UBS Outsources To India And ... Poland?

What do you if you are a massive Western European company facing a dearth of qualified employees at home? If you're Swiss investment bank UBS you move to Poland!

UBS said it plans to relocate 1,000 jobs to India and Poland in the next year, due to a lack of local employees with adequate skills.

A spokeswoman for UBS confirmed the company would be create 250 jobs in Poland and 750 jobs in India initially, though the final number would depend on business demands. The company already has nearly 850 employees in Hyderabad and is set to open another office in the city.

“We are a growth company and looking for a talented and highly skilled work force,” the spokeswoman said.

UBS has nearly 80,000 employees around the world.

Unlike India, widely seen as the king of business and knowledge process outsourcing, Poland may seem an unlikely candidate for UBS. But the Swiss company is not the first to realize the huge potential of the former-communist state, where highly skilled graduates have been frustrated by a lack of jobs.



Though the new UBS division in Poland represents a tiny fraction of its overall work force, the company will use the move to see if the country is suitable for further growth.

“They want to get into private banking in eastern Europe,” said Peter Siderman, managing director at the Adecco Institute of Employment. “The company has ambitious growth plans. They will be looking forward to the next ten years.”

Sideman added that in addition to low wages and highly skilled workers, Poland has the added attraction of investment guarantees, courtesy of its membership in the European Union.

Shares in UBS were down 1.40 euros ($1.87), or 1.8%, to 75.95 euros ($101.79) in early afternoon trading in Zurich.

Source: forbers.com