Outsourcing

Finansforbundet and the local professional system always try to influence the outsourcing decisions to ensure the perspectives of the employees are included, but we cannot change the business models of undertakings, including their use of outsourcing. Finansforbundet endeavours to ensure that the employees affected by outsourcing move on well in their professional lives. Generally, Finansforbundet aims to ensure a balanced globalisation that will enable businesses to generate more jobs in Denmark through enhanced competitiveness.

Denmark is a small and open economy, and the financial sector is highly digitalised and transnational, which makes it easier to place tasks where it is the cheapest. Outsourcing is complex and filled with dilemmas. For example, businesses might gain a competitive edge through outsourcing, however, the disadvantages of outsourcing could become so big that some companies decide to take back the tasks to Denmark.

We have developed a dialogue tool (dilemma memo) on outsourcing that our union representatives and managements can use to discuss outsourcing on a nuanced and sustainable basis when assessing the outsourcing potential and subsequent execution. In this context, it is crucial to shed light on the employee perspective.

Under the management prerogative, your employer has the right to hire and terminate employees. If, at the time of termination, you have worked at the business for more than one year continuously, the termination must be based on a fair reason, and the circumstances ruling at the time of termination decide whether there is a fair reason.

The outsourcing of your tasks to a foreign country is considered an organisational change and is therefore a fair reason, regardless of whether you will be required to train new employees in another country during your period of notice.

National outsourcing is in many cases considered a corporate transfer covered by the Danish Act on Transfer of Undertakings. If so, the business will in most cases be under an obligation to transfer the employee to the business to which the tasks are being outsourced.

Your employer must give notice of your termination by a fixed period of time depending on how long you have been employed. Read more about the termination rules here.

Being terminated and asked to train others in the outsourcing unit to do what used to be your tasks may seem unfair and can take a personal toll on you. Remember that Finansforbundet stands ready to help you move on if you are terminated. We offer help and advice in the following areas and more:

• Individual job-hunting, courses and training opportunities
• Financial support for further training and continuing education
• Possibility of letting Finansforbundet serve as your “lawyer” in connection with decisions made by the job centre or the unemployment insurance fund
• Career coaching

Finansforbundet generally endeavours to ensure that businesses live up to their responsibilities with respect to employees affected by outsourcing. First and foremost to those who are terminated, but also those who remain in the business and are required to ensure the continued quality of the outsourced tasks and will be responsible for the training of employees who will be performing the outsourced tasks.

The business must handle outsourcing in a fair and responsible way, and in early and ongoing dialogue with union representatives to ensure that the employees who lose their jobs are either retrained or upgraded to other jobs in or outside the business.

Finansforbundet is engaging in dialogue with legislators and authorities on how to ensure that outsourcing takes place in a balanced and sustainable manner, implying, among other things, that the sector will maintain the critical skills and safeguard both customer and employee data in the outsourcing processes.

The local professional system regularly highlights insufficiencies to managements based on making the outsourcing business case realistic and adapted to specific experience gained. The perspective of the employees must be included as they know the specific challenges of the value chain presented by outsourcing.

Finally, it is important that you share your knowledge of the disadvantages arising from outsourcing because it may be detrimental to the performance of tasks and consequently impact the business and employee motivation negatively.

If you are experiencing insufficiencies of outsourcing, you should first of all tell your immediate manager, in fact, it is expected of you. You may always discuss the problem with your union representative before and after you go to your manager. Also talk to your colleagues to hear what their experience is.

It is important that you and your colleagues highlight any backflow of tasks and other insufficiencies of outsourcing that will have consequences for the quality of the performance of tasks, including your ability to achieve your targets/KPIs.

If you believe the problem involves a greater business risk or a risk to you, you have the option of using the channels made available by either the business or the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (whistleblower mechanisms).

• Early information and consultation of employees and the industrial system to promote better decisions, an understanding of the consequences as well as build trust and commitment among employees
• Timely upskilling/requalification of affected employees for job opportunities inside or outside the organisation

• Early involvement of the area's employees in risk analysis and qualification of the business case for the purpose of minimising operational and image-related risks
• Ongoing involvement of the area's employees in the evaluation of the quality provided, reperformance of tasks and transitions in the value chain

• The sector has a co-responsibility for creating jobs in Denmark, and for retaining and developing critical financial and IT competences, which our country will need in future
• Businesses and regulators have a responsibility for safeguarding both employee and customer data when such data are transferred between locations, across borders and especially out of the EU.

• The sector's businesses must retain and promote the values of the Danish agreement model, including trade union rights as well as values related to diversity and inclusion throughout the business’ value chain and at all the business’ locations.

• To ensure that outsourcing contributes positively to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it is important that it is carried out responsibly, both in terms of social and environmental factors. This requires close cooperation between the industrial system and the businesses outsourcing the tasks.