American Express Company

American Express Company (AMX), a globally recognized business, decided to outsource nearly 2,000 jobs in late 2003 in order to save hundreds of millions of dollars. They chose to inform their employees the day before negotiations started. American Express took a big risk in informing the employees so early in the negotiation process, but they were concerned about losing

the best employees because of nervousness. It is nearly impossible to keep rumors from spreading. From rumors comes fear and speculation. It is natural for employees to want to “jump ship” for fear of being caught without a job.

American Express started by assuring current employees that they would be treated fairly by whatever vendor was chosen. Next American Express encouraged employees to communication with the bidding vendors, IBM (International Business Machines), Electronic Data Systems Corp (EDS), and Computer Sciences Corp. They also conducted “town hall” meetings with employees all over the world and answer emails to help with the process. Surprisingly though, American Express involved employees in the negotiation process “[to] understand the value and strength of the different options from a technical perspective”.(Costanzo pg. 13) Another reason to expose the employees to the bidding vendors was to give them a taste of what that company’s corporate culture would resemble.

American Express ultimately chose IBM to outsource their IT business process. Almost 100% of outsourced employees were offered a job with IBM. Of those not offered a job 50% went into