Sunday, February 7, 2010
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Top Companies Sponsoring H1B
Microsoft: 4,437
Satyam: 4,236
Fujitsu: 2,291
Patni: 2,166
Infosys: 1,586
IBM:1,413
L&T:1,374
Intel:1,340
Ernst Young: 1,182
Qualcomm: 1,139
TCS:1,132
Enteprise Business Solutions: 1,035
Oracle: 974
Deloitte: 930
Marlabs: 934
Xceltech: 899
Multivision: 863
Rite Aid: 802
Goldman Sachs: 767
Wipro: 760
Linux that looks like windows
This is a theme for migrating Linux users who feel they are more comfortable with the Windows interface.LXP is a project that provides Linux/Unix users with a desktop that has a Microsoft Windows XP "look & feel" that is nearly identical to the real thing.
The LXP project has achieved this by collecting and modifying different pieces of the Open Source GNU software such as icewm, idesk, xfe, and others.
The LXP theme has been tested on the following distributions:
Fedora Core 3, 4, 5 and 6
Open Suse 10.1
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10
Ubuntu 6.06, 6.10X
ubuntu 6.06, 6.10
Kubuntu 6.06, 6.10
Debian Testing (Etch)
Sourceforge project : http://sourceforge.net/projects/lxp/
Read more...TCS to Layoff More in Coming Days
Sources has revealed that the TCS, India 's largest software giant is going to take few tough steps to sustain in the present environment . Since economists and experts don't see a economy recovery in the near time , most of the customers are feeling the pain of slowdown and are pressurising the outsourcers to maximise the efficiencies .
To keep itself equipped against the global economic activity , the company has rolled out four measures which are going to be implemented with immediate effect .
The four measures are as follows :
There will be no recruitment of experienced professionals unless the company feels its extremely required .
People will be given cross skill training to manage the internal needs .
Since outsourcing means saving money by working from a low cost place , the company will concentrate more on offshore leverage . Non Critical positions on onsite will be moved to offshore .
There will be no promotions until the situation improves .
If you are in the underperforming section or in the under utilised section , the company might counsel you or might even ask you to leave .
Its not only TCS , all the companies are implementing different kind of measures to sustain in the present environment . It might not sound good to the employees , but if the companies has to sustain , they have to undertake this . The companies are trying to do everything so as to retain employees . As a employee of the organisation , its time for us to stand by them and help them sustain .
Do remember that When your company does good , it will always do good to you .
Read more...Stimulus bill keeps H-1B hiring limits on bailout recipients
A provision intended to require banks receiving federal bailout funds to give hiring priority to U.S. workers over foreigners with H-1B visas was left in the economic stimulus package when U.S. House and Senate negotiators agreed on a compromise bill this week.
The US$789 billion stimulus bill was subsequently approved by the House of Representatives Friday, and a vote in the Senate is expected Friday night.The provision designed to curb the use of H-1B visas was proposed last week by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) as an amendment to the Senate's stimulus legislation. The proposal initially sought to bar H-1B hiring by financial services firms receiving bailout money, but it was later modified to restrict such hiring.
The stimulus bill, once it is approved by the Senate and signed by President Barack Obama, will require firms that take bailout funding to make a good-faith effort to hire U.S. citizens before people who are in the country on H-1B visas.Opponents of the measure says it is so restrictive that affected financial services firms likely will stop hiring H-1B workers altogether.
However, the provision doesn't prevent them from using offshore outsourcing contractors, which typically are heavy users of H-1B visas.As a result of the conference agreement, Sanders said in a statement Friday that he expects the H-1B provisions to be adopted along with the rest of the stimulus bill. He added that what may have prompted the negotiators to keep the H-1B restrictions in the bill were all of the ongoing layoffs and other job losses.
"With thousands of financial services workers unemployed, it is absurd for banks to claim they can't find qualified American workers," Sanders said.The proposed restrictions require firms that receive money under the federal Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) to comply with hiring rules set for "H-1B dependent" firms -- those with more than 15% of their workers on visas.
Those rules set a number of strict requirements for hiring H-1B holders, including a need for companies to attest that they actively recruited American workers and are not displacing or replacing U.S. citizens with foreign workers.However, the impact of the new legislation on offshoring of IT work may be limited. Ron Hira, an assistant professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology and co-author of the book Outsourcing America, claimed that many TARP-recipient banks "have huge shadow workforces -- people who work for the bank indirectly through outsourcing contract firms."
The TARP-related hiring provision "will rectify some of the indefensible practices of quasi-nationalized banks," Hira said. "But unfortunately, it doesn't close the loopholes where most of the abuse occurs."Hira said the amount of outsourcing by Wall Street firms has actually increased since the bailout program began last fall, citing deals such as offshore outsourcer Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.'s October agreement to acquire a unit of Citigroup Inc. that does business process outsourcing and IT services work.
