Glad to see excellent journalists like Lee Fang on the front page of HN.
Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs
41–50 of 254 posts
Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs
#42Once you switch to full remote, why not hire from Central and South America at maybe 1/4 the price of a Californian.
I'm with you on principle. To my knowledge, the main barriers are managing the payroll: how do you deal with each countries' laws and obligations for each of your remote employees ? The traditional way to do that at scale is to go through a local proxy company that abstracts the complexity and is the legal entity responsible for the workers in that country. Except you have to pay that middle-men, maintain an ongoing…
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Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs
#43There are multiple missing things for this: 1. Layoffs happened regardless of visa status, so visa workers were part of the layoffs. 2. The visa applications for H1B could be for workers already working in the company under a different visa like TN or F1 3. The positions affected by layoffs and positions filing for H1B could be different. For example, a front end position may be affected by layoffs, but the visa appl…
>Many of the Google visas are for new employees, with some starting as soon as August 17th.
Refutes at least two points you made if not three..
Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs
#44Once you switch to full remote, why not hire from Central and South America at maybe 1/4 the price of a Californian.
I'm with you on principle. To my knowledge, the main barriers are managing the payroll: how do you deal with each countries' laws and obligations for each of your remote employees ? The traditional way to do that at scale is to go through a local proxy company that abstracts the complexity and is the legal entity responsible for the workers in that country. Except you have to pay that middle-men, maintain an ongoing…
You don't have to. Your foreign workers can be independent consultants receiving money from you, paying their own taxes. You just need their W-8BEN every year.
Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
And there was no one capable for these roles in those 12,000 people? I find that hard to believe. If the answer is “no”, prove it (I have been the sponsor of H1Bs, and am familiar with the paperwork and the process). Edit: > Normalizing reneging on job offers is a bad path to go down. Google has already done this previously during economic uncertainty. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/29/google-said-to-rescind-job-o...
That’s not really how it works. It’s hard to be fine-grained when firing 12k people. It’s operational much easier to do the layoff and then fix the gaps.
OK, that is fair. However, it's not fair to claim you cannot find someone to do what probably amounts to run-of-the-mill development work domestically and need to import talent - aka. what H1B's were supposed to be for.
For all but highly specialized sub-fields, it is really hard to convince me H1B's are necessary - other than to artificially suppress wages for citizens.
Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs
#46If you are in a union, this is a good reason to push for recall provisions in regard to layoffs
Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google isn't TCS or Wipro. It pays H1B workers very high wages.
I am sure they pay their H1B workers less than their non-H1B workers. So it still may be "high wages" but that does not negate the GrandParent comment that they laid off higher paid workers in favor in importing lower paid workers
Why are you sure? I’m a former H1B that was said a salary comparable to my coworkers (I know this for a fact). There are employers that abuse the visa but not all do.
Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs
#48> Google filed dozens of applications for foreign workers to serve as software engineers... For comparison, Google laid off 12,000 employees this cycle.
And there was no one capable for these roles in those 12,000 people? I find that hard to believe. If the answer is “no”, prove it (I have been the sponsor of H1Bs, and am familiar with the paperwork and the process). Edit: > Normalizing reneging on job offers is a bad path to go down. Google has already done this previously during economic uncertainty. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/29/google-said-to-rescind-job-o...
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Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs
#49There are multiple missing things for this: 1. Layoffs happened regardless of visa status, so visa workers were part of the layoffs. 2. The visa applications for H1B could be for workers already working in the company under a different visa like TN or F1 3. The positions affected by layoffs and positions filing for H1B could be different. For example, a front end position may be affected by layoffs, but the visa appl…
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Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs
#50Whoever wrote this doesn't understand how the H-1B system works. Most of these applications are for existing employees of the company who are on some other kind of work authorization (like EAD or OPT). Because of the lottery they have to reapply every year for 3-4 years until their authorization expires. The layoffs have nothing to do with anything.
That doesn't make a difference to the H-1B requirements. No other domestic worker could do the same job? It's a scam.