Hurricanes may cause workers to flee and not return

Despite the latest hurricane (Gustav) on the gulf coast causing less damage than was initially feared there does appear to be a major impact on the workforce to the area.

Contractors for shipyards, petrochemical industry and others in the area have often stated that when they restart work after a major hurricane, that as many as 50% of the workers who fled to Texas and other regions may not return.

Its not just damage from the hurricanes that causes the need for major recritment drives afterwards, its the simple fact that workers when they do move away even for a short time may find alternative employment and simply not return.

The US gulf coast has been harder hit than most in recent times, and yet despite this we have seen the majority of cases not approved by the department of labor for H-2B workers. Contractors to these industries need some legislative help to recruit highly skilled workers into the region, if it isn’t given through an immigration program then perhaps it can be done through some sort of benefits from the government that would allow the region to afford higher salaries that may encourage applications from highly skilled workers nationwide.

Failing this, then the next best option would be to encourage training programmes where they could take foreign workers who have basic skills that would benefit their own country after learning new skills in America. Such a programme would allow them to work with American employers for 12 - 18 months which would benefit both the host country an the workers when they return to their home countries.

Osrec would like to hear from any immigration specialists in USA who may have the experience of having brought people in for these types of skills (welders, fitters etc) successfully through J1 or H3 visa programmes.

Posted in Benefits of Migrant workers, economy, skills gap | No Comments »

H-2B Cap Reached in Record Time

The H-2B cap of 40,000 applications for the first half of fiscal year for 2009 was reached last week.

The cap has been hitting earlier every half of every fiscal year since the H-2R visas for returning workers was abandoned.

It remains to be seen if the American government introduce new legislation. In the meantime workers in industries like ship building and oil and gas skilled tradesmen continue to flock to other countries in high volume with the Middle East, Singapore, Canada, UK and even new EU accession countries in Eastern Europe is now opening up their borders and benefitting from the current U.S immigration situation.

It has been reported that skilled trades like welders, fitters and others which are in short supply cannot get past the Labor certification process allowing positions in other industries that would normally fall in the H-2B catagory to benefit.

Its a pity to see the benefits that these workers could bring to American businesses not being realized for another year.

Posted in Benefits of Migrant workers, Immigration, economy, skills gap | No Comments »

How to recruit workers and staff from abroad - Part 2

Here are some key points about choosing a recruiter to help you source suitable foreign employees. Please keep in mind that recruiters who specialise in bringing people from overseas have a different remit from local recruiters, below is a list that may be helpful in your discussions with them.

A good recruiter will offer you a lot of advice and help you to plan not only your immediate needs but also future needs at the same time, in Australia for example you can have nominations approved for up to two years, so if your immediate needs are for 10 people but in the next 2 years it is likely to be 50 or 60 they will help you with this both in terms of planning and sourcing the right people for the right time. Nominations can be applied in bulk and they do cost $55 each but can be paid as and when you use the nominations. You would not have to pay all 60 nominations at the outset, if you want 10 people immediately then only the ten nominations used need to be paid. They should offer to speak with you for at least 30-40 minutes initially to fully understand what you are looking for and this will be followed up several times as more details are needed.

A report should be submitted to you after the initial conversation and will include details which may have been under question but not able to be answered at the time. Typically a report will be done for companies looking to employ several people and will consist of details of where they recommend the applicants are sources from, why and what the advantages and disadvantages of different countries may be. It will also include details about the right type of visa that should be applied for and again reasons given, the costs of this and the immigration process should be outlined in a step by step easy to understand format.

They should offer you either skills assessment videos or to reimburse travel costs if taking 10 or more people. They should make every effort to make you aware of the skill level available and the need for any training upon the employees arrival, an example of this may be welders who are professional and experience but may not have the modern equipment that is used in your country.
Employees from eastern Europe, Asia and South America will all have a good work ethic, however there will be major differences in their mentality and skill levels, the agent should be able to advise you in detail of this and what to expect and help you to make the right decision based on their previous experience.

