Canadian firms look abroad to find talent

Over the last few years offshoring, or global resourcing, has proven to be a popular means for corporations to secure affordable talent to fill support roles. And while the practice continues, now comes word that large Canadian businesses are uncertain if they'll continue to do so over the long-term.

According to a survey of Canadian business decision-makers commissioned by Randstad Technologies and IBM Canada, almost half of the respondents say they currently use global resourcing, in contrast with approximately one-third in 2009 and 2010.

"There's less of a focus for CIOs on new offshoring or global resourcing initiatives. It was a real hot topic in 2008, 2009, and 2010," remarks Stacy Parker, executive vice-president of marketing, Randstad Canada in Toronto. "It's almost starting to fall off of the radar. I think for many organizations it hasn't worked perfectly. Companies are still eager to access global talent but they're not as eager to give it away. They want to bring it in-house. That's an exciting sign for (Canada's) future."

Survey results indicate global resourcing continues to be most prevalent among large organizations and those with international operations. These companies list the reduction in cost as the primary reason for using offshoring (84 per cent), while access to skill bases (44 per cent) and 24/7 services (39 per cent) are also important.

"It's definitely driven by cost savings but now organizations realize we're talking about talent and the most important factor is the people running those organizations. If you offshore it all, you'll impact the culture of a company, its productivity, the perception from customers of the company," she continues. "So we're seeing more of an effort to bring the critical roles back into the organization."

Global competition, pressure to do more with less, and the need for highly skilled technical resources has led employers to look at non-traditional solutions to their staffing challenges. The most commonly cited job functions for company's currently using offshoring include Application Development (61 per cent), Help Desk (40 per cent), Data/Database Management (23 per cent) and Server Systems (19 per cent).

"Internationally, Canada is perceived to be one of the most attractive countries to work for. Overwhelmingly, for people aged 18-35 that have strong education, the No. 1 driver for them is working in an international career opportunity but I don't think Canadian employers understand that," she adds. "There's a time and place for offshoring. Typically it's for support roles, rarely is it for highly skilled positions."

With Canadian post-secondary and graduating students struggling to find work, it seems logical to hire for these positions at home.

"Can new graduates and youth do these jobs? Absolutely," she says. "Should we be giving them to Canadian youth when that's one of this country's biggest challenges from an employment perspective? Yes we should and companies are getting that."

Additionally, current offshoring users say they are less sure of their plans to increase or decrease their use of offshoring compared to 2010, and non-users report to be even less certain of their plans to start using off shoring at all.