Thread regarding Charles Schwab Corp. layoffs

Why dont these high skilled tech employees that Schwab and other "have to have" start their own companies in their home country? You know, improve the quality of life and those around them in their own country. I'm sure America will find a way to keep the lights on with the 300+ million people already here.

1. Resorting to personal attacks—like labeling someone as “naive” or “woke”—doesn’t contribute meaningfully to a discussion. Productive dialogue requires engaging with facts and perspectives, not dismissing them with stereotypes. Let's break down a more thoughtful response:

2. Multiple Perspectives Strengthen Debate: Disagreement is natural, but labeling differing viewpoints as inherently harmful ("destroying America") is extreme. Societies progress through open debate, critical thinking, and understanding diverse viewpoints—not by shutting them down.

3. Immigration and Economic Contributions: Many respected economists, business leaders, and policymakers highlight how immigrants, including H-1B workers, contribute to innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth. For example, a significant portion of startups and patents in the U.S. have immigrant founders or contributors.

4. Balancing Complex Realities: The challenges America faces—whether in immigration policy or economic inequality—are nuanced. It’s neither fair nor accurate to reduce these challenges to buzzwords like “woke” or blame those offering solutions as “naive.” Thoughtful reforms, not divisive rhetoric, help solve complex issues.

5. Patriotism Through Improvement: Offering critiques of the status quo or advocating for inclusivity isn’t about “destroying America” but about building a better one. Loving a country means wanting to improve it by addressing flaws—not rejecting any call for change as dangerous or misguided.

6. Civil Discourse Matters: If the goal is to build a stronger America, we must engage in civil, fact-based conversations. Shutting down dissenting voices or assuming ill-intent in others’ opinions only polarizes society further, undermining the very principles of democracy.

Simple answer: They’re 1/2 to 1/3 the cost, and they work for 8 hours a day. (However fraught with errors)

The stench and poor communications are just the “price of doing business”.
What these people do away from work is an entirely different conversation and message board.

It’s an oversimplification to reduce H-1B workers to a discussion of cost savings or to dismiss their quality of work. Here are a few points to consider:

H-1B Talent Pool: Many H-1B workers hold advanced degrees from prestigious universities and bring specialized skills. These are not "cheap labor" positions but highly competitive roles in industries like technology, engineering, and healthcare, which drive innovation and growth.

Cost Comparison Reality: Employers still incur significant costs hiring H-1B workers. Between legal fees, visa sponsorship, and compliance requirements, the expenses can reach thousands of dollars per employee. Additionally, salaries for H-1B workers must meet or exceed prevailing wages, ensuring that they aren’t being paid less than their American counterparts.

Error Rates and Productivity: Errors and productivity challenges exist across all employee groups, including local hires. The real differentiator is effective management, clear communication, and continuous training—factors that impact outcomes far more than nationality.

Cultural Diversity as a Strength: Dismissing cultural differences as “the price of doing business” overlooks the benefits of diversity. Teams that include employees from different cultural backgrounds are often more innovative and better positioned to compete in global markets.

Humanizing the Workforce: It’s important to recognize that H-1B workers are people with families, aspirations, and personal lives, just like anyone else. Reducing them to stereotypes does a disservice to the conversation and ignores their contributions to society beyond their job roles.

Rather than framing this as a purely transactional matter, it’s more productive to focus on how companies can integrate diverse teams effectively and benefit from the unique skills and perspectives each employee brings.

Simple answer: They’re 1/2 to 1/3 the cost, and they work for 8 hours a day. (However fraught with errors)
The stench and poor communications are just the “price of doing business”.
What these people do away from work is an entirely different conversation and message board.

Name one person on your team who is on an H1B visa and should be let go—not because they are Indian or Chinese, but simply because they lack the necessary skills. 3…2…1… Go!

The real issue today isn't a lack of skills, especially with the availability of AI tools. Skills can be acquired easily if you know how to leverage AI.

The real problem with many H1B employees, particularly from Indian service companies, is age. Many of these employees are aging, and despite their efforts, they struggle to stay updated. The primary reason is that they've spent years—often decades—working on the same projects, accounts, and technologies. They get comfortable and complacent in these roles.

Meanwhile, the newer hires often lack deep technical skills but compensate with overconfidence. Even granting green cards to these older employees isn't a viable solution, as many of them are now in the 51–55 age range, making it harder for them to adapt.

Additionally, EB1-C, a green card pathway popular among such employees, is becoming increasingly like the backlogged EB2 and EB3 categories, further complicating the situation.

Non-Indian H1b have good time because for them getting GC is not big deal.

Name One Person in Your Team Who is on H1B Who Needs To Be Gone. Not because they are Indian or Chinese but they just lack the skills. 3..2..1.. Go..

It would not be a lottery system if it was about bringing to this country the most talented people whose skills are in short supply.

Money, Power and Politics. Thats all there is to it.

As a pervious F1 Student, H1B Holder, GC Holder and Currently a Citizen,

There 3 cases

1. You are not Indian
2. if you are Indian your Date was before 2012
3. you married to non-Indian or citizen.

Employees are sadly not well versed any of these technologies or do not have deep understanding of underlying technologies.

Why they should well versed in it?
Schwab have to use tech not inovate on tech.

Frankly, most of them don’t make the effort to assimilate with the American culture.

Why They should ?
Anyways 95% they are going PR or citizenship .

