Friday, 14 March 2014 06:26
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The EFC’s workshop on outsourcing in Sri Lanka, held last week, received a record number of participants from various industries. The large attendance was a clear indication of the huge appetite there is amongst Sri Lankan businesses to embark on different ways of working.
The EFC is used to receiving high attendance for many of its trademark training courses like its supervisory course, or the various sessions it runs on industrial relations. However, it is always interesting to note the massive response it receives when announcing its workshop on ‘Outsourcing: Issues and Challenges’.
The half-day session, saw an immediate take up of 57 participants from various industries both national and multinational, all interested in finding out how to adopt this new way of working, whilst remaining compliant with the notoriously restrictive labour laws of the land.
Director General Ravi Peiris, who took one of the sessions said: “The term “outsourcing” has many ramifications in Sri Lanka. It is often used to mean something else. The differences between outsourcing, sub-contracting and contract labour are very subtle. Its legal implications are also different. We are no longer in an era where work needs to be done within an employment relationship.”
The interest to pursue different ways of working is clear. Last year the EFC held its annual symposium on ‘Working Out of the Box: New Work Practices’ which was attended by nearly 400 delegates, keen to learn about different work practices, and eager to hear about the current best practices that some local companies were already adopting.
This week’s workshop looked at what outsourcing was and why it was important for businesses. It gave participants examples of outsourcing arrangements and explained the difference between outsourcing, sub-contracting and the hiring of labour through a contractor – all common practices that businesses currently adopt.
Most importantly the workshop looked at legal tests and safeguards that companies could adopt, to ensure that their working arrangements were compliant with the labour laws, and how to minimise the risks that go with it.
Sri Lanka is already well known as the outsourcing country of choice for many overseas companies. Cost effective labour, deeply entrenched history, and favourable time differences, make it a top favourite with many western countries looking to outsource their business processes.
In 2011 Sri Lanka was ranked 21st in A.T. Kearney’s Global Service Location Index and despite the global economic downturn, the Sri Lankan BOP/IT market has grown by 23% and looks set to continue this trajectory.
However, what is more of note is that local companies are now also choosing to outsource overhead functions in an effort to cut costs and focus on their core business. If the Sri Lankan outsource industry is good enough for overseas markets, then why not for local businesses too?
One of the participants, Sajith Govinda Wickramaarachchi, Group General Manager of HR for Ceylon Biscuits Ltd., commented on the training: “It was a good eye opener. The case studies and the examples quoted were found to be quite effective for us to understand not only the vulnerabilities involved, but also certain myths we had, with regards to outsourcing.”
Following the oversubscription for the last Outsource session, the EFC intends to hold another workshop on 24 April 2014.