It is advisable to know the background and history of the agent recruiting from overseas, which countries and types of companies they have been supplying etc. Overseas recruiters can range from the sublime to the ridiculous. Going for the cheapest option can be a mistake, this does not mean that a good overseas recruiter will be the most expensive but just to watch out for those offering a deal that is free or very low cost unless the reasons for doing so are explained in detail. what may be free and low cost to you could be very expensive for the applicant and bring you unwanted publicity later.
Experience is very important in overseas recruiting, you should look for someone who has been doing it for several years and is reputable, ask for client testimonials and case studies, if they can provide this without delays then you can be sure of their background and knowledge to be able to give you the best advice and service. They should also be aware of the laws of the countries they are recruiting from, this can avoid delays in getting the workers to your country after the visa is issued. Philippines for example has the POEA which is set up to protect Philippine workers, if their rules and documentation requirements are not correctly followed there will be problems getting the people out of the country to start their job in a new country. Similar body’s are in process in eastern Europe too.
Recruiters offering overseas workers need to be able to guarantee you the quality of the employees, ask what guarantees they provide.

They should also offer help with any translations that are necessary, a good recruiter will go beyond this and want to have more than just legal documents such as health and safety but also Job Contracts, induction materials information about the area and community that the workers will be going to as well as an unrestricted after sales service.
They should be offering employees practical help upon arrival too, for example a local Sim card with $30 credit, immediate follow up to make sure the employees have arrived safely, have settled and their families can contact them. Upon arrival applicants will be a little demanding as they try to get accustomed to their new way of life, they will have many questions and the agent should be available on a daily basis to deal with as many of the enquiries as possible. This can be done by telephone by calling them on a daily basis.

There are many middle men appearing in the overseas recruitment business, they may be in the form of a local recruiter dealing with overseas agents or overseas agents dealing with overseas agents. You should be sure that whoever you are dealing with understands the local markets they are recruiting from.

We recently did a trip to Moldova where we were working for the first time with a local Moldovan agent, we had 45 people to interview and from that only 5 people were suitable, many were not at the level of English their resume had stated, many had no idea about the jobs they were supposed to be professionals in and the agents had adjusted the resumes to suit the jobs we were recruiting for. It is easy these days to have certificates made up which are not real and to take enough information from the internet to make an impressive resume. if we had not physically gone there to do face to face interviews and a proper screening process then it could easily have ended in disappointment. Any middle man whether local or overseas needs to know the territory and local languages to be sure of doing a proper screening process, they should have met with the applicants face to face BEFORE you receive their resumes.

Some agents in Eastern Europe, Asia and South America will often try to push forward people who are not suitable just to try and make a sale, they will be charging applicants money so there is no guarantee clause to be paid back and they do not always have the employers needs as a priority and often do not think about tomorrow. There is no other way to avoid a bad result than the person you are dealing with having seen the people face to face. This is such an important point that it should not be ignored and is the best advice we could give to any employer thinking of recruiting from overseas. Using an agent is essential but using the right agent is the tricky part.

Posted in Recruting Abroad, jobs abroad, skills gap | No Comments »

The do’s and don’ts of recruiting from abroad - Part 1

is your company seriously thinking of recruiting from abroad?
 
