Toys ‘R Us. New York Life. Cengage Learning.
All these companies outsourced jobs to overseas agencies this year, according to the New York Times.
Temporary Visas, Meant to Import Talent, Help Ship Jobs Abroad – Houston Chronicle
Published September 29, 2015, the article showcases former employees whose jobs were sent offshore. Some after 30 years working there.
Over and Over – Workers Replaced with Offshore Labor
The offshoring stories follow the same pattern:
- Executives announce a ‘transition’ or ‘job takeover’.
- Representatives of the offshoring agency (India-based Tata Services, in this case) arrive.
- Workers required to train their replacements or lose severance benefits.
- The representatives “shadow” workers, noting all their daily tasks.
- The representatives return to their agency, and train replacement workers on performing these tasks.
- American workers are laid off. Replacement workers offshore take over their duties.
End result: American jobs lost and the U.S. IT workforce is further depleted. The business continues with cheap offshore labor (and its high potential for low productivity and/or data theft).
Critical Business Functions Outsourced, Creating Security Holes
The NYT article discussed offshoring examples in IT and Accounting. Both critical business functions, and vulnerable to data theft if not secured.
But security isn’t high on these companies’ priority lists. The article even cites the creation of a security hole!
“One accountant said a worker from India made an exact digital ‘recording’ during the day as he performed his job. At the close of business, the recording was transmitted to India, where workers practiced mimicking his tasks.”
Without high-security transmission (unlikely), this creates a breach in the company’s internal security. The offshoring agency sent a copy of employee procedures halfway across the world. This gives an ambitious hacker the chance
to copy those procedures & break in.
3 More American Businesses Shipping Jobs Abroad
The NYT article provides a solid overview of the H1B/L1B problem. Other examples, like Disney and SoCal Edison, are also cited.
The article’s author is careful not to come down on one side of the debate or the other. Though the stories she highlights express the frustration many American workers harbor.
If someone you know isn’t aware of H1B visa abuse, this article is an excellent introduction. Please forward it to them.