Every so often, I read in the paper about the need for skilled workers and the only place to get them is from overseas, especially from India. Now I have a lot of friends who are here because of HIB visas and I don’t think the people that come here are not good workers, but I think there is fault in the corporate thinking why they need these people.
One of the first arguments offered is the lack of skilled workers. Oh? Let’s see, all those gray-temple workers at Home Depot or running the local Mail Boxes places probably aren’t there because they love working for $10/hour or the allure of working the plumbing row. No, most of them (and for honesty, me) are not in the high tech world because there aren’t any jobs offered to them. They have skills, but because corporations didn’t pay to have these people trained in the newest stuff and because it is costly to retrain yourself, these people are considered “not mainstream”. And why aren’t they trained? Because the companies need them to work on the old junk that is keeping their company running and know that if you train people on the latest stuff and they will likely leave. Or ask for more money. Or crab at the managers about not using their new skills. So they get your older (not old, just older) employees to work on legacy projects. Now I know the equipment and software used on the legacy systems were at one time the latest and greatest. But over time, that skill set moves from latest and greatest to hot to mainstream to passé to finally obsolete. And once you convert that project to the latest newest stuff, those legacy people can be let go. I believe there are a lot of skilled people out there who are underemployed or have move out of the skilled employment area because no one wants their skills.
Most hiring is done via a resume into the resume hopper of a human resource department at a large corporation. Most human resource people working in high tech only need to know the buzzwords. They are not skilled people so if you say you need C++ experience and someone comes in with C experience, they are rejected because they don’t fit the criteria. The only way to get that experience is to work in a place that will allow you to learn C++, but few companies will hire you because there are college kids coming out of college with that experience who will work for a lot less and less headaches. And then there are the H1B’s. I know a number of H1B visa holders. They are smart, well educated and eager. In a different setting, I would say they were the perfect employee. But there are some parts of the H1B system that must be understood.
As an employer of an H1B person, I have to agree to give that person a job and “sponsor” them. In so many words, I am responsible for them. Many employers look at this as the end of their job. There are many other employers who view these people are either manipulatible or in the extreme conditions treated like dirt. The problem is that the H1B person has no recourse, unlike the American worker. If it were me, I could complain, not do the jobs assigned and get fired or outright quit. An HIB cannot do anything. If an HIB is fired for any reason, they can be and probably will never get to return. Keeping the job here until they get a Green Card is more important than the job itself. If they complain, the less than scrupulous employer can fire them. If they don’t do the work, they can be fired. And if they quit, they strongly run the risk of deportation since they don’t have another job. Also to qualify for a green card, you must have held the same job for a period of time. So if the boss tells you to work Sunday on a project, you’re only answer is, yes sir. To take on more work, yes sir. To mop the floor, yes sir. Also add to the equation is that the cultural background of the typical H1B visa holder is deferential to the boss. So if I want to, I the employer can get an employee who is smart, well trained, deferential to me, willing to do anything I want, probably will make less than the American worker and won’t quit for a period of time. Or I can hire the smart, but less trained, typical American worker who needs time off for soccer games, wants a raise and can quit in the drop of a hat.
So what is wrong with this? It is the millions of people that are under employed that would love to go back to what they love doing, but can’t because employers have found a cheaper and perhaps better resource. If the worker is a commodity, then H1B visa holders are the cheaper overseas connection. And the people that are here on H1B’s are in many ways indentured servants of the company, working hard to gain their freedom of a green card. And someday to become that American worker.
No comments:
Post a Comment