Outsourcing Your Ethics

I'm the owner of a mid-sized company, and we're experiencing some hard financial times. To survive, we need to downsize. I put a team in charge of coming up with a plan, and they recently presented me with their recommendations.

Job cuts are inevitable, but the team presented an option where we can make fewer job cuts if we outsource some of our jobs to Asia in the short-term. I consider outsourcing overseas to be a dangerous trend, but the catch is that by doing so I can actually keep more jobs open at my company. Where's the line?

Outsourcing is indeed a controversial trend. But your tone makes me think you've already made up your mind and don't yet know it.

Your bind is simple: 1) Cut a few jobs, and get more in return on the Asian market where one American salary might be worth two or three or more Asian salaries. 2) Say no to outsourcing, cut a lot of jobs, and feel terrible when you watch all those employees packing their things when you know you could have saved many of them.

Both alternatives have their strengths and weaknesses. To rationalize it in the long term, you need to think about what your goal is here in the short term and what would happen if you accomplish that goal.

I assume your company is in the red, and these cuts are an attempt to get it back in the black. Now suppose that works. Things turn around, you start turning a profit, and, in a perfect world, you're in a position to expand back to your previous level and hire back everyone you laid off.

Now lets examine your comment that outsourcing is "dangerous." Suppose you chose the outsourcing option and things turn around. The problem with outsourcing is that those jobs almost never come back. All too often, it's a one-way street to Asia.

If you're having trouble rationalizing this dilemma, imagine how scary it would be if you then had to decide whether to hire back one of those jobs you outsourced, but at double (or more) what you're paying for it overseas?

It's a slippery slope. Outsourcing may feel like a short-term fix, but it's hard for it not to end up as a long-term, permanent commitment.

In the end, it's your call. But if you don't want to outsource overseas, don't. Trust your instincts. It will be a gut check when you need to announce the layoffs, but you don't want to outsource your ethics for a quick payoff. 

Have a workplace-ethics dilemma? Ask it here, or email wherestheline@gmail.com.