June 2, 2008
WashTech News
Priyanka Joshi
We see them changing the corporate and social scenes of cities and
towns across America today. Guest workers, in the country on visas, are seen as the faces of globalization, frequently and not entirely incorrectly, snatching jobs from Americans right in their backyards. We see them, infuriated, discuss mission-critical issues in native tongues while home grown American workers continue to become minorities in such teams; See them living a lifestyle, that on the surface, looks better, if not at par, with yours.
But did you know that guest workers continue to be exploited mercilessly by their recruiting companies as we speak? The H-1B visa holders aren't different from any other professionals in any other country, with their intent to provide for themselves and their families. They come to America with promises of well paying employment, intellectual stimulation and the stamp of a "Microsoft" or a "Google" on their resumes, hoping to catapult their careers to the next level. While the locals see them changing the neighborhood social-scape, the homegrown techies mostly regard them with suspicion, if not with thinly concealed contempt. The H-1B visa candidate, in contrast, has little idea of the hostility brewing in the guest country, with oily recruiters gushing about the hundreds of thousands of dollars waiting to be made, promises of world travel, and an "American-Indian/Arab/Chinese/Russian" dream of opulent lifestyles with generous retirement in the country of their choice.
The world is getting divided into the "users" and the "used", regardless of race, geographic location, country of origin and education levels. We're living in a time where the pursuit of money is king and ethics are taking a hike everyday for millions globally.
Patni Lawsuit: Take the case of Vishal Goel and Peeyush Goyal- IT workers who had to jump through many hoops to get to work in America. Their subsequent spectacular exploitation by Indian software giant Patni computers, who contracted them to State Farm's Auto division in Bloomington, Ill has resulted in a law suit. In the suit, they say State Farm paid Patni "in excess of" $100,000 per worker, and yet H-1B visa holders like them were paid only $23,310 for the base salary, about half the $44,000 that Patni had said it would pay on the visa application. Last year, Patni paid $2.4 million to 607 H-1B visa workers after a Labor Dept. investigation uncovered systematic underpayment of wages. "I highly suspect that these employment practices are widespread among the tech-outsourcing firms," says Ron Hira, assistant professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology, who will testify as an expert witness in the Goel case.
Pay to Play: In a rare, anguished internet post, techie Deepak Arulraj bared all after losing his H-1B visa status thanks to the alleged underhanded tactics of Computech- his recruitment company. Arulraj said Indian workers are routinely asked to pay upto Rs. 200,000 ($4,500.00 per person) to get a chance at "guaranteed H1-B sponsorship and client placement." Little has changed in the eight years that Arulraj made these allegations.
Living Conditions: Upon arrival in the country, most candidates find themselves crammed into 1 bedroom apartments with five or six other techies like themselves. Living on the bus line, getting a salary that cannot sustain a reasonable lifestyle unless used collectively. Their suavely promised Green cards may or may not arrive at all.
Salary and Insurance: Arulraj alleges that his employment agreement with Computech stated that he would be paid $50,000/year, but he was paid a total of $1,000 for his entire tenure of four months. H1B visa holders- fearful of their Green Card process being put in jeopardy- rarely ever question their firms.
Best and the Brightest? Look Again: Many foreign IT employees do not have enough experience to be brought into the country on "highly skilled professional visas". Arulraj seconds what this author has seen happen rampantly in the Greater Seattle area. A Seattle area housewife, originally from India, now in her San-Antonio-QA-analyst avatar, who refuses to be identified says, "Recruiters find open positions, they give us resumes of other people that we 'model' our resumes on, then techie husbands train wives for the interview, familiarizing them with broad technical terms, we get cheat sheets for technical questions, and as the last step, friends of friends provide references checks. That's how we get placed!" she says, sharing that she has been working as a QA tester for a year, despite having zero experience in the field when she started. "I made a lot of phone calls to my Oracle programmer husband in the first few weeks," she smiles, "and then other H-1B visa holders on the team started helping me also." Arulraj alleges, "I had a year of experience as a programmer when I started with Computech and four months later when I quit, Computech was marketing me (without my consent) with four years of experience!"
U.S. firms do not bother to investigate further, strapped as they are, apparently, for time.
Guerilla Training: H-1B consultants are trained to fill the vacancy at hand in project specific intensive crash courses or "boot camps" either in India or the U.S. Offices from silicon valley to Boston are rampant with H-1B visa holders either trained in such camps anywhere from ".Net to JAVA" (to name just two amongst many technologies) and shipped to America in 3.5 weeks. Such techies are also found smugly sharing stories of "learning" technologies for three days in Barnes and Noble just before they interview for new jobs.
