The Grand Rapids Press reports that Meijer Inc. will outsource 81 positions in its information technology department to a company in Bangalore, India.
The Press notes that Delhaize-owned Food Lion and Hannaford already use the Bangalore service.
The move will case 81 people to either be placed in other jobs at the company or lose their jobs, as well as 50 other people in its customer call center. Those people are being replaced by a Boston-based call center company that hires people with disabilities who work at home; those people will be locally based, however, so that they will be able to tour Meijer stores and get a sense of the operation.
The moves are all part of Meijer’s ongoing efforts to create greater efficiencies.
The Press notes that Delhaize-owned Food Lion and Hannaford already use the Bangalore service.
The move will case 81 people to either be placed in other jobs at the company or lose their jobs, as well as 50 other people in its customer call center. Those people are being replaced by a Boston-based call center company that hires people with disabilities who work at home; those people will be locally based, however, so that they will be able to tour Meijer stores and get a sense of the operation.
The moves are all part of Meijer’s ongoing efforts to create greater efficiencies.
- KC's View:
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When we recommend Thomas L. Friedman’s “The World Is Flat” – a fabulous book about global change and the outsourcing phenomenon – to retailers, sometimes they look at us and wonder why it might be relevant to their industry.
Well, this story is your answer. For better or for worse, the world is changing in some fundamental ways – and retailers need to understand the cold realities of it all.
