EFI Pay

[BillJ]

I saw a story on the local news that EFI has been paying their Indian engineers working in the US in Rupees at the rate they earn in India. They are working up to 100 hours a week for $1.47/hr. According for the story EFI didn't know that the pay was so low and no one complained. They are giving the engineers $40,000 for the shortage.

http://abc13.com/business/efi-paid-indian-employees-working-in-us-less-than-$2/362192/

 

[chevalier]

I can't say that I am the least bit surprised based on other business practices. There have been stories like this for years out of both the US and Canada. Companies don't want to pay market wages to citizens and sometimes they can't get projects accomplished remotely. They fly in people from India, Philippines, etc. on tourist visas. They'll book 4 guys into a single hotel room for months paying third world wages. Usually the large corporation blames a third party outsourcing agent to shed any responsibility. Don't take "we didn't know" or "it wasn't our responsibility" at face value. Those H-1B visas you hear big software companies (read: multimillionaire and billionaires owners) talk about are not really about the lack of qualified citizens. It is a focus on lowering costs/increasing profits by devaluing the market rate wage.

The next time you talk to a guy in India, Philippines, etc. remember that guy getting paid a wage like that for highly skilled work then imagine what a generic "unskilled" call center worker is getting paid. Just remember that if they could do this to you that they probably would. Paying even a legally mandated minimum wage is basically saying "we'd pay you less if we could".

 

[arossetti]

Thinking companies put any more thought or empathy into labor decisions then on which vendor to buy their TP from is just silly. Janitorial supply expense and labor expense look very similar on a spreadsheet, with the exception of a few zeros.

 

[BillJ]

In the case of these guys, janitorial supplies were more.

 

[chevalier]

Are you seriously comparing employees to toilet paper? There's a huge morass between empathy and sociopathy (what you are advocating).

 

[arossetti]

Are you seriously comparing employees to toilet paper? There's a huge morass between empathy and sociopathy (what you are advocating).

I'm sorry, I didn't know I was advocating anything... I was just observing on the current state of affairs.

 

[chevalier]

You didn't counter or slight your statement with something like "I don't like it but that's the way it goes", etc. which I took to mean you advocate this type of thinking. I sincerely apologize for my misunderstanding and leap to making an assumption.

 

[arossetti]

I should have been more specific. I think a lot of us work for small, family run, 100 employee or less companies with a better work experience. It is much different then when I worked for a large corporation and felt like the toilet paper.

I hope more people are able to pick their employer instead of feeling trapped working an unsatisfying job for a company who only views them as an expense.

 

[BillJ]

I've worked for companies that treat their employees as "takers" that only want more than they deserve. I've also worked for companies that feel their employees are assets that bring value and are treated that way.

Unfortunately IMHO the first are more prevalent than the latter. I'm not talking about pay but the general environment of the work culture.