This begs the question why American firms don't take the time to train their employees, and fresh graduates in project-specific programs. If the Indian recruiting firms can do it successfully in America, how is it possible that the American firms, plush with resources, cannot? Are the corporates not interested in employing candidates from good schools and verifiable real world experience? How do you gain experience if no one will employ you?
"Bonded Labor": Arulraj alleges Computech tampered with his time sheets. He also cautions against "bonded labor," where certain Indian firms generate a "bond", saying that the H-1B visa candidate is their property for eighteen months or so and that if he quits before this period, he/she is liable to be sued. These are unlawful acts and the USCIS should be alerted in such situations.
In his paper "Outsourcing America's Technology and Knowledge Jobs," Ron Hira argues that U. S. visa programs for overseas workers hurt the wages and job security of U.S. tech workers. Expanding the number of visas, Hira contends, "would directly lead to more offshore outsourcing of jobs, displacement of American technology workers, decreased wages and job opportunities, and the discouragement of young people from entering science and engineering fields."
Culture of Competition and Mental Health
One among 20 IT workers in Bangalore regularly considers suicide,
according to a survey done by leading newsmagazine, India Today. The survey further reports that 36% of Bangalore's IT workers can be classified as "probably psychiatric" cases, while 10% report severe, continuous mental stress. These findings are surprising especially since India is on the rise, with stratospheric salaries, opportunity available on an unprecedented scale, and global avenues within reach.
Why is the Indian IT worker so unhappy? Incessant international travel making him feel rootless, fear of the pink slip, impossible deadlines of the global economy and constant guilt of not meeting demands of the spouse and family have been quoted as the main stressors in his/her life. This again, in an India that is paying stellar salaries to its young workforce, enabling them to buy swanky apartments, expensive cars, and the latest gadgets- proving perhaps, that money, verily, cannot buy you happiness?
The roots of the dysfunction start early. India, with its near epic tales of a watertight work ethic, and the brainy, highly competitive professionals its been sending into the world, today tops the world in suicide among teenagers, and severe pressures from the "culture of competition" are to blame, according to an April cover story of India Today. The magazine reports in an April cover story that Indian teenagers lead the world at 16 suicides per day, which comes to an attempt every 90 minutes, with one successful every 6 hours, at 6,000 suicides a year. 56% of these suicides happen between March and July each year- time when Indian high schools and colleges hold annual examinations. The statistics, compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau, contrast with the India Today report showing that suicides among teens in the West are leveling off in comparison. In an HSBC survey done among Mumbai's elites this year, results showed parents pinned their happiness on being able to send their children to the best schools and colleges abroad. Dr. G. Gururaj, head, department of epidemiology at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMHANS), says children who have been given too much too soon often are unable to cope with life's disappointments, and have a distorted sense of entitlement. They give up too soon and do not fight back at life's challenges.
Instant gratification, self-absorption, blithely willful action, also remind us of the actions of certain powerful American corporate head honchos. For instant gratification- "Outsourcing today will net me xyz amount of profit"- they send American jobs to other countries while the employees struggle to support families juggling low pay, fear of job loss, high inflation and healthcare costs. Their sense of entitlement and self absorption ensure that they treat employees not as human beings, but as mere statistics in their company's growth. They care nothing for the IT professional who has worked hard, accumulating student debt and has a family to support, while they conveniently outsource his/her job away, or invite cheaper guest labor for him to train and then take over his job!
Imagine the level of stress that the average IT employee is faced with, in Real World America today! How can we, then, hope for a mentally healthy society when we are damaging the sense of security and well being of so many people?
And, what about the American teenager, working hard, wanting to go to a good college, and is already looking at grim IT job prospects? What about the idea of living a life that is rich holistically, and not just materially?
The report on suicide says 43% of teenagers cite fear of examination (which translates into a fear of disappointing their parents), as the main reason for Indian teens committing suicide. "Parents cram their children's every waking hour with study related work, not giving them credit for any other activity they excel in, like painting, music, or athletics. This ends up damaging their self esteem so badly, that they do not perceive life as worth living anymore," says Kolkata psychiatrist Aniruddha Deb. Indian parents today, anxious for their children's future, want them to get into an IIT, IIM if not Harvard, and the resultant pressure has resulted in 150 teenagers committing suicide in India's examination season through March-April,08 alone.
