Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Working from home not all it is cracked up to be for some US-based Chinese tech workers

More than 130 countries have introduced some form of restriction or tightened their border entry requirements. Last year an average of more than 14,000 people per day travelled to the US from China

One has embarked on what he calls a “wandering earth trip” that will take him from China to Dubai and on to San Francisco. Another is up till 3am every night to communicate with her colleagues on the US west coast, while a third is out of a job after being unable to leave China.

These are the struggles faced by Chinese employees of US tech companies after they returned home for the Lunar New Year but were unable to leave because of the US travel ban imposed in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak.

“I thought of the possibility [of being fired] when [US president Donald] Trump issued the travel ban,” said Sun, the only Chinese national among 15 employees at a small pharmaceutical start-up in California.

“When I received the email, I knew my premonition had come true,” said the 27-year-old chemical engineer. “I was disappointed but not angry. It’s a small firm and my supervisor needed someone to do my work,” he said.



Sun, who earned an annual salary of US$80,000 working in San Diego, a city he describes as “home”, is now in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin where he found a temporary job giving online English lessons to students for a basic monthly salary of 3,000 yuan (US$431).



The US was one of the first countries to impose a temporary travel ban on Chinese visitors due to the coronavirus outbreak, with a policy effective February 2 that denied entry to Chinese nationals and other foreigners who had been to the Chinese mainland in the prior 14 days.

Last year an average of more than 14,000 people per day travelled to the US from China.

More than 130 countries have introduced some form of restriction or tightened their border entry requirements. The novel coronavirus has infected almost 132,000 people worldwide with a death toll approaching 5,000.

While millions of Chinese have been taking part in the world’s largest telecommuting experiment amid the health crisis, there are difficulties faced by tech employees when working remotely. Lab experiments cannot be done, there is limited access to the company’s database – not to mention the impact on sleep and family life.

The Post interviewed US-based Chinese tech workers stuck in China to see how they have been coping. They asked to be identified only by their surnames because they were not authorised to speak publicly about their jobs.

Unlike small start-ups, tech giants have the financial ability to support employees trapped in China. Zhang, a software engineer working for Google in Silicon Valley, has not been able to access the user data needed to test software codes so had to switch to basic development work.

“You need to see [all the success and error records] if you want to fix a bug in your code, but I don’t have the access [from China] now,” said the 29-year-old who also joined a WeChat group with more than 80 other Google employees in a similar situation.

They update each other with information and discuss if they should stay in China or go back to the US via a third country where they would stay for at least two weeks.

Zhang took the plunge and flew to Dubai last week, where he plans to stay for at least 20 days, in order to get back to the US.

Similar problems are faced by 23-year-old Microsoft software engineer Bai who is stuck in Sanya, Hainan province. For example, to fix network problems she needs to download a coding database – a process that normally takes a few seconds in the Seattle office.

“Sometimes I wait for 20 minutes and it shows the progress is 60 per cent completed, then it stops processing,” she said of the download attempts from her home in China. “So I had to keep trying and wasted a lot of time.”

“I’m anxious because I invested a lot of time but feel like I’m not doing anything meaningful,” she added.

Still, they are luckier than Sun, the chemical engineer who lost his job. “I spent 80 per cent of my time doing experiments [in the lab] and 20 per cent writing up reports based on the lab results. It’s impossible for me to work remotely,” Sun said. “My job is not like a programmer who can still work [as long as they have] a computer.”

Mainland Chinese born workers play an important role in the US, accounting for 11.9 per cent of all H1-B visas approved in the year to September 30, 2018, the second largest ethnic group after India, according to a report by the US Department of Homeland Security last year.

Among all H-1B visas, which allow foreigners with specialised skills to temporarily work in the US, computer-related occupations accounted for 66.4 per cent, according to the same report.

There is another challenge for the likes of Zhang and Bai: China is 15 hours ahead of the US west coast, where Google and Microsoft are based.

To communicate with her colleagues, Bai voluntarily works until 3am Beijing time, which is noon in Seattle. “But I don’t join the daily conferences, which are mostly at 2am or 3am [China time],” she said. “I think it’s a bit disrespectful to join conferences when I feel sleepy.”

The time difference also affects efficiency. “I have to wait until night-time if I have any questions. If I am very tired I have to wait for another day to get the reply. Communication efficiency is very low,” she said.



American tech companies are now encouraging their employees to telecommute, or in some cases making it mandatory, as the novel coronavirus spreads across the country.

Apple and Alphabet’s Google have advised their North American staff to work from home while Microsoft has told workers in two west coast locations to work from home until March 25 after two employees in Washington state tested positive for coronavirus.

Earlier this week Twitter mandated that its entire global workforce work from home until further notice.

“I was worried about China, but now I’ve started to worry about the place where I worked,” said Bai, who has not yet decided when she will try and go back to Seattle.

It is not all bad news: Bai and Zhang’s salaries are not affected as their company policies allow remote working.

Google has temporarily extended its policy of allowing work from another country from 14 days to 60 days due to the coronavirus, according to Zhang.

Microsoft said it will “continue to monitor the situation and take action to help protect our employees based on the guidance of global health authorities”.

Google declined to comment for this story but provided an article about how it manages remote work.

In a White House address to the nation on Wednesday local time, US President Donald Trump announced the suspension of all passenger travel from Europe to the US and hinted at a possible early lifting of the travel ban between the US and China.

“We are monitoring the situation in China and in South Korea. And, as their situation improves, we will re-evaluate the restrictions and warnings that are currently in place for a possible early opening,” Trump said.

Meanwhile, Zhang has experienced a further set back while waiting in Dubai. His US visa interview appointment was cancelled without reason.

“I feel like I could write an adventure [novel] about my torturous experience trying to get back to the US,” he quipped in a note on his WeChat Moments feed.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
EU Proposes Phasing Out Russian Oil and Gas by End of 2027 to End Energy Dependence
More Than 150,000 Followers for a Fictional Character: The New Influencers Are AI Creations
EU Prepares for War
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
×