrong, things the project team were ignoring if we brought them up. We were looked down on and the project team would have no problem letting us know they thought we were useless.
A year later my list of predictions was being used in manager meetings as a checklist of things that had gone wrong. The project team were ejected from the client site and told not to return.

In the meantime it was announced our team of 24 were all being made redundant and there would be 16 jobs available of which we could apply. I let them put me on notice then voiced my intent not to apply for any of the available jobs (lower wage, less holidays, more hours, ring-fence disappeared).

I stayed in touch with most of my old work mates, all of whom tell me I made the right decision to get out as things have progressively gotten worse.

My experience was a bad one but that's not to say yours will be. If handled properly it could be an excellent opportunity for you.

njm123

I've had mixed experiences of outsourcing, from both sides. If you do or can do a job that the outsourcer really needs it can open up a lot of doors for you if you are willing and able to take them. On the other hand the deals are usually about cutting costs, so it's likely that numbers reduce and quite often you may have to relocate as your current employer will want the office space cleared.

My advice would be that unless you can arrange another job to go to and are in line for minimal redundancy, stick around and see what happens but make sure you keep your eyes open for whats going on - if it's negative you'll no doubt get a chance to take the redundancy later.

When you know who is taking you over, research that company a bit - see what jobs are on offer you can do, find out about their culture. At some point in the process you will get to chat with the new companies employees as part of the "take on", ask them where you look for new roles and anything else you want to know. Then you can start looking at other roles within the outsourcer in case your's goes wrong in some way, you might even find one working at home.

marlot

Having been through this, I think the future can often be what you want it to be. I've moved on and worked in about 8 other accounts in the outsourcer, and have now been with them for eight years. Others who came across with me have done even better - some of them are in senior management. Others are still on the original account doing their old job. What surprises me is that its not the people who were in senior positions/regarded as high fliers who have prospered.

My conclusion is that you need to decide whether you want to stay on the original account doing (mostly) your current role, or not. And if you want to make a career with the outsourcer you need to make a real effort - get yourself out there, offer to get involved in things beyond your account, network.

The company I went to has not cut my terms and conditions (apart from closing the final salary pension, but the company I came from closed theirs too, so I can't really complain).

jamesmorgan

I used to work for an outsourcing company. Many people who were TUPEd across to the company ended up with opportunities that they would never have had without moving. Some ended up in senior leadership roles. However, the reality is that you will be moving to an IT services company which is very different from working for an in-house IT department. The biggest difference is the requirement for location flexibility. The extent of this will depend on how much project work the outsourcing company does versus long-term support contracts. If more of the former, you may find yourself working on a range projects for 6-12 months each in a different location (or country). This can build up great experience and skills, but can come at the expense of family life. Initially you will probably continue in your current role/location, but this is unlikely to continue forever. A major part of the bid will be based on reduced costs (ie headcount) so the outsourcing company will be looking to move staff onto other assignments.

The key question you need to ask yourself is would you have joined the outsourcing company (with their work profile) if you were applying for a new job. If this is not for you then I suggest you look to leave. There should be no hurry in this as you current role should be safe for a while. If the excitement of working for an IT services company appeals to you, then it could provide you with a great opportunity.

InsideInsurance

Generally speaking, being in a large specialist IT company there will be more opportunities for IT people than there will be in the IT department of an organisation that's main focus is something other than IT.

On the flip side, you can go from being a big fish in a small pond into a medium sized fish in a very large ocean.

As long as you are able to adapt to the different culture which will naturally come with working for a different organisation along with having a different type of relationship with former colleagues (now clients) then it can be a good thing.

The only thing that is certain is that once its happened, trying to fight the changes wont get you anywhere good

bobble_hat

I've been through this. I think it's all down to your own attitude, if you look at it in a positive light as an opportunity rather than something which is being forced onto you, then you will have a better experience of the whole thing.

I would absolutely agree with Marlot

My conclusion is that you need to decide whether you want to stay on the original account doing (mostly) your current role, or not. And if you want to make a career with the outsourcer you need to make a real effort - get yourself out there, offer to get involved in things beyond your account, network.

You have to get yourself seen and heard and decide where you want this move to take you.

gnus

Remember after tupe you will move on to the contract of the outsourcing company. This can mean end of overtime, end of flexi, stopping of oncall allowances etc etc etc.
When it happened to me the place became flooded by accounts people (as everything was chargeable to the client), recent graduates were classed as "consultants" - so they could be charged out for more, a lot of work was outsourced to indian, if you were flexible you would get screwed over by the company, you are required to work away a lot (travel time is at your own expense of course).
Basically the outsourcing company has got to make money whilst paying out millions to take over the contract. Somethings got to give.