The Rubicon that separates an Indian family pushing its kids to death in the name of achievement, and the American family confused with how to get a gainful career for its kids in IT, is blurring with many chaotic voices hurtling at each other at break neck speed. It is now up to the individual to decode a balanced way to lead a professionally satisfying life under overwhelming odds. Like the toothpaste factory worker in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, displaced by the very machine he helped acquire, the answer may lie buried under frosty darkness, and the golden ticket, unlike the movie, may or may not arrive in his lifetime.
Goel, Goyal and their attorney Thomas Arkell declined to comment as the case goes to trial later this year. Input from BusinessWeek and India Today has been used in this story.
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The Other Cost of Outsourcing
H1B Visa Holders: Beneficiaries or Victims?Priyanka Joshi
We see them changing the corporate and social scenes of cities and
But did you know that guest workers continue to be exploited mercilessly by their recruiting companies as we speak? The H-1B visa holders aren't different from any other professionals in any other country, with their intent to provide for themselves and their families. They come to America with promises of well paying employment, intellectual stimulation and the stamp of a "Microsoft" or a "Google" on their resumes, hoping to catapult their careers to the next level. While the locals see them changing the neighborhood social-scape, the homegrown techies mostly regard them with suspicion, if not with thinly concealed contempt. The H-1B visa candidate, in contrast, has little idea of the hostility brewing in the guest country, with oily recruiters gushing about the hundreds of thousands of dollars waiting to be made, promises of world travel, and an "American-Indian/Arab/Chinese/Russian" dream of opulent lifestyles with generous retirement in the country of their choice.
The world is getting divided into the "users" and the "used", regardless of race, geographic location, country of origin and education levels. We're living in a time where the pursuit of money is king and ethics are taking a hike everyday for millions globally.
Patni Lawsuit: Take the case of Vishal Goel and Peeyush Goyal- IT workers who had to jump through many hoops to get to work in America. Their subsequent spectacular exploitation by Indian software giant Patni computers, who contracted them to State Farm's Auto division in Bloomington, Ill has resulted in a law suit. In the suit, they say State Farm paid Patni "in excess of" $100,000 per worker, and yet H-1B visa holders like them were paid only $23,310 for the base salary, about half the $44,000 that Patni had said it would pay on the visa application. Last year, Patni paid $2.4 million to 607 H-1B visa workers after a Labor Dept. investigation uncovered systematic underpayment of wages. "I highly suspect that these employment practices are widespread among the tech-outsourcing firms," says Ron Hira, assistant professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology, who will testify as an expert witness in the Goel case.
Pay to Play: In a rare, anguished internet post, techie Deepak Arulraj bared all after losing his H-1B visa status thanks to the alleged underhanded tactics of Computech- his recruitment company. Arulraj said Indian workers are routinely asked to pay upto Rs. 200,000 ($4,500.00 per person) to get a chance at "guaranteed H1-B sponsorship and client placement." Little has changed in the eight years that Arulraj made these allegations.
Living Conditions: Upon arrival in the country, most candidates find themselves crammed into 1 bedroom apartments with five or six other techies like themselves. Living on the bus line, getting a salary that cannot sustain a reasonable lifestyle unless used collectively. Their suavely promised Green cards may or may not arrive at all.
Salary and Insurance: Arulraj alleges that his employment agreement with Computech stated that he would be paid $50,000/year, but he was paid a total of $1,000 for his entire tenure of four months. H1B visa holders- fearful of their Green Card process being put in jeopardy- rarely ever question their firms.
Best and the Brightest? Look Again: Many foreign IT employees do not have enough experience to be brought into the country on "highly skilled professional visas". Arulraj seconds what this author has seen happen rampantly in the Greater Seattle area. A Seattle area housewife, originally from India, now in her San-Antonio-QA-analyst avatar, who refuses to be identified says, "Recruiters find open positions, they give us resumes of other people that we 'model' our resumes on, then techie husbands train wives for the interview, familiarizing them with broad technical terms, we get cheat sheets for technical questions, and as the last step, friends of friends provide references checks. That's how we get placed!" she says, sharing that she has been working as a QA tester for a year, despite having zero experience in the field when she started. "I made a lot of phone calls to my Oracle programmer husband in the first few weeks," she smiles, "and then other H-1B visa holders on the team started helping me also." Arulraj alleges, "I had a year of experience as a programmer when I started with Computech and four months later when I quit, Computech was marketing me (without my consent) with four years of experience!"