When making a decision whether recruiting from overseas is the right thing to do you need to consider the following points. Which country you should recruit from, which is the right type of visa, what your obligations are as an employer, how to source the employees and what the costs will be. A lot of advice is freely available on immigration but very little is available about how and where to source the best applicants, which countries will have people with the skill level you are looking for and how you can assess these skills and compare them to those required. Some good specialist recruiters will offer you a free consultation on these matters and may submit you a full report after an initial 30 - 40 minutes conversation to understand your business and requirements. If you are unsure on any points this is a good way to go as they will be experts with several years experience and may have learned from previous recruitment of the same type of workers what the pros and cons are likely to be.
The main areas of recruiting from overseas are Asia, Eastern Europe and South America if you are looking for high numbers of skilled tradesmen. Parts of Asia will have the advantage of Language skills, for example countries such as Philippines would offer a higher number of English speaking people than eastern Europe or South America but may not offer the same skill level, Eastern Europe for example is very industrial whilst countries like Philippines would be stronger for hospitality.
There is strong competition between UK , Ireland, Canada and Australia for the same types of skilled workers, less so USA because of their immigration laws restricting the amount of people coming in but still enough number to attract the best of these workers. Australia having just raised the minimum amount payable for overseas skilled workers has been a good sign that they are accepting the competition is real as well as protecting overseas workers from exploitation. To give Australian companies a competitive advantage there are some key points.
1. Be very clear about what is being offered in terms of working hours, salary, overtime, and future prospects. Australia offers visas that allow for long term employment of overseas workers, but so do other countries, in the UK for example it takes only 1 week to get a 5 year work permit
2. Be open to communication from applicants, it is a very big decision for them to choose to leave home, they will have many questions as you would yourself in the same situation, they will want to know if they can bring their families over, we always recommend this is not a good option until an employee has got started in the job and both employer and applicant is settled but an option to bring their loved ones over at a later date is appealing should all be going well. Often family members such as a wife may be able to do some kind of low skilled job if your establishment is a factory or help to introduce them to local temp agencies may be useful if you cannot or do not wish to employ family members directly. Remember that if a similar job is available in the UK or Ireland which maybe only a 2 hour flight away or Canada which is 5 hours away, and you are on the other side of the world then small things can make all the difference.
3. Take into account that you may have  to help them with things like opening a bank account, a good agent would also offer them a Sim card with $30 credit so that their families can contact them upon arrival but if using and agent and they do not offer this then it would be worth thinking about, they will be in a completely different culture and will not know basic things that will be important for them, how to post a letter, where to buy stamps, where is the post office etc.
4. Treat them with the same respect as you would a local worker, they have made a life changing decision to come and work for you and are not looking to be treated any better or worse than anyone else working for you, but they will start to resent the situation very quickly if they are being paid less, working more hours unpaid or being used to do jobs that they were not employed to do. If there is a training period where the salary will be less or where they will start in a different department until they acclimatise then make it clear from the outset and before they travel. They will probably want to work more hours as long as they are being paid for it, overtime is a big attraction to them.
5. A good agent will offer to translate any health and safety, hygiene signs (if you are in food production for example), job contracts or any other relevant documents or information, this should not cost any more for the service and will help the employee settle quicker and help to avoid any misunderstandings. You should also ask your agent to give you sizes of the workers if you are supplying uniforms and have this sorted before they arrive. They may also be able to provide pre departure orientation materials and this could be used to help people know what to expect on arrival in Australia and can be used as a good way to introduce more induction type information to the work place a good example of this was when we were supplying skilled meat boners to a meat plant in Northern ireland and we had a video of the factory, each production department within the factory and some comments from foreign workers who had been working there for a while.
6. Accommodation is another major issue to take into consideration, if the applicants are paying their own immigration costs than it is unlikely that they will have money to pay for accommodation deposits, in many cases they will be happy to have this money deducted from their salary to pay it back to the employer but unlikely they will have the money to pay it up front upon their arrival. Typically they are happy to share a room with another person in a rented house to keep the costs down, one of their main motivations for working abroad is financial and the sooner they can recoup their own costs and start saving or sending their money home the better.
7. Travel to and from work is another issue which too often is left until the last minute, if employing large numbers of people from abroad it may be worthwhile looking into providing transport to and from work and making sure the accommodation is not too far away.
8. Pay competitive wages, we recently had an employer who was looking to recruit over 150 linesmen and cable jointers, they were offering a basic salary of $25,000 and there was another job offer from another country paying $40,000. Competitive wages should include look beyond what is the minimum salary that is allowed to bring people in from the immigration guidelines and look to pay them what is the going rate for the skills they have and the job they are doing. In the UK employers have to pay what is the going rate for any profession when hiring foreign workers and applications offering minimum or lower salary would not be approved.
9.If your salary structure is likely to be lower than in other countries but you have a lower cost of living the employee needs to understand this and you should emphasis the positive points as mentioned above that employers in other countries may not be doing.
 
How to evaluate their skills:
Skills in one country may differ from another, it is therefore important to know how to evaluate them properly to find the most suitable employees for your company. To rely on Resumes and qualification certificates alone has proved many times in the recent past to be a mistake that leads to disappointment. There are two main options that a good recruiter should offer you
1. Skills assessment videos, which is a good option if you do not have time to travel and see the people in their own country or only need a small amount of employees from overseas. This worked very well recently with a Canadian employer who only required four people and was planning to take more later if they worked out well.
2. Is to travel to their country and do face to face interviews as well as have skills assessments set up for you. This is only suitable if you are looking to employ enough people to make the trip viable.
We recently have had satisfied clients from both methods but by far the best way is to make time to go to their country, get an understanding of their culture and why they want to work abroad and see first hand their skill level, how modern the equipment is in their country as well as their English language ability. You should be able to have these costs reimbursed from the agent if taking more than 10 people.
 

Posted in Immigration, Recruting Abroad, skills gap | No Comments »

Hiring from Overseas – A proven way to keep staff turnover low?

