Utility Sets IT Department On Path To Self-destruction 478
dcblogs writes "Northeast Utilities has told IT employees that it is considering outsourcing IT work to India-based offshore firms, putting as many as 400 IT jobs at risk. The company is saying a final decision has not been made. But Conn. State Rep. and House Majority Leader Joe Aresimowicz, who is trying to prevent or limit the outsourcing move, says it may be a done deal. NU may be prompting its best IT employees to head to the exits. It also creates IT security risks from upset workers. The heads-up to employees in advance of a firm plan is 'kind of mind mindbogglingly stupid,' said David Lewis, who heads a Connecticut-based human resources consulting firm OperationsInc, especially 'since this is IT of all places.' The utility's move makes sense, however, if is it trying to encourage attrition to reduce severance costs."
Because it's worked so well for others in the past.
Executive pay (Score:5, Informative)
Note that due to the various interlockings of the various utilities operated by Northeast Utilities, it is next to impossible to know how much people like Bill Quinlan are pulling out of the company, but according to one report, the executives at CL&P (connecuit light & power) get paid 11.2 million. Replacing 400 IT jobs with a contract to India will probably save less than the executive salaries, it is good to be at the top in a modern american company. Bill is a freaking attorney, pulling out about $4 million per year from the rate payers for making such hard nosed decisions as putting 400 americans out of work. Nice guy!
Re:"Mind-Bogglingly Stupid" #2 (Score:5, Informative)
"IT is not a revenue generator."
Wrong. IT very much *IS* a revenue generator. It's just not an obvious revenue generator.
Most modern businesses of any size cannot operate long without some form of IT. And if their business does not operate, there is no revenue. Strictly speaking, the only thing that "generates" revenue is sales. Depending on your point of view at any given moment, EVERYTHING else in the company could justifiably be labeled as an unnecessary expense. Including the CEO's paycheck.
I've seen this often before. They're cutting their own throats. They may not know it, because what IT does not show up on the books as a positive, but that's what they're doing.
Re:Never Never Never out source IT (Score:5, Informative)
To a Southerner, Briton, Jamaican or Australian they definitely have an accent. It's impossible to speak without an accent. You're confusing "no accent" with the General American accent [wikipedia.org]. It's considered as neutral of an American accent as you can have, and is widely used in broadcasting. It is, nevertheless, an accent.
Re:Meh, it all works out for the best (Score:5, Informative)
Hostess didn't come back, they liquidated.
All of the rivals of Hostess that didn't go bankrupt are the ones ressurecting the brands that were put in limbo by their failure.
IT talent in New England still have to pay New England rent prices and still have some money left over for food.
Re:Let me be 1 of the 1st here (Score:4, Informative)
Not necessarily: If it is domestic high-quality outsourcing, you know the people personally and there is a long-standing connection, it can work. But off-shoring basically never works and a cultural gap ensures that. Same wit off-shoring to China. I have seen some stellar examples of software stupidity coming from there, and these were Chinese people in China hired as regular employees by a large US IT company. I have never seen so many obvious beginner's mistakes in any cryptographic software before.