Officeworks to offshore hundreds of Sydney and Melbourne jobs to India and Philippines
Dozens of workers at the company's Western Sydney customer service centre have been made redundant. (ABC News: Adam Griffiths)
In short:
Hundreds of jobs at Australian brand Officeworks will be moved offshore to India and the Philippines.
Geeks2U as well as other office roles in Sydney and Melbourne will be moved to Bengaluru, India, in coming months.
University of Sydney international business professor Vikas Kumar says the trend to offshore jobs reflects a lack of skills in Australia.
Officeworks is planning to offshore hundreds of jobs to India and the Philippines, joining a growing trend of businesses hoping to find more highly skilled white-collar workers overseas.
The Australian office products retailer told dozens of staff at its Western Sydney-based customer service centre this week their roles had been made redundant and would be replaced with a call service based in the Philippines capital, Manila.
Its plan to shift more jobs offshore, seen by the ABC, reveals technology support business Geeks2U as well as other office roles in Sydney and Melbourne will be moved to Bengaluru, India, in coming months.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the business said "rising costs, increasing competition and rapidly changing customer expectations" had forced it to undergo a significant strategy change so it could continue offering customers low prices.
Communications sent to staff this week said the establishment, which is owned by parent company Wesfarmers, would also start using more AI, automation and data to improve efficiency and decision-making.
The Australian office products retailer will be offshoring Sydney and Melbourne jobs. (ABC News: Adam Griffiths)
University of Sydney international business professor Vikas Kumar said a company's decision to move lower-skilled jobs, such as customer service centre workers, to Manila was about cost-saving and efficiency.
But he said a recent trend to offshore more "high-value" jobs, such as those helping to build AI, reflected a lack of skills in Australia.
"We don't have the level of the expertise and the numbers that you need,"he said.
"It just makes more sense to do it in countries such as India where you have this kind of talent.
"For the workforce, this is the biggest problem, at least in the short term."
'We should be concerned'
Vikas Kumar says the offshoring of jobs reflects the lack of skills in Australia. (Supplied: University of Sydney)
Professor Kumar said a "vacuum" of talent in Australia started decades ago when successive governments failed to invest in upskilling locals in the technology and AI skills now vital to businesses.
"If we don't do it now, we will create an even bigger vacuum into the future,"he said.
"We should be concerned that this is something that is going out of the country, and it probably will never come back."
Officeworks India has already begun hiring for about 50 sales, technology and analyst roles based in Bengaluru, but has not confirmed how many roles it plans to move offshore.
The ABC understands the company plans to shift hundreds of jobs to India in three phases, to avoid too much disruption.
But a company spokeswoman said the majority of jobs, most of which were in customer-facing roles in stores, would remain here.
There is a growing trend of businesses hoping to find more highly skilled white-collar workers overseas. (ABC News: Lucas Hill)
When asked about the company's decision, a federal government spokesman said it wanted Australian companies to put local jobs first.
"Our government will always back Australian jobs and put the interests of Australian workers first,"the spokesman said.
"We want to see companies operating here bolstering their local workforce and investing in Australia."
The retailer is the latest in a string of companies to announce plans to shift some operations offshore, including the National Australia Bank and Telstra, which says it will axe up to 650 roles in favour of jobs in India.
The change is being overseen by managing director John Gualtieri, who took over as head of Officeworks last year after finishing a stint as chief executive of Wesfarmers companies Kmart and Target.
Those two businesses also have 500 people working in business and technology jobs at its "global capability centre" in Bengaluru.