Staff turnover maybe a more expensive cost than you realise, it can be costly in terms staff morale, training costs and recruitment related expenses. If your company experiences 20 percent or greater staff turnover per year this may already a threat to your bottom line. By taking advantage of hiring immigrant specialists you can keep your personnel turnover low.

The report on job openings and labor turnover prepared by United States Department of Labor states that in July 2006, there were 3.8 million job openings in the United States, mostly in the services sector, as well as manufacturing, education, healthcare, warehousing, utilities, etc.

According to Jelger Kalmijn, the President of University Professional and Technical Employees affiliated with the Communications Workers of America, Clerical staff turnover is approaching an annual rate of 50%.

Despite some opinions that employing of immigrant people is viewed as a threat to this socially-economic phenomena, some economically developed countries as Canada, the USA, and Australia are only three welcoming traditional destinations of immigrants. Right now there is a rise in economic immigrants and competition for skilled workers is increasing.

Sensitive choice of foreign employees may become key solutions to boost small businesses or to promote already developed larger firms. If you look closer, you will see that hiring immigrants presents many more cost cutting opportunities.

In general, immigrants promote economic development, help diversifying workforce, and bring life and work experiences from abroad. Moreover, they pay taxes, like everybody else.

By hiring immigrants, you are facilitating their desire to be self-sufficient, helping them achieve their dreams, and contributing to the stability of immigrant neighborhoods. And the most important point – they are qualified and productive workers.

To calculate the rate of staff turnover in practice, divide the number of employee departures your practice has experienced in the last five years by the number of staff members you have employed over the same time period. Then, multiply that number by 100. If the result is 20 percent or more, think about the new perspective in employing.

Keeping labor turnover low is significant. It requires awareness of the current state of the work environment and choosing appropriate new employees. There are advantages to hiring non-specialists and training them, however employing already experienced and highly motivated specialists from overseas can save time and money and they will have the skills to train the next generation apprentices or junior staff.

There are observers who consider employing already experienced personnel as a ready made solution to prevent stuff turnover. It is a fact, that workers, which are more satisfied with the balance of their work and life, are company-loyal and desirable. You can save money on training and hire people from abroad who are eager to work and are motivatedFocus on your core business rather than ongoing recruitment process because every its sources, as well as time and attention are limited. Outsourcing can help shifting focus to customer organization activities.

Countries like the USA, Canada, UK, and Australia are making it easier for skilled workers to come to migrate.

They contribute to the economy the same way as local inhabitants, facilitating values to products or services, which can later be sold locally or exported and in the process contributing to the  country’s GDP.

Moreover, immigrants save and invest; they bring capital with them, particularly economic migrants. For example, in 1996, there were 120,000 economic immigrants out of 225,000 immigrants and refugees in Canada. Boosting the economy and helping to keep interest rates low.

Posted in Benefits of Migrant workers, Immigration, economy | No Comments »

Post-Katrina conditions hurt recruiting in U.S

Since Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans-area hospitals have increased wages to capture a share of the local talent pool and in some cases have left beds empty for want of caregivers.

Several hospitals are now looking abroad for help. Facing competition for nurses in the tight local market, East Jefferson General Hospital dispatched its chief operating officer in August to the Philippines, a former U.S. territory that annually sends thousands of English-speaking nurses overseas.

Sixty-one Filipino nurses have agreed to work for significantly increased wages in a struggling foreign city. The immigration process is arduous, however, involving a visa application, background check and a nursing certification exam, and some of East Jefferson’s newest workers will not arrive for six months to a year.

Filipino nurses were brought to other local hospitals, including Ochsner Medical Center, during a nursing drought in the 1980s. Today, Ochsner, as well as Children’s Hospital and possibly others, are seeking foreigners to help plug the increasing skills gap that has hobbled the medical community since Katrina. The Louisiana State Board of Nursing have indicated that almost 5000 nurses changed the address on their license in the 10 months after Katrina, and almost half of them moved out of state.

The shortage is not new to Louisiana or to the country as a whole. Janice Kishner, the chief operating officer and nurse executive at East Jefferson, said the profession has struggled to meet demand since the feminist revolution opened many other career paths to women beginning in the 1960s. Health-care delivery has also changed, as the advent of specialty-care clinics has drained nurses from their conventional berth at hospitals.

