Delocalisation des postes dans les OI:
Article de la Tribune de Geneve.
18 Avril 2007 | 15h37
More than 350 jobs in Geneva’s international sector will be eliminated over the next two years as two United Nations’ organizations outsource work to countries with lower wages. Management for the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, confirmed this week it is cutting 150 “posts” while transferring the work to another undisclosed location.
The number of employees affected - out of a Geneva workforce of 903 – is expected to be even higher than 150. Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia, is believed to be a leading contender for the work, although Bucharest and Budapest have been mentioned as other possible sites. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization, headquartered in Geneva, is planning to transfer work done by 200 of its 2,400 Geneva employees to Asia next year.
“It’s true that, starting from January 2008 close to 75 functions in financial services, human resources and purchasing will be transferred to Asia,” Alejandro Henning, the WHO’s director of human resources said. Not everyone affected will necessarily lose their jobs in Geneva, Henning told La Tribune de Genève. In some cases the work being transferred occupies only 20 per cent of an employee’s full-time responsibilities, he said.
Nonetheless, the restructuring plans are raising concerns among employees. The budgets for UN organizations are under pressure because they are set in American dollars ($4 billion a year for WHO). The dollar has dropped in value, while most expenditures are made in Swiss francs and Euros. On top of this, WHO has established a goal to spend more money in the field and only 30 per cent of its budget on its headquarters. Currently, 41 per cent of its budget is spent on the Geneva HQ.
UN organizations are being restructured in line with reforms initiated in 2005. To improve efficiency a reorganization of office work under a program called “One-UN” is underway. Against this background, Geneva’s high-wage environment is competing, much like other cities from London to New York, with low-cost centers in emerging countries such as India and Malaysia, with huge reserves of well-trained, low-cost employees.
