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Technology firm Capgemini has confirmed it is to cut 450 UK jobs which includes the closure of an office in Hampshire. The consulting and outsourcing company had been proposing to make up to 600 redundancies due to the loss of a contract with HM Revenue and Customs. It employs 2,200 people in Telford, Shropshire, where the bulk of the cuts are due, and has sites in Basingstoke, Hampshire, West Sussex and Newcastle. Staff affected by the cuts has been officially informed.
The Public and Commercial Service Union (PCU) said it is trying to further reduce the number of cuts. About 200 jobs are thought to be under threat in Telford, 95 jobs will go with the closure of the Basingstoke office, 44 staff are to leave the Newcastle site and between 20 and 30 posts are expected to be cut in Worthing, the union said. It is thought about 90 staff plan to leave voluntarily.
Last month, a Shropshire MP had urged Capgemini, one of the biggest employers in his constituency to avoid compulsory job cuts. Capgemini had proposed about 600 redundancies across the UK due to the loss of a contract with HM Revenue and Customs in January 2008. Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard said the company, which employs about 2,200 people in Telford, should examine a voluntary redundancy scheme. The Conservative had recently met with one of the company’s senior managers.

India is far ahead in competition in terms of now cost effectiveness and quality of service. It is the top choice for outsourced jobs. A report prepared by advisory firm EquaTerra, the Outsourcing Service Provider Performance Study, researched senior company figures with regards to outsourcing. As per the report, most UK businesses that are keen on outsourcing its IT jobs have India as a top priority. They choose at least one provider from India. According to a survey conducted by 320 of the UK’s top IT spenders, India ranked the highest in terms of customer satisfaction.

Almost 57 percent of UK organizations outsource their work to other countries. The most preferred choice for them is India. Phil Morris, managing director of EquaTerra for Europe, foresaw a growth in the UK outsourcing of IT and business processes in the coming decade. He said that UK did not have too many trained workers to satisfy the demand. More people in the UK would be interested in a management training course rather than a standard customer service one. On the other hand India offers all the economic advantages that companies in UK are interested in. thus India is the preferred choice. Work outsourced to China represents a mere 5 percent of the pie. Cost is a major factor in the outsourcing decision. But flexibility, service quality and customer satisfaction also are decisive factors.