Telenor is planning to lay off at least 100 employees from Pakistan to outsource major Finance and Accounting tasks to Accenture Bangladesh, we have confirmed with sources.
Sources confirmed that Telenor Group is in process of taking a decision on the matter and final outcome is expected around last week of April 2014.
Interestingly the labour in Pakistan is more cost efficient than Dhaka, however, Telenor Norway has made a complete U turn in its strategy and commitment towards Pakistan, which was managing group’s finance functions for quite a time now.
Imran Ashraf, Head of Telenor Global Shared Services Pakistan, in an email communication, confirmed ProPakistani the possibility of freeing up resources. He said:
Telenor Global Shared Services Norway is expected to make some changes in its operating model which involves organizational changes with possible impact on employees based in Norway and Pakistan.
No formal decision about any change has been taken yet.
The GSS Board of Directors in Norway will decide and make an announcement which is expected towards the end of April.
Impacted employees will be mainly from Telenor Shared Services (TSS), an entity that handles Telenor’s Finance and Accounting Functions.
Telenor Global Shared Services Pakistan is an internal provider of services to Telenor Group in Finance & Accounting, IT and Customer Services.
Some of the employees – who were initially employed by Telenor Pakistan and then moved to TSS — are working with Telenor since 2004, however, major chunk of TSS was hired in the last two years with promises about future job security and career advancements.
These fresh graduates (mainly ACCA’s) were hired through on contractual terms through third party vendors and hence are not even legally owned by Telenor. Though in substance even the interviews, short
listing etc. are all done by Telenor Pakistan.
It has become a norm now that multinational companies – particularly the telcos — hire workforce through third-parties. The term that is usually billed as outsourcing offers top-notch performance from youth without any obligatory requirements.
This is a big slap on our so-called system that the employers in Pakistan have legally sought out a way to avoid their responsibilities by hiring through third party contracting firms that do not even have physical
presence.
As a matter of fact, majority of impacted employees from Telenor do not even know the office location of their legal employer.
It is also a moment of rethinking for the major political parties squeezing votes from the youth upon claims for uplifting youth and workforce rights especially PTI and PML-N.
The best part of all is that this is being done by the “Best Employer of Pakistan“.