Employee Protection - Help or Hinderance ?

Employee Protection regimes like the UKs TUPE Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations are seen as a positive sign of a civilised society and developed economy - However in today's market conditions are such laws detrimental to the population at large ?

Whilst it is quite often the thought of pension liabilities (which sit outside the realms of such regulation for the majority of employees) which put off prospective outsourcing bodies bidding for particular work (particularly in the public sector) - How many contracts which are take up are delivered with underwhelming performance because despite the injection of new thinking much of the work carried out by an outsourcer is delivered by the same people who carried out the job before a transfer. Whilst retaining skills and knowledge are fundamental to delivering a successful service - so are energy, enthusiasm and openness to new thinking - some of which can be drained by the transfer process itself - which frequently can be fraught - usually through uncertainty of the unknown and the fear that results.

Could costs to business and the public sector be reduced if such regulation were relaxed to an extent - and could performance be improved through a greater injection of new talent, new thinking and avoiding the "well its always been done this way" attitude, and the historical burdens of knowledge which frequently cause interruptions to peoples delivery of their new roles.

Whilst controversial - perhaps if looking at a macro level, allowing outsourcing organisations to deliver services back without an excessive burden of responsibility re staff transfer just might deliver services of a higher quality at less cost to the benefit of both parties.

This is not to say that staff should not be moved across - as all too frequently good transferring employees feel invigorated by the new challenge and contribute greatly to the success of a new service - however it is perhaps those whose performance has been less than good over a period and has been left unchecked who could unfairly benefit from the protection and reduce the overall performance of the new relationship at the expense of the customer and the economy as a whole.

Is it time to change or at least reflect upon the regimes in place today for the benefit of the nation as a whole. After all we all want better service at lower cost - should we not therefore look for every opportunity to influence this outcome?

I would welcome your views.