ESL Podcast 216 – Outsourcing Operations

Bonnie: I wanted us to meet today to talk about ways to reduce our overhead. One suggestion is for us to outsource some of our operations. I’d like to hear what you think are the pros¹ and cons² of doing that.

Jean-Luc: I think that, in principle, it’s a good idea. It would save us a lot of money, but I see a downside. We would lose control of some of our key in house operations.

Bonnie: Well, I think that we want to focus on non-core operations, such as IT or accounting³. I know that other companies have outsourced their call centers, but that would take a lot of training, especially with our call volume.

Jean-Luc: I completely agree. I don’t think that the call center needs to be micro-managed, but it does take more oversight⁴ than IT or accounting for quality control, especially if we decide to go offshore⁵.

Bonnie: Okay, I think we’re thinking along the same lines. Let’s call a meeting with the rest of the staff to get their thoughts. How about next Tuesday at 10 a.m.?

Jean-Luc: That works for me. I’ll send out an email out to everybody today.


Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

1 pros   

abbr.prosecuting 起诉；prosecutor 起诉人；professionals 自由职业者；proscenium （舞台）前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 )；赞成的理由；抵偿物；交换物

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 cons   

n.欺骗，骗局( con的名词复数 )v.诈骗，哄骗( con的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

4 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

5 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。