CSC UK touts jobs at RIVALS to techies facing chop

Bungling NHS IT outsourcer outsources vacancies

Outsourcing biz CSC has allowed rivals to advertise job vacancies on its intranet as hundreds of workers face redundancy.

In February the integrator wrote off nearly $1.5bn in the fallout of the NHS IT fiasco and threatened to axe 500 techies working on its project to provide electronic patient records. A 90-day consultation period with affected employees was launched, as required by law.

Then separately in April CSC confirmed it was putting another 640 workers "at risk", citing changes in the market and that "customers are demanding new services with different contract and delivery models".

Presumably contracts for technology that actually works.

Well-placed sources said layoffs are inevitable but CSC is "exhausting all mechanisms" to avoid compulsory redundancies. Workers with specialist medical skills recruited for the NHS gigs are expected to end up on the chopping block, but more generalist employees will be trained for other roles within the company.

Company insiders reckon fewer than 700 staff could be pushed out and that includes contractors, staff on extended leave or those that have taken a sabbatical. However, some sources claim staff that are terminated will be allowed to use the training facility within CSC UK to upgrade their skills for six months after leaving.

In a surprise move, the HR director at CSC in Blighty has also allowed other suppliers - including Atos, HP, Steria, Fujitsu and Accenture - to advertise vacancies on the company intranet.

"In order to maximise people's employability, the company has agreed to publish job vacancies at rivals, which I think is a first for the IT industry," said a mole on condition of anonymity.

A CSC mouthpiece told The Channel: "For employees who have to leave our business through the job reduction programme we have a range of support services to help them secure a new position."

She added the firm was unable to comment on the redundancy consultation as the "process is ongoing". ®