Live data from Hacker News

Infosys plans to hire 10,000 American workers, open four U.S. tech centers

reuters.com

21–30 of 80 posts

Re: Infosys plans to hire 10,000 American workers, open four U.S. tech centers

#21

Infosys sees the writing on the wall for their H1B game. It's one of the few reforms which absolutely is going to happen -- nobody on any side has any pity for Infosys. Better get started with US workers now, before someone cuts in first.

I guess we saw the same in Australia with the 457 visa, and our Prime Minister abolishing it now. The act is peppered with phrases like "Preferring local workers etc" but we know how that turned out (and why it was so easy to ignore the spirit of the act). It raises revenue for the government, and cuts costs for the "poor old companies" at the expense of local workers. Shame on anyone that abused this. http://www.aph…

[deleted]

Re: Infosys plans to hire 10,000 American workers, open four U.S. tech centers

#22

Many on HN seem to dislike Infosys, but let's not let that cloud larger, far more important issues: Most importantly, it sets very dangerous precedents of U.S. federal government interference in the free market and in business decisions, and of economic nationalism worldwide: * Today you might like who the federal government is picking on and threatening; tomorrow you might not. Do we want politicians making decision…

Sometimes ideas go a bit too far beyond useful and need to be pulled back, adjusted and then moved forward again.

For example it's great the labor can move freely between borders at the senior level, but is it really desirable for seniors to compete with juniors?

Should companies make a profit from arbitrage between the bargaining power of someone on a temporary visa vs a permanent visa? It seems like an arbitrary and not very useful divide that has a very real market effect

Re: Infosys plans to hire 10,000 American workers, open four U.S. tech centers

#23

Many on HN seem to dislike Infosys, but let's not let that cloud larger, far more important issues: Most importantly, it sets very dangerous precedents of U.S. federal government interference in the free market and in business decisions, and of economic nationalism worldwide: * Today you might like who the federal government is picking on and threatening; tomorrow you might not. Do we want politicians making decision…

The 'dislike', as you put it, is more based on their gaming the H1-B system. It's much less caused by RIFs associated with outsourcing per se. Unfair competition in free markers makes people conclude that the system is setup against them.

Re: Infosys plans to hire 10,000 American workers, open four U.S. tech centers

#24

Many on HN seem to dislike Infosys, but let's not let that cloud larger, far more important issues: Most importantly, it sets very dangerous precedents of U.S. federal government interference in the free market and in business decisions, and of economic nationalism worldwide: * Today you might like who the federal government is picking on and threatening; tomorrow you might not. Do we want politicians making decision…

Border control is literally the purview of the USG. States do not have this power. Businesses even less so. The precedent had been set in 1865.

Business are still free to make a decision to be subject of the law or to GTFO (e.g. take the business to a country, which allows uncontrolled immigration).

Re: Infosys plans to hire 10,000 American workers, open four U.S. tech centers

#25

Infosys sees the writing on the wall for their H1B game. It's one of the few reforms which absolutely is going to happen -- nobody on any side has any pity for Infosys. Better get started with US workers now, before someone cuts in first.

I guess we saw the same in Australia with the 457 visa, and our Prime Minister abolishing it now. The act is peppered with phrases like "Preferring local workers etc" but we know how that turned out (and why it was so easy to ignore the spirit of the act). It raises revenue for the government, and cuts costs for the "poor old companies" at the expense of local workers. Shame on anyone that abused this. http://www.aph…

The 457 is not even close to "abolished", they're just rolling out a rebranded version of it.

From the Australian equivalent of the Onion: http://www.betootaadvocate.com/entertainment/turnbull-solves...

Re: Infosys plans to hire 10,000 American workers, open four U.S. tech centers

#26
post #17

Many on HN seem to dislike Infosys, but let's not let that cloud larger, far more important issues: Most importantly, it sets very dangerous precedents of U.S. federal government interference in the free market and in business decisions, and of economic nationalism worldwide: * Today you might like who the federal government is picking on and threatening; tomorrow you might not. Do we want politicians making decision…

Free market is incompatible with permission-based visas. We did not have it. If we did, Mexican agriculture workers, for example, would compete unrestrained with the US workers, without a need for a visa. H1B visas were intended to allow highly educated and qualified workers to work in the US, for a wage in par with local similarly qualified workers. Such people are in short supply worldwide. The problem with Infosys…

There are smart Indians and dumb Americans, and also the other way around, but that is less relevant in this case. How will Donald Trump force American employers to prefer the demographic of dumb Americans to smart Indians? It is not that simple to achieve that ...

Re: Infosys plans to hire 10,000 American workers, open four U.S. tech centers

#27
Complete PR BS. Infy yearly profits are 2B. Assuming an average US worker costs $100K a year it is going to cost them $1B + additional expenses not to mention it totally defeats their core skill of using cheaper human capital from India.

Infy is playing a long game where it will employ F1 visa students on OPT and perhaps get better chances of H1B lottery + targeting H4 EAD.

It is pointless to hire American. It defeats the whole purpose of geting things done cheaply.

Re: Infosys plans to hire 10,000 American workers, open four U.S. tech centers

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess we saw the same in Australia with the 457 visa, and our Prime Minister abolishing it now. The act is peppered with phrases like "Preferring local workers etc" but we know how that turned out (and why it was so easy to ignore the spirit of the act). It raises revenue for the government, and cuts costs for the "poor old companies" at the expense of local workers. Shame on anyone that abused this. http://www.aph…

The 457 is not even close to "abolished", they're just rolling out a rebranded version of it. From the Australian equivalent of the Onion: http://www.betootaadvocate.com/entertainment/turnbull-solves...

The "not a path to full citizen" changes might break it. The only carrot left is money, which most of the abusers of the program don't want to pay.

Re: Infosys plans to hire 10,000 American workers, open four U.S. tech centers

#30

Many on HN seem to dislike Infosys, but let's not let that cloud larger, far more important issues: Most importantly, it sets very dangerous precedents of U.S. federal government interference in the free market and in business decisions, and of economic nationalism worldwide: * Today you might like who the federal government is picking on and threatening; tomorrow you might not. Do we want politicians making decision…

Seriously, shut up. Infosys has only 1 agenda and strategy - to differentiate based on cost based on low wage workers it is able to hire in India.

Because of companies like them, H1 visas themselves are so scarce these days. These companies apply for visas in bulk, pay just over prevailing wage, get their employees to come to US (often displacing higher paid US employees) etc. It is honestly a shame that US allowed this happen for so many years. Think about so many highly qualified international candidates/students who aren't able to secure their H1 visa because companies like Infosys chose to install their $60k worker in US. I have no sympathy at all for them.

India is free to reciprocate but I seriously doubt there could be a situation where workers in India are paid more than their American counterparts for it to have any tangible impact.

Post reply on HN