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The working Indian is going abroad. He has been doing so for many centuries; indentured labour being the first time he had an option. In all the brouhaha about H1B visas and Saudi restrictions, we are losing track of the main trend: more Indians are going abroad now than ever before. In certain categories — nursing, for instance — they are creating cohorts in Western cities. When a nurse goes to London, she has a job, a place to stay (a dormitory) and an environment in which she understands the most common language (Malayalam).
In China and the US, many Indians live in foreign enclaves. In the latter, after a generation, they move to become taxi drivers. In New York, this is a profession that India has cornered. In China, of course, even a second generation Indian does not get accepted by the larger community; Indians get hooked on chop suey but have to just come home. (Incidentally, there are more Indian taxi drivers in the US than techies.)
It is inevitable that more Indians will go to work abroad. The working-age population is increasing while that in developed countries (and China) is falling. Demand starts off in sectors such as nursing and construction and climbs the ladder in the hierarchy of jobs. Where there is demand, you won’t find people protesting about job losses.
What they do protest about is the behaviour of Indian expats. Part of this is not necessarily bad behaviour; it’s the fallout of culture and customs. Says Redbus2us, a guide to the US: “People (in the US) go to work around 8am and take off from work at 4:30pm. The additional 30 minutes is for lunch. Some companies have flexible options; they allow their employees to work at their convenient time. Some come in late and work late. The goal is to work eight hours. Some are even more flexible; they let you work from home a few days a week. The key point is, people tend to work only eight hours. If you work more than eight hours, you ask for compensation.”
In India, people go to work at 9am or so and come home at 9pm. Most of them stay at work for 12 hours. It is not necessarily working. People take long lunches and tea and other breaks. There is nothing wrong with it; the culture shapes the environment. The work ethic is more relaxed; you just work long hours.
What happens as a result is a mismatch: Ratan Tata complains that his home-grown executives are far more serious about their jobs than those he has inherited from the UK plants of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). They are not; it depends on what time of the day you catch them.
The Tatas have taken over JLR and it is possibly their culture that counts. (It is to their credit that they have been importing employees from all ranks at JLR in the UK to visit Tata Motors in India.) But one should also realise that there is a history of Indophobia across the world. This started with Indian and Chinese workers in the US in the 19th century and continues with Indian IT workers in the 20th and the 21th. One should note that these are the two countries slated to overtake the US as the world’s leading economic power.
Tomorrow’s world is going to see increasingly diversified faces in the workplace. Today, you have it at the executive level. It’s coming to the employee level. In China, on a visit to Indian companies set up there, we saw a solitary Indian worker surrounded by sons of the soil. It was a sorrowful tale he told us of being an outsider. A couple of days later, at the subsidiary of a company from Maharashtra, we saw a solitary Bengali surrounded by Maharashtrians. It was a sorrowful tale he told us of being an outsider.
A country that believes in its ecosystem so much will create for itself the same situations abroad. The problem with the travelling Indian is that he has never learnt to adapt.
BENEFITS OF HARMONY
A workplace without unnecessary rancour:
• Reduces absenteeism
• Increases productivity
• Improves morale and working relationships
• Decreases stress
• Attracts new employees
• Helps retain current employees
Source: Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety
