Low mark: A successful nonprofit should keep its jobs at home
Share with others:
It's nothing new for U.S. companies to send jobs overseas. Offshoring is a practice that some firms claim they need to reduce labor costs.
But in a grim economy in which the official unemployment rate hovers near 10 percent, the notion of exporting jobs is getting increasingly hard for Americans to accept. People who question the patriotism of those who want to pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan, for instance, would do better to ask how patriotic are the American executives who send jobs to India and other places at a time like this.
That's what Highmark Inc., the nonprofit health insurance giant, is planning to do. Internal memos obtained by Post-Gazette staff writer Bill Toland revealed that Highmark intends to send some of its technology work to India, while seeking buyouts from tech workers and analysts. It's not known yet how many U.S. jobs the overseas work will represent. The outsourcing will be managed by Accenture, of Houston, which has India Delivery Centers that perform information technology services.
Highmark said it must reduce costs "in order to remain competitive. We cannot do business competitively within our present cost structure." An official said on its intranet web site that the offshoring "contract will not only provide additional flexibility in adding or reassigning staff, but more importantly help keep projects within budget."
Efficiency is every business's goal, but with a surplus of $3.4 billion, does Highmark really need to take employment out of Pennsylvania and give it to India? The company, after all, must maintain a charitable mission to keep its nonprofit status in the eyes of the state, which confers certain tax breaks. The insurer does spend significant revenue on charity. In 2005, for instance, Highmark and the state's three other Blue Cross Blue Shield providers pledged $1 billion for the Children's Health Insurance Program and adultBasic, which helps low-income adults afford health insurance. Those funds are still being paid.
That's good, but how is charity served by moving jobs away from the state that nurtured Highmark and remains its financial base of support?
Sending work overseas is bad business when five Americans are competing for every job opening. It's nastier still when it comes from a company pledged by law to be a benefit to the community.
First Published August 18, 2010 12:00 am