Posted in Benefits of Migrant workers, Immigration, economy, skills gap | No Comments »

U.S Employers Frustrated at Cap on Work Visas

Many companies in the U.S. are searching for immigrant specialists in high-tech, scientific and medical fields, however, in 2008 those positions will probably remain vacant due to the number of foreign nationals granted visas has reached the federal limit. 

The Issuing of a visa requires local employers to hire local workers and, if they cannot, they look for employees in other countries.

At issue is the cap at 65,000 per year for the entire  U.S. on H-1B visas, which enable companies to employ specialized professionals from other countries, many of whom are highly skilled technology experts. The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services Bureau grants the visas to professionals working in positions that require them to have a bachelor’s degree or higher. An additional 20,000 H-1B visas are granted to professionals who have a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. university.

H-1B visas typically last six years, at which time the employee has usually been granted a green card, allowing them permanent resident status.

During the years when the cap was higher, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare hired nurses from India with bachelor’s degrees in nursing who obtained H-1B visas, said Tom Zinda, director of recruitment for the Milwaukee-area hospital system. Most of the nurses are still with the company and others have changed employers.

This year the visa quota for H1Bs of 65,000 and was opened on April 3, 2007 and was anticipated to last until July/August. 

In just 8 weeks, on May 26th the quota of 65,000 H1B visa applications were met. 

Posted in Benefits of Migrant workers, Immigration, Uncategorized, economy, skills gap | No Comments »

More Safeguards for Unskilled Workers in Overseas Jobs Soon

New Delhi .

The Indian government is planning to adopt safeguards helping preventing of exploitation unskilled workers, including housemaids, working overseas, says Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi.

“We are planning to put in place more strict regulations and restrictions on overseas employment of unskilled labor. This is to prevent their exploitation. Our women particularly must be protected,” said  Ravi.

These improvements are planned to be launched due to Indian embassies and overseas consulates are often receiving complaints from unskilled workers, especially domestic helps, about physical and mental harassment by their sponsors.

The committee is promising to come up with its set of recommendations and regulations soon, said the minister. He said that the idea is to have the workers overseas keeping in touch with the Indian embassy or consulate on a regular basis. Vaylar Ravi believes that this will help facilitating of legal migration.

This is the issue, which concerns huge number of Indian population, due to, according to statistics there are estimated one million unskilled workers who took up jobs overseas every year, especially in the USA.

The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs negotiates for putting in place labor safeguards like adequate salary and good work conditions through memorandum of understanding (MoU), the minister said.

Posted in Immigration | No Comments »

UK - Shortages of Skilled Staff Holding Back East Midlands Business

 According to Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, the  UK’s leading employment specialist, a shortage of skilled staff is holding the East Midlands labor market back.

Greg Hollis, Manpower’s operations manager for the East Midlands said: “If you look at the manufacturing sector, for example, hiring activity is currently quite strong, especially in niche companies, but a lack of CAD technicians and skilled industrial workers are preventing companies from expanding to their full potential.”

The shortage of workers appears as well in other industry sectors, for example, in sales, IT, as well as personal assistants and legal secretaries. This is the result of inflation problem, which attracts more people to industries with higher pay.

Even in the sectors not experiencing shortage of skilled professionals, such as the High Street, and others, feel the great importance of recruiting to ensure finding and retain the best staff.

The finance and business sector leads British business as the strongest industry. Employers in the manufacturing mining, utilities transport and sectors all report hiring intentions above or around the national average, whereas employers in the community and social, hotels and retail, construction and agriculture sectors are all below

Posted in Benefits of Migrant workers, economy, skills gap | No Comments »

Australia - Skilled Migration Helps Economic Growth

Recently the minister of Immigration of Australia, Amanda Vanstone, admitted, that  skilled migration has helped the economy to grow while moderating otherwise strong upward pressure on wages and interest rates. 

Without skilled migrants, who she described as the engine room of the economy, Australian jobs would be threatened as business and industry struggled to fill orders and grow, she said.

The minister admitted that skilled migration has grown strongly over the past decade. Australia recorded a net gain from skilled migration last fiscal year ended June 30, 2006, with 113,030 skilled people leaving the country either permanently or long term, compared with 170,260 arrivals, many with key skills in building, engineering, accountancy, nursing and information technology.

A large number of migrants come from  Britain, as well as increasing number from India and China.

According to the fact sheets, provided by Vanstone, skilled migration has helped raise living standards. She believes that the current level of skilled migration is expected to improve the standard of living by A$850/person by 2021.

Posted in Benefits of Migrant workers | No Comments »