Outsourcing Sex
It may seem strange to most people that people in India are found to be having sex during working hours in cubicles. This topic is generally taboo.
This topic is taboo, and over 25% of the people who read about it have had sex in the office. Their faces may turn red as they read this, or their breathing may briefly stop — and then they’ll rally against the article in their minds and sometimes out loud in order to proclaim their own innocence.
Some companies, such as Capitol One feature gyms and recreational areas for their developers to release stress. EXCELLENT idea. I laud it.
I’m not at all surprised that outsourcing to India has caused the developers there to have an increased workload, and therefore increased stress. However, as most Indian companies probably can’t afford gyms, I’m not at all surprised that they have fallen back on basic human instincts to satisfy their needs. Not only does this help the developers there shed everyday worries, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it encourages stronger bonds among them.
This is not acceptable behavior in America. This article was originally repoted on at CNET News.blog.
Although I’m not going to give my opinions about this type of behavior one way or the other, I WILL make a comment about outsourcing. I hate it. The United States’ major export is scrap metal. We have national debt. And here we are, giving our money away to another country for providing services as opposed to tangible products. We don’t produce enough products in our own country as it is. We are mostly a service-oriented society, and here we are buying services from another country.
We can’t afford to do this. Countries should be given some sort of incentive to outsource to US instead of it being the other way around. The only way to relieve the debt is to get more money into the country from external sources, since the balance of funds between the governemental intake and use doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon. Producing more funds in our own country would only lead to a depression.
Why aren’t we doing anything to alleviate this problem?
June 29th, 2005 at 12:39 pm
Outsourcing is a natural phenomenon to reduce costs, and expand business faster. With the higher compensation burden, and lack of Human Talent is forcing several Companies in US to outsource from India, Philippines, China , Russia. Companies have been raving about their cost savings to put the same money in R&D, new product development, expansion besides building capital and profitability.
So Outsourcing is inevitable, and one can not stop it. If you can not prepare your own food, you need to go restaurant and that saves you time.
June 30th, 2005 at 9:47 am
I understand that it’s inevitable in the development of a country, just as imperialism is inevitable. That doesn’t mean that I approve of either one, though. There are plenty of people out there looking for jobs in the US, yet companies are turning toward Asian countries. We could lower the unemployment rate AND keep the money in the country if we just hired locally.
July 23rd, 2005 at 8:07 am
It’s a matter of cost. The people looking for jobs require more money than those in Asian countries. If you do not reduce your costs as a company, your competition (which may well be in Asia) will — and your hired local employees, IT and other, will be out of a job.
As with everything, eventually the cost of Asian IT personnel is going to increase to match that of the US — and equilibium will set in. Until then it is hard medicin to take, but the alternative is even more unpalatable.
Protectionism (except in rare cases and on a temporary basis) does not work. The industry being protected becomes inefficient and un-innovative as there is no incentive to change. Eventually, the consumer suffers.
July 23rd, 2005 at 9:03 am
Ok, to give you an example, the situation is the same with oil. US pays good money to foreign countries to import oil. Why do that when there is oil available in the US? Just introduce legislation forbidding oil imports. Not enough oil you say? Well, not at the current world price… but if you raise the price from the current $60 per barrel to say $600, the demand would decrease, cost inefficient wells abandoned in the past would go into production again, alternate energy sources would become cost effective, and the US would get to keep its money at home.
Now the obvious immediate side effect is the consumers’ pocket at the gas station. But it would affect all industries, raising the prices of everything, including items for export… and you can see where that leads.
It’s the same with IT human resources. The US IT unemployed are like abandoned oil wells, too expensive to use at the price they are willing to produce. Restricting foreign imports (outsourcing) raises the cost of the products they are involved in producing, including items for export — sound familiar?
As I said, protectionism does not work — eventually the consumer suffers.
September 15th, 2005 at 8:31 pm
I will comment on the uncommentable.
I don’t have a gym at our office.
I have not had sex in my office.
Would I? Probably not, but I would consider outsourcing.