Similarly, Wipro Ltd. agreed in December to buy Citigroup's IT subsidiary in India.In addition, Hira contended that "many, if not all, of these banks have human resource practices where they force their American workers to train foreign replacements, and subsequently lay off the American workers." That practice "sometimes results in tragedy," he added, citing the 2003 suicide of a former Bank of America Corp. programmer who reportedly was laid off after training his replacement.
A provision intended to require banks receiving federal bailout funds to give hiring priority to U.S. workers over foreigners with H-1B visas was left in the economic stimulus package when U.S. House and Senate negotiators agreed on a compromise bill this week.
The US$789 billion stimulus bill was subsequently approved by the House of Representatives Friday, and a vote in the Senate is expected Friday night.The provision designed to curb the use of H-1B visas was proposed last week by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) as an amendment to the Senate's stimulus legislation.
The proposal initially sought to bar H-1B hiring by financial services firms receiving bailout money, but it was later modified to restrict such hiring.The stimulus bill, once it is approved by the Senate and signed by President Barack Obama, will require firms that take bailout funding to make a good-faith effort to hire U.S. citizens before people who are in the country on H-1B visas.
Opponents of the measure says it is so restrictive that affected financial services firms likely will stop hiring H-1B workers altogether. However, the provision doesn't prevent them from using offshore outsourcing contractors, which typically are heavy users of H-1B visas.As a result of the conference agreement, Sanders said in a statement Friday that he expects the H-1B provisions to be adopted along with the rest of the stimulus bill.
He added that what may have prompted the negotiators to keep the H-1B restrictions in the bill were all of the ongoing layoffs and other job losses. "With thousands of financial services workers unemployed, it is absurd for banks to claim they can't find qualified American workers," Sanders said.The proposed restrictions require firms that receive money under the federal Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) to comply with hiring rules set for "H-1B dependent" firms -- those with more than 15% of their workers on visas.
Those rules set a number of strict requirements for hiring H-1B holders, including a need for companies to attest that they actively recruited American workers and are not displacing or replacing U.S. citizens with foreign workers.However, the impact of the new legislation on offshoring of IT work may be limited. Ron Hira, an assistant professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology and co-author of the book Outsourcing America, claimed that many TARP-recipient banks "have huge shadow workforces -- people who work for the bank indirectly through outsourcing contract firms."
The TARP-related hiring provision "will rectify some of the indefensible practices of quasi-nationalized banks," Hira said. "But unfortunately, it doesn't close the loopholes where most of the abuse occurs."Hira said the amount of outsourcing by Wall Street firms has actually increased since the bailout program began last fall, citing deals such as offshore outsourcer Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.'s October agreement to acquire a unit of Citigroup Inc. that does business process outsourcing and IT services work. Similarly, Wipro Ltd. agreed in December to buy Citigroup's IT subsidiary in India.
In addition, Hira contended that "many, if not all, of these banks have human resource practices where they force their American workers to train foreign replacements, and subsequently lay off the American workers." That practice "sometimes results in tragedy," he added, citing the 2003 suicide of a former Bank of America Corp. programmer who reportedly was laid off after training his replacement.
US senate move on limiting H1B workers may hurt IT firms
The Indian IT industry, which recently lowered its growth projections on the back of a slowing economy, sees no immediate impact of the recent US Senate vote to prohibit banks, that are bailed out, from replacing laid-off workers with foreign guest workers (read H1B workers).
The situation, however, would hurt the fortunes of Indian IT firms if the amendment becomes policy since the top 10 H1B visa list is made up largely of India-based firms that provide outsourcing services, including Infosys Technologies, Wipro and Satyam Computer Services. The deadline for companies to request petitions for new H-1B visas is April 1. Both US (read Silicon Valley) and Indian companies have repeatedly stressed the need to raise the cap, which was reduced from 195,000 to 65,000 two years ago.
However, Senators Sanders and Charles Grassley (a well-known H1B opponent) recently introduced an amendment that would require bailed-out banks -- where there have been layoffs -- to hire only Americans for two years. This was accepted by the US Senate a day after it was revealed that Americans lost almost 600,000 jobs in January. The amendment, though, has to go 'reconciliation' (a legislative process) before going to Congress and finally the President before it becomes policy.
It is feared that these banks (bailed-out with taxpayer money), in a bid to contain or cut costs, would outsource and offshore more work to low-cost countries like India jeopardising the chances of American workers from getting a job. The senate amendment seeks to prevent this, and it could affect the fortunes of the Indian IT industry since outsourcing from the Banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector accounts for almost 40 per cent of the sector's revenue.
"Wall Street caused the crisis, millions of people lost jobs, including 100,000 in financial institutions. Now they want to bring in foreign workers," Senator Bernie Sanders said in a release. It is feared that the bailed-out automakers too would face a similar diktat. This is another lucrative revenue segment for local IT firms.