U.S. firms do not bother to investigate further, strapped as they are, apparently, for time.
Guerilla Training: H-1B consultants are trained to fill the vacancy at hand in project specific intensive crash courses or "boot camps" either in India or the U.S. Offices from silicon valley to Boston are rampant with H-1B visa holders either trained in such camps anywhere from ".Net to JAVA" (to name just two amongst many technologies) and shipped to America in 3.5 weeks. Such techies are also found smugly sharing stories of "learning" technologies for three days in Barnes and Noble just before they interview for new jobs.
This begs the question why American firms don't take the time to train their employees, and fresh graduates in project-specific programs. If the Indian recruiting firms can do it successfully in America, how is it possible that the American firms, plush with resources, cannot? Are the corporates not interested in employing candidates from good schools and verifiable real world experience? How do you gain experience if no one will employ you?
"Bonded Labor": Arulraj alleges Computech tampered with his time sheets. He also cautions against "bonded labor," where certain Indian firms generate a "bond", saying that the H-1B visa candidate is their property for eighteen months or so and that if he quits before this period, he/she is liable to be sued. These are unlawful acts and the USCIS should be alerted in such situations.
In his paper "Outsourcing America's Technology and Knowledge Jobs," Ron Hira argues that U. S. visa programs for overseas workers hurt the wages and job security of U.S. tech workers. Expanding the number of visas, Hira contends, "would directly lead to more offshore outsourcing of jobs, displacement of American technology workers, decreased wages and job opportunities, and the discouragement of young people from entering science and engineering fields."
Culture of Competition and Mental Health
One among 20 IT workers in Bangalore regularly considers suicide,
Why is the Indian IT worker so unhappy? Incessant international travel making him feel rootless, fear of the pink slip, impossible deadlines of the global economy and constant guilt of not meeting demands of the spouse and family have been quoted as the main stressors in his/her life. This again, in an India that is paying stellar salaries to its young workforce, enabling them to buy swanky apartments, expensive cars, and the latest gadgets- proving perhaps, that money, verily, cannot buy you happiness?
The roots of the dysfunction start early. India, with its near epic tales of a watertight work ethic, and the brainy, highly competitive professionals its been sending into the world, today tops the world in suicide among teenagers, and severe pressures from the "culture of competition" are to blame, according to an April cover story of India Today. The magazine reports in an April cover story that Indian teenagers lead the world at 16 suicides per day, which comes to an attempt every 90 minutes, with one successful every 6 hours, at 6,000 suicides a year. 56% of these suicides happen between March and July each year- time when Indian high schools and colleges hold annual examinations. The statistics, compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau, contrast with the India Today report showing that suicides among teens in the West are leveling off in comparison. In an HSBC survey done among Mumbai's elites this year, results showed parents pinned their happiness on being able to send their children to the best schools and colleges abroad. Dr. G. Gururaj, head, department of epidemiology at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMHANS), says children who have been given too much too soon often are unable to cope with life's disappointments, and have a distorted sense of entitlement. They give up too soon and do not fight back at life's challenges.
Instant gratification, self-absorption, blithely willful action, also remind us of the actions of certain powerful American corporate head honchos. For instant gratification- "Outsourcing today will net me xyz amount of profit"- they send American jobs to other countries while the employees struggle to support families juggling low pay, fear of job loss, high inflation and healthcare costs. Their sense of entitlement and self absorption ensure that they treat employees not as human beings, but as mere statistics in their company's growth. They care nothing for the IT professional who has worked hard, accumulating student debt and has a family to support, while they conveniently outsource his/her job away, or invite cheaper guest labor for him to train and then take over his job!
Imagine the level of stress that the average IT employee is faced with, in Real World America today! How can we, then, hope for a mentally healthy society when we are damaging the sense of security and well being of so many people?
And, what about the American teenager, working hard, wanting to go to a good college, and is already looking at grim IT job prospects? What about the idea of living a life that is rich holistically, and not just materially?
The report on suicide says 43% of teenagers cite fear of examination (which translates into a fear of disappointing their parents), as the main reason for Indian teens committing suicide. "Parents cram their children's every waking hour with study related work, not giving them credit for any other activity they excel in, like painting, music, or athletics. This ends up damaging their self esteem so badly, that they do not perceive life as worth living anymore," says Kolkata psychiatrist Aniruddha Deb. Indian parents today, anxious for their children's future, want them to get into an IIT, IIM if not Harvard, and the resultant pressure has resulted in 150 teenagers committing suicide in India's examination season through March-April,08 alone.
