CEO outsourced job instead of allowing remote work

Employees who request permanent remote work arrangements may now face a risk of having their jobs outsourced by the company. Johnny Taylor Jr, CEO, The Society for Human Resource Management, told The Wall Street Journal that when an employee requested to work remotely after relocating to another state, the company outsourced her job instead.

According to a spokesperson, the company has a hybrid remote work policy that permits employees to work from home two days a week, Mondays and Fridays. Taylor chose to outsource the employee’s job to an individual in India instead. Additionally, outsourcing the position resulted in a 40 per cent reduction in labour costs.

Taylor is not the only one seeking to leverage foreign labour, where the pay scale for technical jobs is frequently lower than in the United States. The pandemic led to an increase in remote work opportunities for workers in the United States. However, as some businesses continue to struggle with labour shortages and cost-cutting, there may be a rise in the offshoring of positions overseas.

However, this shift could potentially harm white-collar workers in the US, who may have to compete with a global pool of applicants. However, only jobs that can be completed entirely remotely are at risk. Remote job postings in the US have declined steadily, with only about 13 per cent of job postings offering remote work as of March 2023, down from 17 per cent the previous year.

If more US companies expand their hiring to include overseas workers, white-collar employees may have to compete with a wider pool of candidates from around the world.