Corporate greed continues to ‘hollow’ the UK economy as the march to ‘off-shore’ call centres continues.

David Harlow, Managing Director of leading online motor insurance broker InsureYourMotor.com has today stated his outrage at the news that two more finance sector companies have announced UK job cuts in favour of transferring their call centres to India in a bid to cut costs and increase profits. AXA and Abbey last week announced that they are to cut a massive 1,100 UK jobs in a bid to increase profits and share prices, by transferring their call centres to India. French insurance firm, AXA is to cut 700 jobs across the UK with 220 at Morecambe and Darlington. Banking organisation Abbey said that it was closing offices in Warrington and Derby, resulting in the loss of 400 jobs, most of which call centre jobs, now to be carried out by new staff in India. AXA said a further 480 jobs may be lost to India as well in the not too distant future. David Harlow comments: “This continued migration is completely shocking. It angers me that these companies would sacrifice customer satisfaction in favour of increased profits. I truly believe that these big corporations have got it totally wrong. The business model in theory is a good one, however, it remains to be seen whether these additional savings will be passed onto the consumer. British consumers will vote with their feet on this issue. Dissatisfaction with offshore call centres is universal and growing”. To get David’s message across to the consumer that this action is totally inappropriate, David and InsureYourMotor.com will launch a new web campaign ‘The UK’s OK’. The campaign will focus on the moving of call centres to India and the sacrificing of customer satisfaction over increased profits. The live website portal ‘The UK’s OK’ will invite comment from those who believe in UK call centres or those who want regional work opportunities due to losing their job in this trend. David explains, “Thankfully, not all insurance companies feel the need to follow suit with AXA and Abbey - there still remain some truly British companies who realise the benefits of retaining British employees, in a British company, with a British client base and we are one of them. Our campaign will ensure that people who feel strongly about this issue get a voice. Our strategy over the next three years is to continue offering franchise opportunities for those with experience in car insurance. AXA and Abbey may not want these British workers but we would love to offer some of them jobs. I can’t see any reason why businesses would want to give up the wealth of talent we have on our own doorstep.” David continues: “In launching the website ‘The UK’s OK’ we want to publicly name and shame those organisations that are profiting from this trend. Further more, wherever possible, we will publish their pre-tax profits in an attempt to show the consumer the level of corporate greed currently driving this move. I think we should bring back the ‘Buy British’ campaign. It seems British pride is giving way to overseas exploitation”. Abbey currently has 40 sites, excluding branches, throughout the UK, which employs around 23,000 people. Soon to be made redundant employees will be given at least six month’s notice warning of site closures. Many employees will be left feeling angry and bitter about the state of UK businesses and their apparent lack of ethics. Tens of thousands of British call centre jobs have already been lost to India in the past 5 years. Analysts predict that this figure will increase by 20% a year, and in 5 years time over 2 million Indians will be working in outsourced call centres. AXA, are just one in a long line of companies to offshore their operations in recent years, with Norwich Union, RSA, Allianz Cornhill, Zurich and Churchill all making the move to foreign shores. A trend that will, undoubtedly, put huge financial pressures on the rest of the industry. Only time will tell the effect of this cost cutting global strategy. The expectation of soaring profits has already come at a high price for many of the people that have been left behind. As for the long-term repercussions – that remains in the hands of the consumer.