Inside Out — Outsourcing
Do you know what outsourcing is?
Outsourcing is when an organization transfers the ownership of a business process to another service provider. The word transfer in the definition is what makes outsourcing problematic — the buyer does not instruct the service provider on how to perform the task, but focuses on communicating what results it wants.
The process of accomplishing the results is left to the service provider. And that service provider could be our educational support personnel members — such as bus drivers, food service workers, or maintenance people.
How does outsourcing affect school employees? Food service employees can be impacted by outsourcing meals for students. What would happen if a school district transfers the preparation of meals to McDonald’s or Burger King? These companies would not tell the food service employees how to serve the meals, but would say that at the end of the day they would not want to have any more than 5% of the prepared meals as leftovers—thus waste. It would become the responsibility of the food service employees of the district to ensure that the leftovers would not amount to more than 5%—removing the focus from serving healthy, quality meals to our students.
These two fast food companies were just randomly picked as examples. The point is that outsourcing, in this regard, could mean the loss of food service employee’s jobs and challenge employees to perform tasks without guidance from the service supplier. Does this make sense?
Some would say that outsourcing does not always eliminate jobs or displace employees. There are times when companies or businesses who become the victims of outsourcing create jobs. Oftentimes, the jobs created do not go to those who were initially a part of that workforce.
Outsourcing, what do you think about it? Do you know of any examples of this happening in your area? What was the impact on the workforce? Good? Bad?
By Cara Elmore, NEA Staff working in Michigan
Comments
Privatization
Privatization of support staff is like getting rid of family members and replacing them with strangers that you hope will fill a void. I don't know about what others think but I would trust family over any stranger.
Don Cobrea
MEA Member
Privatization
Privatization, AKA outsourcing, of support staff in public schools have proven to be a wrong choice for many Boards of Education throughout the Nation. They have fallen for the scam that they might spend less for the same services. That has hardly been the result. When you spend less you get less. Some of the intangibles are loyalty and pride. Outsourcing of support staff can have a negative impact on students. Some school board members do not understand, for instance, the roll of custodians. They provide a safe, clean and healthy environment for students to learn. There have been several districts in Michigan that made the mistake of outsourcing that have resulted in numerous complaints. The people that made the decisions to outsource have failed to recognize those complaints and have touted how well things are going. I’m sure just to save face. Shame on them!