Niyamath Parveez

The biggest newspaper of any country has an important job to do in bringing news, reviews and updates to the population. Not everyone reads a newspaper but there is no doubt that the printed press remains at the forefront of informing people what is going on. Television and internet media have definitely eaten into readerships of newspapers and this means that these companies have to consider new ways to remain viable. Whilst they have a vital role to play in informing people, newspapers cannot take a free role and need to remain a going financial concern, as much as any other company would have to do.

This is exactly the case which is facing the Toronto Star, the biggest newspaper in Canada. Considering the size and breadth of Canada, this indicates how major a newspaper it is but even the world’s most famous newspaper can fall on harsh times. The Star is not alone in suffering financially at the moment and the opportunity to save money without harming the quality of the newspaper is something that has to be considered. When you add an actual figure to the level of savings that can be achieved, it can be easily seen why this is a popular course of action.

It is said that if the Toronto Star undertakes its outsourcing plan, it may be able to save $4m. This is a figure too good to turn down but what does the Toronto Star have to do in order to make this saving. It will come as no surprise to see that job losses are involved, with 78 editorial jobs set to go. This equates to around one fifth of the newspaper’s editorial staff, no small amount, even in this modern era of technology assisting with printing processes. Pagemasters North America are set to be the lucky beneficiaries of these jobs and should be able to ensure the newspaper carries along in the same vein that readers have grown accustomed to.

As always in the situation, the trade unions will have an interest and they have been given 30 days to post an interest or air any grievances. In all likelihood, if a trade union was worth their weight to members, they would be appealing against these decisions in order to support the staff. This means that it is likely they will be getting involved in this situation, to at least keep up appearances.

Many jobs where people look like losing their job will garner some support from the local community and population but the role of editor is not one that will grab the attention. This means that attempting strike action or other such methods would be unlikely to assist in the long run. This could mean that it is more likely to see the outsourcing move be finalized, bringing a greater degree of saving to the newspaper.

This is of benefit to the management team behind the Toronto Star but whether it is good news for the local community will be uncovered later.

It has been well documented that outsourcing is a great opportunity for firms to take advantage of lower wages and improved experience of staff but many decry this because it sees jobs moving out of the country. The traditional view of outsourcing is one where whatever job is taking place is removed from people in the West and shipped over to a place like India where they have the ability to pay lower wages and take advantage of developing technology to offer their services. With the credit crunch hitting many people the opportunities to save money are becoming increasingly important but equally, the promotional aspect of remaining in your own country and providing jobs can do a lot of good for a company.

This is one of the reasons why Associated Newspapers, the newspaper publishers who are responsible for publishing the Daily Mail and the Metro range of newspapers in the United Kingdom have taken a bold move. The company has reshuffled its IT sections and staff across all of the newspaper groups they own, including the major national newspapers and have developed a service that will independently provide IT functions to all of their divisions and external clients. There are obviously many advantages that can arise from bulk buying and sharing a larger knowledge pool which Associated Newspapers hope to reap the benefits from. Economies of scale is not a new concept in business and there have been many organizations who have taken advantage of the increased buying power and strength that comes from taking a mass approach to their working activities.

IT is an interesting aspect in the outsourcing world because not all aspects of it are so readily able to be shipped abroad and serviced by an offshore outsourcing firm. If the IT helpdesk is mainly a phone service providing information to staff then yes, there is an argument that offshore outsourcing can be used effectively but when it comes to having a live IT department who will come and fix issues and move equipment, having an offshore outsourcing contract is of no benefit at all to anyone.

By keeping the IT facility within the country and centralized between their different organizations, Associated Press have taken a bold move to ensure they are providing jobs for people in their own home market. This is obviously of benefit to their local market and will no doubt be cheered and praised in the local community and outlying and affected areas. There are still elements of the new system that require explaining and developing and this is why the company has set up a number of workshops in order to allow the staff to fully embrace the new system when it starts properly. Anything which can ease the transition from one process to another is of great value and the firm should be praised for the way they have set about creating this change. If the move is a success, it may well be that Associated Newspapers are not the first company to take this step and we may see a greater number of firms re-organizing their departments in order to create a stronger IT unit for themselves and their competitors to use. With the importance of outsourcing growing rapidly, this move should be welcomed by those who have concerns about losing jobs to offshore outsourcing firms.