As a pervious F1 Student, H1B Holder, GC Holder and Currently a Citizen, I can say 5% of H1Bs are exceptional and others are not. It has allowed Me to Explore Core Computer Science Areas and I have worked in both HardWare and Software Companies in areas such as: Silicon Refining, Computer Networking, Virtualization, Storage, ERP and now Schwab. Most Schwab Employees are sadly not well versed any of these technologies or do not have deep understanding of underlying technologies. I am here because I have a kid and its an easy job compared to other jobs I have had in the past.

Why do we still need H-1B employees in the US?

Most H-1B work follows an onshore-offshore model.
You can find open data on the average salary for an individual H-1B employee. However, that employee often works with 10 offshore counterparts, whose salaries are much lower compared to those in the U.S.

During the day, the onshore employee works and completes their tasks. At night, the offshore team takes over to continue the work.

I agree that, at one point, the U.S. needed tech talent for coding.

Nowadays, AI can handle much of the coding.
As a result, coding skills are becoming increasingly less relevant. Tools like GitHub Copilot and platforms like Wisher (assuming it refers to a coding assistant) can automate many tasks, even revealing hidden logic or business knowledge.

Thus, the importance of coding is steadily declining.

U.S. citizens have now caught up with the skills that were once missing.

The real issue today isn’t technical skills. It’s about how quickly someone can adapt to constantly evolving skill requirements.
The question isn’t just "Do you have the skills?" but "How long can you keep up with new technologies?"

I know U.S. citizens who were laid off and are struggling to find jobs despite having similar skills to H-1B employees.

Not all the people laid off were in IT roles, and many H-1B workers were also affected. Around 50,000 H-1B employees lost their jobs during recent layoffs.
Here’s a video from CNBC explaining where some of these laid-off employees ended up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOIPmQrrgnQ

Why aren't H-1B employees laid off first?

Actually, they often are. In many cases, companies reduce their headcount on the services side before layoffs are announced.
H-1B employees are usually the first to be let go, but this rarely makes the news.

For example, if a service contract with a company like Schwab ends, the employee is given one month’s notice and is gone without severance, farewell emails, or recognition. They just disappear, and people forget about them.

But don't most H-1B employees add little value?

It’s not that simple. In some cases, especially at companies like Schwab, H-1B employees manage critical systems.
These systems are often outdated, running on technologies like mainframes, .NET 2.0, SOAP, or JavaScript, and require specialized knowledge to maintain. Without these employees, many business operations would come to a halt.

My team hired someone on a visa just before laying off an excellent worker.

This raises the question: Was the new hire from an outsourcing company or an independent contractor?

If it was through an outsourcing company, the project was likely labeled as a "cost-saving" initiative.

I know people say H-1B employees are exploited. Why are we allowing this?

The short answer is: money and geopolitics.

Part 2

Why do we still need H-1B employees in the US?

Most H1b work is done on , onshore offshore model.
Average pay you can find out of that one person it open data.
But he work with 10 people offshore which very less compare here.
In day time he works and get his/her work done at night time he get work done from offshore.

I agree at one point the US did need people in tech who know how to code.

Now days coding can be done by A.I.
So coding can be done that is becoming more less relevant.
Even you know how to use Wisher , github-copilot you even break the hidden secret or business knowledge.
So coding is becoming more less and less relevant.

US citizens have since caught up with the missing skill set.

As I mentioned skill set is not a problem know a days.
It is every changing need of Skills , can person stay in same skills and how long?

I know of people laid off who are US citizens struggling to find jobs with similar skills to H-1B employees

All laid of people were not in computer, even h1B got laid of there number was 50 thousand
Here it answer from CNBC where employees gone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOIPmQrrgnQ

Why are the H-1B employees not being laid off first?

They are I know that, before Nov lay off there was massive headcount reduction on service side.
H1b are targeted first, you do not come to know , because it is never a news.
All contract which is signed for project with service , schwab gives 1 Month notice .
that person is gone, NO Servances package, No good bye , No mail just vanish.
people forget him or her.

but most H-1B employees add very little value.

It is bit grey area, if talking about schwab.
Go around and see projects which are handled by h1b .. they system critical , and people will not able work, because they are written in mainframe, .net 2.0, soap, javascript etc.

My team hired someone on visa right before laying off someone who was an excellent worker.

Now Question comes they were hired from service , what I mean Outsourcing company or independent ?
If it outsources company then project is marked cost saving.

I know people will say it is because H-1B employees can be exploited. Why are we allowing this as well?

Answer for why is $$$$$$ and Geo Politics

Answer is not so easy not and also not to straight.
if you are looking for answer

1. There very interesting analysis , (America's Retirement Timebomb!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aYyV8Jzvw4&t=2s

2. If looking for H1b Rant

"Sold Out: How High-Tech Billionaires & Bipartisan Beltway Crapweasels Are Sc--wing America's Best & Brightest Workers"

100. is H1B good answer is yes
     is All H1B coming are Good Answer is NO.
101. Is there Geo politics
     Answer Is Yes

Part 1

Mostly because tech companies lobby the government to keep high levels of H1B by lying about their superior skills. Truth is they are more compliant because losing their jobs also means losing their right to stay in the country and they typically make less. Thank your politicians for failing to protect American jobs.

H1Bs might produce more, maybe because they have higher incentive to outperform and stay in the country, but that is not the original purpose of the visa.

↓

This is the answer. You may not like it. But young H1Bs produce more with less guff. We can be xenophobes about it, but it doesn't change it.

Honest answer?

Take your pick.

1. Work harder and with better education
2. Less resistant to poor management
3. Cheaper
4. Population reductions due to birth rate prompting immigration. H1B and other visas encourage higher education immigrants.

The big question is why more Americans aren't wooed overseas.