Cognizant adds grist to Trump H1B visa assault, says no cost benefit in outsourcing

[IronLionZion]

http://www.firstpost.com/business/firstpost-special-cognizant-blows-whistle-on-h1b-versus-onsite-arbitrage-the-bubble-has-officially-burst-3436822.html

Cognizant Technology Solutions has blown the whistle on what many have merely whispered about on receding cost arbitrage of H1B workers versus locals onsite.

In a departure from niceties on the global outsourcing model pioneered by Indian IT giants, Cognizant CFO Karen McLoughlin said the gap in the price tag dangling on an H1B worker and a local American techie is now next to nothing.

The remarks came when Cognizant, which competes with TCS and Infosys, had an hour-long earnings call Friday, and the CFO was asked about the 13.5-billion IT giant's cost base.

“In terms of the onsite cost, if we are hiring people with the same skill sets — a local worker versus someone who comes on an H1B visa, there really is no significant cost difference when you consider the cost of wages and relocation etc versus the compensation we are paying… And with the H1B visa, you have to remember that there is a prevailing wage that sets the salaries and those are set at market rate, so there is no signifinant difference as you shift the workforce. The real issue to find the right talent. If we can find the talent here or in Europe, we go there, but if the talent is not available. As for the issue of moving work offshore, if we don’t find the talent here, then the issue there too is about finding talent," McLoughlin stated.

Whose excited to apply for these amazing job opportunities?
https://www.cognizant.com/careers

[IronLionZion]

1. Good luck with finding American engineers for the drudgery at companies like Infosys and Cognizant

https://qz.com/978677/will-companies-like-infosys-and-cognizant-be-able-to-find-enough-american-workers/

As the American dream sours for foreign workers, tech companies have their eyes peeled for local talent.

Immigrant workers have long flocked to US tech companies, with nearly two-thirds of the H-1B visas in 2014 allocated to those in computer-related occupations. While IBM, Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft are among the top contenders for the 85,000 new visas each year, the biggest beneficiaries of H-1Bs have traditionally been the Indian IT bigwigs like Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) or American multinationals like Cognizant that outsource the majority of their jobs to India.

Even before president Donald Trump signed an executive order to kickstart the much-discussed H-1B revamp on April 18, Indian IT firms were cutting back on visas requests by opening offshore and nearshore centers, automating parts of their business, and working remotely. Bengaluru-based Infosys said it would add 10,000 jobs in the US over the next two to four years. Cognizant, with most of its operations in Chennai, is said to be handing its Indian employees pink slips while it ups its US headcount. Last year, it hired 4,000 US citizens and residents. Azim Premji-led software giant Wipro expects to have half of its workforce comprise of US locals by June. Rival TCS reportedly has hiring programs in place at engineering campuses and the top-10 US business schools.

While these companies may want to trade their Indian employees for those on American soil, a straight swap isn’t easy. They’re competing with Google and Facebook as well as startups like Uber and Airbnb. Moreover, American tech workers are fewer in number, are generally not as highly skilled, and cost more than their Indian counterparts. In 2015, there were nearly 10 times more US computing jobs open than there were students equipped with computer science degrees.

Who's excited for the amazing unbelievable world of client services contract work?

One of my long shot pipe dreams is to one day see Americans (other than me) do this type of work and live this lifestyle.

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Back in the days of classified ads, anonmous comapies would run job postings for very

specific technical job skills that offered salaries that were 1/2 of the market. These were H1-B jobs, no one in their right mind
would apply for those jobs. I would guess that this still goes on.