Wesfarmers Health is to outsource a number of its Australia-based back-office roles, including IT, to India-based Tata Consultancy Services.
The Priceline and InstantScript owner has flown in consultants from TCS to its headquarters in Perth to “shadow” staff in certain departments, iTnews understands.
It is understood that staff have been informed that jobs in IT, human resources and finance will be among those shadowed and trialled by TCS consultants.
A source told iTnews that staff were “‘blindsided” by the move and likened the shadowing process to “digging your own grave”.
In a statement to iTnews, a Wesfarmers Health spokesperson confirmed the company had engaged TCS with a “plan to transform [its] business” and “help improve [its] capability and capacity in some back-office functions.
“TCS’s appointment follows a thorough selection process.
“As a result of these changes, a proportion of people will be impacted in non-customer facing roles. We will provide support to affected team members including redeployment opportunities.”
Wesfarmers Health was formed following the acquisition of Australian Pharmaceutical Industries [API] in March 2022.
API was one of Australia’s top health and beauty companies and a wholesale distributor of pharmaceutical goods plus owned non-pharmacy Priceline stores, the Sister Club loyalty program and Clear Skincare clinics.
A year later, the company tapped Troy Smith to lead its IT delivery as CIO. Smith was previously CIO for Myer, where he worked alongside TCS to transform the retailer’s end-to-end merchandise systems, inventory processes and planning capabilities using Oracle.
At the time of his appointment, Smith said he intended to put forward a modernisation program, scrapping a lot of older, legacy technology.