The Rubicon that separates an Indian family pushing its kids to death in the name of achievement, and the American family confused with how to get a gainful career for its kids in IT, is blurring with many chaotic voices hurtling at each other at break neck speed. It is now up to the individual to decode a balanced way to lead a professionally satisfying life under overwhelming odds. Like the toothpaste factory worker in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, displaced by the very machine he helped acquire, the answer may lie buried under frosty darkness, and the golden ticket, unlike the movie, may or may not arrive in his lifetime.
Goel, Goyal and their attorney Thomas Arkell declined to comment as the case goes to trial later this year. Input from BusinessWeek and India Today has been used in this story.
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Talkback on Article
Jun 24, 2008, 11:35 am
Maybe the best career recommendation for my children is the service industry. Some jobs, like plumber and electrician can't be done from offshore.
However, I can see cases where an oldtimer, like me, might be working the McDonalds counter when the H1-b we trained for our OLD job comes in for lunch.
John Albertsen, Omaha, Ne
John Albertsen, Omaha, Ne
Jun 9, 2008, 9:31 am
Do we have a letter campaign or something to Congress that addresses these insults and lies on top of the lies about shortages of American labor? Obviously, if we can hire a housewife with no experience, then skills aren't the issue here! At ATT in the IT department here in San Diego, the Mainframe was outsourced to IBM and the NOC functions are now being outsourced to Brazil. So all those people that have worked at those jobs for the last 20 years and have no other experience are being laid off. The Mid-range and Network NOC's evening and night shifts were outsourced to India. ATT is ticked at a class action lawsuit in CA that accused them of not paying overtime to exempt classes so now they are moving all those jobs to Plano or Atlanta and many of my manager friends are being laid off.
And I live in an apartment complex here in San Diego where I suspect many of the things highlighted in this article are going on. There are 700 units, most occupied by East Indians and a lot don't have cars, a lot live 4 to an apartment and walk everywhere or take buses. Now I know why. I think I'll start asking them and see if they'll talk. What they are going through, is as morally wrong as our jobs being outsourced.
Debbie Willits, San Diego, CA
Debbie Willits, San Diego, CA
Jun 8, 2008, 3:09 am
What is the proof for this story? I think it is all made up and exaggerated. I'm an INdian IT worker and I have never seen a suicidal person in the industry and neither am I one. I agree with the story about students committing suicide upon failing exams though; it happens.
kannan, india
kannan, india
Jun 4, 2008, 4:00 pm
Indians are also facing pressure from even lower cost countries, like Vietnam. Then there's China. It's not so nice when the shoe is on the other foot, is it?
Pat, Keyport, NJ
Pat, Keyport, NJ
Jun 4, 2008, 1:48 pm
I personally hope that they just stop coming here for jobs. I fell down the stairs here last night and hurt my left leg near the ankle badly. I have no medical insurance so I am not going to do anything about it but I sure hope it starts hurting less soon...
Valerie Chau,
Valerie Chau,
Jun 3, 2008, 6:44 am
Impossible deadlines, management's unreal expectations, sweat shop labor conditions, all have changed the American IT workers' preception of the industry. Now the same pressures seem to have invaded India.
When a top deveoper and performer goes ballistic, screams and yells and throws things around, it probably is because he was driven to the blow up by excessive pressures and deadlines. Top people are leaned on to do an amazing amount of difficult work and they feel a lot of job stress.
Norm Petereit, Boston USA
Norm Petereit, Boston USA
Jun 2, 2008, 6:57 pm
A hundred years ago Southern and Eastern Europeans came to the USA seeking a better life. They were told that in America the streets were paved with gold. We flooded major American cities fleeing the poverty of Southern Italy and other impoverished areas. Those who were here before us blamed us for taking the food out of their children's mouths.
I grieve with my Indian colleagues and hold the politicians responsible for knowingly creating an over supply of labor.
Anthony DiCarlo, Albany, NY
Anthony DiCarlo, Albany, NY
Jun 2, 2008, 4:09 pm
Why am I not surprised? The lies and smoke and mirrors about how great offshoring is, and the wonderful world of globalization never intended to address the social, ethical, and REAL costs of offshoring. Ha, so the Indians are experiencing the stresses we Americans are experiencing here about our jobs? Interesting.
Lydia Ann Medrano, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
Lydia Ann Medrano, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360