In The News

Call Centre Boom is Here to Last

Rashmee Z Ahmed September 1, 2003
Multinational companies seeking lower-wage labor will be increasingly looking to India to run their telephone call centers, concludes a recent survey by a British market analysis firm. Predicting a "21st-century gold rush" of MNCs moving to India, analyst Evan Kirchheimer says five to seven percent of Western agent positions are expected to be outsourced to India over the next few...

Shell Workers Protest Planned Job Cuts

Mike Oduniyi August 28, 2003
Employees of Shell Petroleum's base in Nigeria are protesting the proposed centralization of the oil company's global operations. Under a new proposal called "Exploration and Production Globalization," Shell says it hopes to increase the efficiency of its operations. "The Group continues to explore best practices in its drive to evolve a more overall efficient...

Germany Deadlocked Over Immigration Policy

Dominic Sachsenmaier August 22, 2003
Economic integration around the world does not necessarily equate to acceptance of multi-culturalism at home. Though German industry and banks straddle the globe, linking countries and societies economically, many Germans are fiercely fighting the influx of foreign influence - particularly through immigration. These Germans feel passionately about preserving a homogenous society and are...

Indian Companies Are Adding Western Flavor

Saritha Rai August 19, 2003
American corporations are increasingly sending service-oriented, knowledge-intensive jobs to India. The new employees are well-educated, English-speaking, and fully prepared to answer any technical question an American customer might ask. Just don't expect them to know how to sip wine at a business party or the appropriate way to greet an American colleague. Such subtle, Western, cultural...

Goodbye America, Hello India

Roger Mitton August 19, 2003
The dotcom boom made California the premier destination of Indians coming to the US. Now that the bubble has burst, however, more and more Indians are reversing their trip, leaving sunny, but jobless California and seeking employment in India. Many of these highly-skilled, expatriate engineers believe that their return home is temporary. "They think they will return later when things get...

Want H1B visa? Come to Gujarat

Tina Parekh August 18, 2003
Many Indians with cash and the right connections are finding it easy to obtain visas – legal or otherwise. According to this article in The Times of India, being denied a visa does not necessarily mean that Indian youths must give up their dreams of working in London or New York. Rather, they are bypassing the checks imposed by immigration authorities and entering "the murky world of fake...

Exploited and Far from Home, Some Au Pairs Are Mistreated

Anna von Münchhausen August 15, 2003
Working and living abroad as an au pair should be an exciting and rewarding experience for young men and women. It gives them the opportunity to stay with a family while they experience an unfamiliar culture. But this very unfamiliarity – so exciting when the au pairs are warmly received – can also leave them vulnerable to abuse. In March 2002, the German au pair market was liberalized and...