Generally not supposed to say this out loud, but being the only American on an all H1B team at these companies can be absolutely brutal. Very alienating, always missing out on back channel communications, no sympathy for missteps
Also, I'd call into question the credibility of this article. Google pays H1Bs the same as Americans as far as I know. What Google is doing is hiring a large number of engineers in India. These people I assume are paid much less than American engineers.
(Edit: my also Chinese manager dealt with it very well and that person left the company after some time)
> I presume by “America” you mean the United States?
Yea that’s almost for sure what they mean. Typically people from the United States of America are called Americans and people across the world refer to those people as “Americans” and they/we also refer to ourselves and our country as “America” as a shortened form. I’m a little surprised you weren’t aware of this given your clearly written English but yep that’s what that means!
As an anecdote I’ve found that non-Americans from well off families tend to speak near grammatically perfect English because that’s how foreign languages are taught.
Easier could mean easier to hire, cheaper to hire (even if you pay them all the same as each other, the clearing wage is likely lower due to increased supply), easier to retain, etc.
"Work over the weekend or your employment will be terminated and you will have to be deported."
Sure you pay both $x, but the skill diff can be 10x. USD16$250 can get you a bootcamp coder w zero exp (but w profile/status of citizen cardholder) [1], or someone way beyond 10x that skill who simply can't afford to negotiate.
[1]: https://www.businessinsider.com/haseeb-qureshi-how-to-negoit...
When I was in Germany, Germans even texted their SO in English in case I glance over their phones. Maybe the group I was in was exceptionally welcoming but everywhere in Europe where I lived(EU, non-EU, UK etc.) it was always considered rude to speak a language that others don't understand and everyone always tried their best to speak in English as a lingua franca.
If I happen to be in a working group that speaks multiple languages, I would definitely raise the question of speaking a common language in a work environment because you can't all be on the same page when your communications are patchy.
Frankfurt, non-IT job. I guess the mileage varies.
If there is at least one non-local participant in a meeting, or on an email list, then the discourse has to be popped up to English.
This often happens when none of them are native English speakers, e.g. German & Spanish.
There are specific English proficiency tests bound to levels of management - bad English, no promotion.
It's been easier for me to move to a European country where I had to learn another language.
Those reasons could be kickbacks, family stake in the company, etc.
Edit: This is completely anecdotal. Grain of salt and all that.
From an employer's point of view it's easier to stick to X countries as the source of H1Bs as the process overall can differ between countries.
I am wondering how did they manage to pass the Google's hiring committee?
It's on the interviewer to mark communication difficulties. And I assume bad interviewers don't see English proficiency as important.
This a big news to me.
It is possible to be impolite, ungrateful, obnoxious and correct.
Ie, cardholding need be blind to recruiters. Ie, insteadof <Do you have work authorization?> as the first question [no less], it need be enforceably ILLEGAL to try fish info on it.
In practice that can't be fully done without also blinding a lot of other things. but having Single Market enforced by law certainly will reduce the paygap found today in equal lvl-to-lvl comparisons (top x% vs top x%; differing only in cardholding).
re "vent" "disrespectful"; I contend that those folks actually trying to be assholes are Americans. It's likely the comparison you saw was just done in a neutral and nonhurtful manner/intention, albeit not of PC enculture.
Think of it as being in the shoes of a lonely non-American in the country of Americans, if that is any consolation.
It’s always the goal, after all.
That said, that same group often faces exclusion in the wider company (and coming together is often in reaction to that), so it’s kind of miserable for everyone.
This needs to be a big No No. Everyone should speak the language everyone else can understand in the workplace at all times. I natively speak German, but I never speak German at work even when I temporarily was only working with someone visiting from Germany. It would have been rude to everyone around us. But then I'm also weird in that I dislike speaking my native language...
It's unnecessarily rude and exclusionary towards others to speak a language others cannot understand in an environment where they have an interest in participating. All it does is form cliques and encourages toxic dynamics to form.
But on the other hand, I previously encountered the opinion that people who insist on speaking in English (especially without the "quirks" and accent of Indian English) despite being able to do Hindi are just trying to be pretentious.
It’s not “confiscating passports” level but it’s definitely exploitative.
Companies largely don't care about the environment or immigration. They care about the right branding while maximizing profits and they have no qualms exploiting people. Or laying then off if they don't toe the line (RTO being a grand example)