Business leaders looking to streamline operations through offshoring have been warned that the British public remains strongly opposed to the practice.

A new survey of 1,000 consumers conducted by outsourcing community web portal, sourcingfocus.com, found 75 per cent are opposed to offshoring.

“This research makes unhappy reading for those within the outsourcing industry and particularly those with an interest in offshoring,” said Martyn Hart, chairman of the National Outsourcing Association (NOA), the body that recently launched the new portal. “The lack of consumer acceptance of offshoring – a process that is good for British business – is worrying and further education is obviously needed.”

Bad experience dealing with call centres is to blame for consumers’ negative image of offshoring, said Hart. “The main experience consumers have is with call centres and that is pretty diabolical,” he added.

Hart said the poor quality of call centres is because organisations usually choose the cheapest option.

Only six percent of the consumers said they were happy having call centres offshore. Public antipathy to outsourcing remains so firmly entrenched that only 15 per cent of the respondents were happy with the manufacturing of electronic goods offshore, even if it made them cheaper.