Immigration, Cheaper Labor, Best Value, Headaches, and Heartaches

by Dwayne Phillips

Trying to balance the cost of employees with their value isn’t easy. We usually do this poorly.

H-1B visas bring in labor from outside the US. Fact is, these persons are paid less. Fact is, they may speak English, but their American English is lacking. That lack hurts understanding and costs time, quality, and money.

Many immigrants come seeking opportunity to excel that didn’t exist back in their old home. This is the land of opportunity. We extend opportunity to others just as someone extended it to our ancestors.

What is the best value in our hiring? Lower-paid immigrants with lower language skills? How to we calculate the opportunity benefit? Do we? Why do I have a headache? Why does my heart tug at me when considering all this?

There must be a simpler answer to all this. Someone must have a formula. Someone must have a spreadsheet where I can plug in the numbers and the answer appears. Perhaps that someone doesn’t exist, and those magic spreadsheets don’t exist either.

If you are really smart and wise, we welcome your input on this one.