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Thames Water (RWE) and Xansa - CEO outsources jobs to himself!

Miss Concerned | 09.12.2003 20:28 | Globalisation

Since the RWE takeover, Thames Water has embarked on a massive cost cutting exercise, and is currently outsourcing more jobs from its Customer Services Division in Swindon, UK, to India

The UK national press reported on 04/12/03 that Bill Alexander, Chief Executive of Thames Water (directly owned by German utility giant RWE) has been named as non-executive chairman of IT services company Xansa, the company contracted to outsource jobs from Thames Water to India. Mr Alexander is due to take up the post on 1 January 2004.


Division in Swindon, UK, to India. The first phase of the outsourcing process (April 2003) saw the export of general call centre work; Phase II involves the outsourcing more
complex administration tasks. Some employees are being asked to opt for voluntary redundancy or redeployment for the second time in less than nine months.

Xansa has reported a 40% increase in its headcount as thousands of British jobs are outsourced to India, but with reduced profits this year, the ompany has announced that it is withdrawing from continental Europe, reporting that companies there 'are not ready to embrace outsourcing' (perhaps because they have more stringent employment laws than in the UK). The company intends to spend the next two to three years focusing on its
UK operations.

With a friend/client such as Bill Alexander now on the board, Xansa can expect to do very well in the UK. And Bill Alexander can expect to do extremely well indeed, having already received a £1.2 million bonus for facilitating the Thames Water buy-out by RWE, and having seen his salary triple in recent years from approx £470,000 per annum to a cool £1.4 million. His salary for the non-executive chairmanship of Xansa is unknown.

FURTHER INFORMATION

RWE and Thames Water will be familiar to American water customers as American Water Works Co, which has acquired numerous water companies in the last 2-3 three years, in Kentucky, Virginia, California, Ohio and New Jersey (amongst others). The RWE group intends to move away from the more regulated markets in Europe to the (deregulated) US and Chinese markets.

Xansa's website (www.xansa.com) lists Thames Water as a major customer in its Contract History. Both parties are refusing to divulge the value of the outsourcing contract, but Xansa's previous contract with Thames, which commenced in 1998, was valued at £12 million for a three year period. Xansa also highlights the existing relationship with RWE in a case study on the web site.

Bill Alexander is also a non executive director of RMC Group plc, a large construction and aggregates conglomerate which operates in 27 countries, including the U.S.

Opensecrets.org reports that in 2001-2, American Water Works Co made a total of $320,126 in 'soft money' donations to the Republicans, with a further $80,000 going to the Democrats.

Opensecrets.org also reports that RMC Industries, a subsidiary of RMC Group plc, was the fifth largest contributor in 2000 to Pat Buchanan ($7,000).

Miss Concerned