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Several years ago, when my company first started using employees in India, the topic of them being cheaper for the company than American employees seemed taboo... if it was mentioned by anyone (the managers certainly didn't want to point this out to the rest of us), it was done quietly. The officially touted reason for using them was so that projects could be worked on around the clock. People in India could work on things during our night, and vice-versa. And to show that we were a "global" company with employees around the world.
Now, it has become commonplace for managers to openly speak of our India employees ("resources") being cheaper. They have lower salaries. The ones who travel over here on work-visas and stay for a few months at a time are paid somewhat more while over here than in India, but still much less than the Americans. I've heard a supervisor say that he needs India resources working on XYZ... that he can't afford to put one of his American resources on it. I've heard a manager say how our "margin will be even better" with an India resource working on something, since the expense will be less.
I get the feeling us American employees are going to start feeling that we aren't considered as desirable as the Indians (since we cost too much). And that the Indian employees are going to start feeling that they aren't as valued as the Americans (since they aren't paid as much).
Yet our Indian employees' salaries are probably considered fairly good according to the standards of living there. Otherwise they probably wouldn't be working for us. I wonder how those standards of living compare to ours here, though. How equivalent, or not, are they? Do the employees in India have to work more hours per week than we do? That would need to considered for the standard of living too. It's not just salary amounts. If they can have an equivalent standard of living as we do, on a lower salary, it makes sense for them to be getting the work instead of us. But why would they be able to have an equivalent standard of living on a lower salary? How can one dollar over there buy more than one dollar over here? Exchange rates and global financial stuff... ugh. I don't really like thinking about that kind of stuff. Eventually things would have to even out. If the world were fair...
And why does a house in Virginia cost 6 times as much as one here in South Carolina? Same sort of thing, isn't it. South Carolinians tend to have lower salaries than people in other parts of the U.S. And things like houses are cheaper here. But at least the labor laws are the same.
Now, it has become commonplace for managers to openly speak of our India employees ("resources") being cheaper. They have lower salaries. The ones who travel over here on work-visas and stay for a few months at a time are paid somewhat more while over here than in India, but still much less than the Americans. I've heard a supervisor say that he needs India resources working on XYZ... that he can't afford to put one of his American resources on it. I've heard a manager say how our "margin will be even better" with an India resource working on something, since the expense will be less.
I get the feeling us American employees are going to start feeling that we aren't considered as desirable as the Indians (since we cost too much). And that the Indian employees are going to start feeling that they aren't as valued as the Americans (since they aren't paid as much).
Yet our Indian employees' salaries are probably considered fairly good according to the standards of living there. Otherwise they probably wouldn't be working for us. I wonder how those standards of living compare to ours here, though. How equivalent, or not, are they? Do the employees in India have to work more hours per week than we do? That would need to considered for the standard of living too. It's not just salary amounts. If they can have an equivalent standard of living as we do, on a lower salary, it makes sense for them to be getting the work instead of us. But why would they be able to have an equivalent standard of living on a lower salary? How can one dollar over there buy more than one dollar over here? Exchange rates and global financial stuff... ugh. I don't really like thinking about that kind of stuff. Eventually things would have to even out. If the world were fair...
And why does a house in Virginia cost 6 times as much as one here in South Carolina? Same sort of thing, isn't it. South Carolinians tend to have lower salaries than people in other parts of the U.S. And things like houses are cheaper here. But at least the labor laws are the same.