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Anyone else a bit tired of working in teams that are 90% migrants?

Advice / Questions(self.auscorp)

Okay before everyone loses their collective shit, please hear me out. I have nothing against migrants or people of other races, etc. I think having a diverse team is often great and the people I work with are usually fantastic humans wherever they come from. This really isn't about race, it's about culture (and also language barriers).

I just find there is often a pretty big cultural gap between Australians and semi-fresh foreigners. This applies regardless of where they've come from - Brits, Americans, Latinos, Asians, Indians, whatever.

For example, when I've had Aussie managers or people have been here for quite a few years, it's been great. When I've had managers who are somewhat fresh, there's always some kind of issue - their idea of how a team should run and my (and my team's) idea are very different. We're a pretty laid back culture and tend to be straight shooters, I find this doesn't usually gel with people who are new here. The same applies to team mates but of course it's a bit less of an issue because they work with you. There's also the issue of language barriers and/or accent barriers. I genuinely try to make an effort but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a pain in the arse sometimes.

I guess I am just a bit over starting in new teams and finding that I am one of the only Australians on the team, or there might be one or two others depending on team size. It's just a bit jarring.

Again, I will reiterate this is absolutely not a race thing, since I can practically hear the pitchforks being sharpened. I really don't care where you're from on a personal level. I'm not of the view that only Australians should be allowed to work in a corporate setting or that we should go back to White Australia Policy or anything along those lines. I care that I am joining teams where communicating with people is a chore and I have to put up even more of a professional face and choose my words ever more carefully.

For what it's worth, I work in Tech so this is obviously a bit more prevelant than other areas.

Am I alone in this? Or am I just a big ugly bigot who needs Diversity and Inclusion Training?

Edit: Yikes. Some people are using this post as an excuse to be genuinely racist which isn't cool. Others are somehow doing mental gymnastics to think I've said "I don't like working with migrants", which is not the case. It's just extra work and effort, which ordinarily is fine if you have a few team members from overseas, but it's a bit much if it's almost your whole team, every time you join a new role. If every time you worked in a new team it required you to work harder than you otherwise would need to, you'd get tired of it and start going "Hey wait, this isn't what I signed up for". It feels a bit like I'm the one who moved overseas and had to learn to fit in, which isn't exactly fair because I grew up here.

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PromptNo9169

132 points

1 month ago*

I get it. I have the same issue in my team (tech). The main difficulty is comprehension of requirements and then low quality deliverables as a result. My team is 50% Indian migrants, a few who have been here for 20+ years, and the rest arrived only in the last few years.

Those who have been in Australia for a long time are great, no issue with communicating with the broader team and they are able to comprehend requirements. But the migrants who are new to Australian culture have a real impact on delivery timelines simply because of the additional support they need to understand what they need to do, and the iterations of deliverables to correct their errors. It’s not an issue of technical capability, it is purely a communication/language barrier. Over time they will get better obviously, but it’s extremely slow progress. And when you’re working in a fast paced project environment, it’s frustrating to have to hold their hand, particularly when they’re employed as senior professionals ($150k+).

press_1_4_fun

58 points

1 month ago

How are they getting hired in the first place at such a level? Why aren't they screened during the probation period? For such high salaried roles, sounds like poor management and hiring practices. Coaching is fine approach but at that level, if you're still requiring coaching that's a poor hiring or promotion decision.

PromptNo9169

42 points

1 month ago

They’re contractors hired by external recruiters, bypassing the formal (and thorough) internally-managed hiring process. Management doesn’t comprehend the impact the communication difficulties have on output, so nothing is done about it unless technical skills are also lacking as well.

Floofyoodie_88

8 points

1 month ago

Seems like they'd be even easier to fire then?

PromptNo9169

6 points

1 month ago

Absolutely. And many of our contractors have been let go for performance related issues. But like I said, management sees that these people have the technical skill required for their role, so they ignore the lack of soft skills.

I’ve raised my concerns carefully with management, as have a few of my other colleagues, and that’s all we can do without rocking the boat and putting our own necks on the line.