Software body Nasscom opines that it's up to American banks to choose whether they need to outsource more work to cut costs. "The wording is very confusing. Besides, one may also remember that it is applicable only to H1B dependent companies (an H-1B dependent employer is one whose workers brought in with that visa comprise 15 per cent or more of the employer's total workforce). We hardly have any such IT firms in India," explains Som Mittal, President, Nasscom.
"There won't be any immediate impact but if the issue persists and becomes policy, then the concern could become grave," cautions Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman Nasscom and deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Zensar Technologies.
The H-1B visa issue has always been a bone of contention but the economic recession has added fuel to fire. Vinu B Kartha, Partner at Research and Advisory firm Tholons says: “There can’t be a complete ban on outsourcing because it is a free market economy but the new administration in the US will make it difficult for those companies do business who are outsourcing their work. Companies will get incentives to not to outsource work like tax refunds and other benefits.”
Analysts say it will be difficult for the Indian IT companies to get new projects and they will now have to ensure that none of their existing accounts are under the purview of law. The slowdown will ensure that only the best qualified people get jobs in the US and this is where the Indian workforce will suffer. “Outsourcing will continue but the Indian IT vendors will have to focus on verticals other than BFSI like telecom, manufacturing, healthcare among others,” explains Kartha.
Incidentally, Microsoft which was among the top 10 firms getting approvals for H-1B visas in the year ended September 30, 2007, also was questioned by Senator Grassley when it recently downsized its US workforce. He called on Microsoft to give preference to American workers over visa-holding H-1B foreign workers during its downsizing.
There have also been fears that President Obama, once elected, would revisit the outsourcing and offshoring story that could adversely affect Indian IT firms. However, analysts note that President Obama has filled some of his top White House positions with people like Senator Judd Gregg and Diana Fareell (ex McKinsey Globa Institute) who not only support expanding the H-1B visa programme, but also see offshore outsourcing as postive for the US economy. McKinsey, a management consulting firm, has published research that argues that offshore outsourcing to low-wage countries brings "substantial benefits" to the U.S. Its studies and reports have been cited by the tech industry in support of the H-1B visa programme.
Observers also note that the amendment isn’t as tough as the one Senator Grassley proposed on February 5, which would have prohibited firms from hiring H-1Bs altogether.
Curbs on H1B, Outsourcing
The US government, as part of its stimulus plan to revive the depression in the US economy, recently decided on including an amendment that imposes a ban on firms receiving government bailouts, from hiring workers from other countries. Microsoft has recently been asked to remove foreign workers that are employed under the H-1B Visa program, resulting in the software giant announcing that 5,000 jobs will be cut in the next six months; including 1,400 immediately.
H-1B visas are offered by the US government to enable international students and highly skilled international workers, from all over the world, or who are already living in the USA, the opportunity to live and work in America legally.
From the beginning, there has been criticism from various quarters, over the role of the H-1B program in replacing US workers. There were several instances of US staff being replaced with H-1B workers. The ploy employers used is to hire these H-1B replacements from contract job shops. This way the companies could claim that they had not applied for H-1B visas, making it possible for them to legally replace their US staff.
Another complaint was that US Employers hired H-1B workers because they pay significantly less than they would have to for US workers. This cheap labor causes depression in the overall wage structure.
Currently, 65,000 H-1B visas are granted by the US annually to Hi-technology workers from countries like China, India and Philippines.
The US government states that they are not against the H-1B program, but it has to be used in the actual spirit of why it was started in the first place – to have alternatives for specialized workers when there is no availability in the US. It was also clarified that since the 900 billion dollars for the stimulus plan is being paid by the American taxpayer, it is only fair that American workers are hired.
This decision for foreign countries could mean hundreds of thousands of foreign students studying in the US universities will not get employment and millions will be made jobless.
The US government is also planning on controlling outsourcing. American firms that move their jobs to other countries will not be eligible for any tax breaks. Obama, in his address said, “We will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.”
This will affect more than 1,000 American firms that have over the years moved their jobs outside the country. The government is doing away with a particular provision of the tax code where US companies pay lower taxes for profits earned from foreign countries. There has been opposition for this tax code for a long time, as it was seen as an encouragement for companies to send their jobs abroad, when they rightfully belong to the American workers. The government’s aim through this move is to make outsourcing unattractive to companies in the US.
However, many believe that tax breaks when compared to savings through outsourcing do not stand a chance. While the idea of tax breaks would certainly appeal to the US businesses, it would require a huge tax break to change the established trend of global outsourcing. It would be highly unlikely for companies involved in significant outsourcing to take their businesses, and the related infrastructure and human-resource costs back onshore. So, the impact of this move may be very little.
People who oppose this move say that this move will only hurt the US as outsourcing makes a lot of sense; both economic and logical. It is left to be seen what actually happens. However, with Obama focusing on the revival of the US economy, this is the kind of positive reaction that Americans expect from their new President.
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