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Originally posted by AlphaXiGirl
Americans are spoiled - we seem to think that we should be paid well above market value for a job and then complain when goods and services cost more.
American consumer demand for cheaper goods and services coupled with American worker demand for higher wages creates an environment where businesses look outside our borders to solve the issue.
I don't blame companies for going overseas to fill positions. When American workers make themselves more attractive either by providing a work ethic and quality far superior to that of competing nations OR lower their pay standards, then companies will look back to the US.
As a hiring manager that hires college graduates for entry level financial services positions, I am continually astounded at the lack of work ethic that I encounter through the interview process and the level of sense of entitlement that exists. What happened to paying people what they are actually worth???? If you give me 110% everyday, I will reward you, if you are a slacker, why should I go out of my way to pay you any more than what you are worth.
If Dell has to pay their help desk employees $35,000 per year - who ultimately pays that salary - the consumer. If that same position in India costs Dell $20,000, that's $15k that doesn't have to be passed on to the consumer. If Dell isn't happy with the level of service provided by Indian employees (as shown by lower customer satisfaction levels) then Dell may be willing to bring jobs back to the US IF they know that they can improve service by hiring US employees. At some point, Dell will do a cost / benefit analysis and will look for a breakeven point between cost and customer satisfaction/quality. The same sort of evaluation that the American Auto Industry has had to do.
It's all about the bottom line. Quit whining, do a great job, don't make demands of your employer that you aren't worth - or they will find a cheaper alternative. There are very few people that cannot be replaced.
And Dell has brought back some of their major accounts customer service/help desk but the bulk will remain in India. In fact, some old co-workers of mine spent time in India putting in new quality processes for the Dell India phone center.
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OK, I'll jump on my soapbox here. From around the mid 1990s to around the beginning of 2001, the IT market was artificially inflated. There were unrealistic expectations that anything connected to the Internet would make people very rich, and there were also some misplaced fears about Y2K, which drove more IT-related spending. The bubble eventually burst, and IT was no longer such a hot field. This seemed sort of inevitable; paying a marginal programmer $80K a year doesn't make much sense.
The competition from other countries has also contributed to driving salaries down. As an IT person, this doesn't bother or surprise me. I have a middle-class existence and I generally enjoy what I do. Although IT was the most visible casualty, I'm not convinced that any profession is "safe." So what's worked for me is doing work I like and being realistic about salary expectations.