Published Sunday, October 8, 2000, in the San Jose Mercury News
NOTEBOOK FROM BERLIN
Tech visas fall short in filling Germany's labor shortage
BY ALISA ROTH
Special to the Mercury News
BERLIN -- Widely hailed as the answer to Germany's high-tech worker
shortage, the so-called green card initiative has been in place now for two
months. The program was designed to ease the labor shortage by bringing as
many as 20,000 highly skilled foreign employees to work both in start-ups
and in large multinational corporations.
But since the law went into effect Aug. 1, nearly 2,000 permits have been
issued, many fewer than were expected.
Companies complain about a lack of qualified applicants, and a lack of
interest in coming to Germany by those who are qualified.
But qualified applicants are not simply excellent programmers or software
designers. Many companies want employees who are fluent in German language
and culture, skills that are proving even harder to come by.
Although they are known by the English phrase ``green cards,'' these
specialized work permits are really more like H-1B visas in the United
States. Both allow skilled employees to work in the country for a specified
period to do jobs for which local workers cannot be found. The German green
cards are part of a larger initiative, which includes putting more computers
into the schools and encouraging students to study computer science, that is
intended to increase Germany's competitiveness in the technology sector.
Experienced IT specialists with a computer science or similar degree are
eligible; experts without a degree must be guaranteed a salary of at least
$48,000.
A strong dollar and high costs of living in places like Silicon Valley make
this figure sound deceptively low. According to German companies, the real
value is closer to twice that, a factor that some say has contributed to the
lack of enthusiasm from employers. The permits are not company-specific, and
so far are being issued for up to five years.
The government has authorized 10,000 green cards over five years, with
another 10,000 to follow if there is still sufficient demand. But if
official numbers are accurate, there will be demand for many years to come:
the government says there are currently 75,000 IT job openings in Germany.
According to Bitkom, a computer industry group, there are about 1 million IT
jobs in Germany's technology sector alone. So far, 1,800 slots have been
filled by green card recipients.
But these numbers are deceptive, says Hartmut Speck, project manager in the
corporate human resources department at Siemens AG. His company has about
1,100 IT openings, but only about 350 are appropriate for green card
recipients, he says. Why? Because most of the jobs need to be filled by
fluent German speakers.
English fluency sought
Application guidelines, posted in both English and German on the Federal
employment office's Web site, say that fluency in English will qualify
workers who don't speak German. But in most cases, says Speck, whose own
English sounds nearly native, this is simply not the case. ``Siemens charges
very high hourly rates,'' he said. ``If you can't communicate with the
client, we will have very big problems.''
Speck's concerns are echoed by Fritz Schuller, director of human resources
at Hewlett-Packard Germany: ``The majority of people don't have good enough
language knowledge in German. In our country, people have to deal with
German customers. Without a basic knowledge, it is difficult to work here.''


Both companies have strong corporate universities, which can provide German
instruction to foreign employees. But German is a hard language, and hiring
someone with the expectation that they will be fluent in several months is
unrealistic.
One solution has been to hire foreigners who are already in Germany, or who
have lived here before. According to the federal employment office, 20
percent of green cards have gone to foreign graduates of German
universities.
Siemens and Hewlett-Packard are trying another alternative: Both are
targeting Eastern Europe for applicants. Poland, Hungary and other former
Eastern bloc countries have invested heavily in technical schools. German
has long been something of a lingua franca in Eastern Europe, which means
there is a better chance of finding applicants with at least some
appropriate language skills.
And the region's culture, both socially and professionally, is much closer
to Germany's than, say, India or the Philippines, which many companies say
is nearly as important as language ability.
So far, most of Siemens' nearly 100 green card recipients are from the
former East. ``We expect the least difficulty with integration with people
from Eastern Europe,'' said Speck. A company makes a big investment when it
hires a green card employee, he says. He points out that not only do Eastern
Europeans have fewer cultural, and even climatic, adjustments to make, but
they are also literally much closer to home. A homesick Czech worker can get
on a train in Munich and be home in Prague in a few hours. An Indian or
Filipino simply can't.
A quick look at the numbers, though, suggests that Speck's concerns are not
having a profound effect on hiring practices. In Bavaria, which has the
largest concentration of high-tech firms in Germany and has issued more
green cards than any other state, about a quarter have gone to Indians.
Ethnic breakdown
The Munich employment office, which handles all applications in Bavaria, has
issued about 325 green cards. Of those, more than 80 have gone to Indians.
Romanians, the next largest group of recipients, have gotten about 35.
In Germany, nothing about foreigners, especially when it comes to their
nationality or race, is ever simple. And the Germans are well aware of that:
``The United States is more open to different cultures. We still have to
develop these skills,'' said Hewlett-Packard's Schuller.
Even so, some of the concerns have a disconcerting ring to the American ear.
``You can come here with a turban, too. Why not?'' said Walter Muschenich,
at the employment office in Munich. But, he added, ``One must have technical
skills, language ability in English and German, and social competence.
Indians have different social competencies than Europeans. And social
competencies are very important for the companies.''
Of course, not all companies are so wary of linguistic and cultural
barriers. Datango.de, a Berlin start-up with about 50 employees, has
specifically pursued Indian IT specialists. In a widely publicized
advertising campaign, the company printed up T-shirts. ``Are you Indian?''
they asked on the front. The back carried the URL for the company's job
listings. A picture of the employees wearing the shirts ended up in the
Times of India, and the company received 130 applications. About half of
those were qualified, says Petra Hitzig, datango's director of human
resources, who traveled to India to interview the applicants.
Hitzig hired two programmers. Although the company needs many more, CEO and
co-founder Alexander Artopé said he wanted to move slowly, making sure that
both newcomers were comfortable in the company and in the country, before
hiring more. ``It is a duty you have to make (new people) feel
comfortable,'' Artopé said.
Datango itself will likely make it easier for the two to adapt. In proper
dot-com fashion, the company is small, young and casual. All employees speak
English willingly and well. Most have spent time overseas. There are even
other foreign employees, albeit from France, Switzerland and the United
States.
Hitzig is also making special efforts to help her new employees get
acclimated. She found housing for each in multicultural neighborhoods where
she believes they will be free of any anti-foreigner sentiment. The company
is paying for German teachers. And it hired an Indian student to show the
two around town, telling them where the city might be unsafe, and even where
to get decent Indian food.
To Artopé, the suggestion to train more German engineers is a lofty goal for
the future, but entirely impractical for the present crisis. Hiring
qualified foreigners from anywhere, he believes, is the only solution.
``If you are hungry, it doesn't matter if it's an American apple, a German
apple or an Indian apple,'' he said. ``If someone says, `plant a tree,' it
won't work. You are still going to be hungry along the way.''